Angiotech Pharmaceuticals second-quarter loss widens to US$14.1 million
VANCOUVER - Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX:ANP) reported Friday a second-quarter loss of US$14.1 million, deeper than its year-ago loss of $11.9 million as royalties from its Taxus coronary stent stake continued to dwindle but core product sales improved.
The drug and medical device developer and producer, which reports earnings in U.S. dollars, said its loss amounted to 17 cents per share and compared with a year-earlier loss of 14 cents per share.
"We are pleased to report continued quarter-over-quarter growth in product sales, driven primarily by our most innovative proprietary medical Products," president and CEO William Hunter said in a statement.
"In addition, we are encouraged by sales trends for our base medical products, which continued to show steady improvement across all key product groups through the first half of 2010."
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, the Vancouver-based company reported a loss of $7.6 million or nine cents per share versus a year-ago adjusted net loss of $4 million or five cents per share — a figure that was revised from a positive year-ago result due to an accounting error.
Revenue fell to $61.9 million from $64.6 million, though product sales improved to $52.9 million from $47.2 million.
Royalties declined 51 per cent year-over-year to $8.9 million from $17 million.
Angiotech derives the bulk of its royalty revenue from a long-standing partnership with U.S.-based Boston Scientific Corp. (NYSE:BSX), with which it developed the Taxus drug-coated stent used in angioplasty.
Taxus sales, hampered by pressure from competitors since concerns emerged in 2006 that drug-coated stents carry a higher risk of rare instances of potentially fatal blood clots compared to bare metal versions of the devices, "continued to be negatively impacted by competitive pressure in the drug-eluting coronary stent market," Angiotech said.
Boston Scientific's stent sales dropped to $142 million in the quarter from $252 million in the prior-year period.
Revenue for Angiotech's proprietary medical products, which include wound closure equipment, catheters and biopsy devices outshone its other divisions, with revenue improving 20 per cent.
The base medical products division, which produces medical devices in the biopsy, ophthalmology and general surgery areas saw revenues up nine per cent.
Shares in the company were down one cent to 60 cents Cdn in morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
