Scotland-based speciality pharmaceuticals group ProStrakan has been reflecting on a busy period which has seen the firm lay the foundations to break even by the end of 2009.
The company has issued an interim management statement which reveals that product revenues increased by 33% in the first ten months of the year, with the stronger euro accounting for 8% of that rise. Sales of ProStrakan’s pan-European products – Rectogesic (glyceryl trinitate), an ointment for chronic anal fissures, Tostran (testosterone gel) and Droperidol (xomolix) for the treatment of post-operative nausea and vomiting – grew 72%, with the strong euro accounting for 22% of the increase. Sales of ProStrakan’s best-selling product, Adcal-D3 (calcium carbonate/colecalciferol), a chewable tablet used to treat osteoporosis which is marketed only in the UK, increased 17%.
Those figures are set to change considerably seeing as ProStrakan has just launched Sancuso (granisetron), its transdermal patch for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, in the USA. The firm has shipped $1.7 million worth of stock into the US distribution network and the patch is being promoted to oncologists and oncology nurses across the the country.
Earlier this month, ProStrakan signed an exclusive licence and supply agreement for Sancuso in the Middle East and Africa with United Arab Emirates-based NewBridge Pharmaceuticals. It has also just inked a distribution agreement in the Republic of Ireland for both cancer pain drug Abstral, a fast-dissolving formulation of fentanyl, and xomolix with Dublin-based Fannin.
Chief executive Wilson Totten said that “this has been a transforming period for ProStrakan as we move to become a fully international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on higher value medicines that will drive us to near term breakeven”. He added that with further approvals in the pipeline, we will continue to focus on maintaining this momentum”.
The statement also revealed that while it had ProStrakan had £26.1 million in cash at the end of October, it has made a “precautionary” draw-down of £5 million from an agreed £50 million loan facility, which observers believe could be used to buy some assets.
