FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
· Strong revenue growth
o Product sales up 32% to £53.8m (2007: £40.9m)
o Total revenues up 23% to £56.1m (2007:£45.6m)
· Operating loss from continuing operations (pre-exceptional items) £17.2m (2007: £17.7m)
· Pre-exceptionals loss before tax of £21.3m (2007: £17.6m)
· Post-exceptionals loss before tax of £25.2m (2007: £17.6m)
· Retained loss (including discontinued operations) of £18.8m pre-exceptionals (2007: £17.3m) and £25.1m post exceptionals (2007: £17.3m)
· Exceptional costs of £6.3m (2007: nil) incurred during the year
· Cash outflow from continuing operating activities £9.5m (2007: £14.7m)
· Continued strong cash position of £34.7m at 31 December 2008 (2007: £24.5m)
OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS
· EU business growing strongly
o Pan-European revenues up 69%
o Abstral roll-out well-advanced
· Successful launch of Sancuso has established ProStrakan’s US business
o Reimbursement achieved in 75% of commercially covered lives and in 50% of Medicare covered lives
o Sancuso prescriptions running at approx 500 patches per week and growing well
· Complementary North American rights to Abstral (Rapinyl in US) secured
· Three additional US NDA filings (Fortigel, Cellegesic, Rapinyl) planned by mid 2009
ANNOUNCED TODAY
· Co-promotion deal in the US for complementary oncology support product, Gelclair
· Inlicensing of Sancuso line extension
Commenting on the results, Dr Wilson Totten, Chief Executive of ProStrakan, said: “2008 proved to be an excellent year for ProStrakan. The strong sales growth from our EU business has allowed us to report revenues in line with consensus forecasts and we finished the year with a very strong cash position, maintaining our target of reaching breakeven later in 2009 without the need for further fundraising. Future growth is underpinned by the approvals in 2008 of Sancuso in the US, and Abstral in the EU. These products, although early in their launch cycle, are being well received by prescribers, and we are confident that they will grow to be very significant contributors to our future growth. In addition, securing the North American rights to Abstral mid-year has given us a key additional oncology product.
“We look forward in 2009 to growing sales momentum from further EU Abstral launches, while our US business will be focusing on growing Sancuso and filing three additional NDAs in the coming months. Today’s announcements of inlicensing a line extension formulation of Sancuso, together with a co-promotion deal for Gelclair, an approved oncology supportive care product, are clear demonstrations of our intent to grow a successful US business to sit alongside our rapidly-growing EU business.”