Spain’s Zeltia, which has just launched the cancer drug Yondelis in Europe, has posted a 12.1% increase in revenues to 85.5 million euros for 2007, while the firm’s net loss rose 2.9% to just over million euros.

The turnover rise is due largely to the contribution made by the Italian hygiene products company Copyr, which was acquired by Zeltia's Zelnova unit last year, while biotechnology revenues totalled 10.4 million euros, 6.4 million euros of which came from its PharmaMar unit.

Zeltia did not specify the contribution of Yondelis (trabectedin) to that latter figure but chairman Jose Maria Fernandez Sousa said the drug, which was launched in the UK and Germany and is being rolled out in other European countries for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma, is meeting forecasts. Turnover from the drug should reach around 34 million euros this year.

He also said that plans to list Zeltia’s Neuropharma unit, which specialises in neurodegenerative disease research (notably in Alzheimer’s disease) would be delayed because of a difficult investment environment. Mr Fernandez Sousa added that the markets will be “financially turbulent” year and the listing is unlikely to happen before 2009.

The firm’s R&D spend was up 4% to 51.7 million euros, 36.9 million euros of which was spent by PharmaMar and 13.5 million euros by NeuroPharma. Zeltia ended 2007 with cash and equivalents of 76.2 million euros.