Alchemia narrows FY13 loss by $10.3m

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) slashed its FY13 net loss by more than $10 million, thanks in large part to its share of sales of anticoagulant generic fondaparinux.

The company reported a loss for the year of $4.8 million, compared to a $15.1 million loss in FY12.

Alchemia’s share of sales of fondaparinux by marketing partner Dr Reddy’s Laboratories reached $9.6 million.

Coupled with R&D tax incentives worth $13.2 million and some other income sources, revenue from continuing operations expanded to $24.3 million from just $700,000 in FY12.

Alchemia started receiving a cut of the profits from Dr Reddy’s US sales of generic fondaparinux in the June quarter of 2012. During the financial year, Dr Reddy’s also launched fondaparinux in India and secured approval in Canada.

Alchemia also completed recruitment for a phase III trial of modified chemotherapy treatment HA-Irinotecan in metastatic colorectal cancer. The company is preparing to initiate an investigator-sponsored phase II trial of the treatment with Merck Serono and another evaluating the drug in small cell lung cancer.

The company meanwhile entered a deal to use its VAST chemistry platform to support a drug discovery project with AstraZeneca.

The company ended the financial year with cash and receivables of $25.3 million.

Commenting on the results, Alchemia CEO Charles Walker expressed excitement about the company’s growth prospects for the current financial year.

“HA-Irinotecan is near the completion stage of its pivotal phase III trial, with top line results expected in the first half of calendar 2014. Our first drug to market, fondaparinux, now has established revenue streams with the potential for further growth ... FY14 promises to be a watershed year,” he said.

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) shares were trading 9.3% higher at $0.47 as of around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.