Q2 sales up 9% at AMRI as loss narrows from a year earlier
Highlights include US$3m milestone payment from BMS and an alliance with Proteros Biostructures
Albany Molecular Research (AMRI) reported a 9% increase in revenue for the second quarter ended 30 June to US$53.9m from $49.5m.
The US contract drug discovery and development company narrowed its loss to $568,000 from $3.9m a year earlier.
Total contract revenue for Q2, including AMRI’s discovery services, development and small-scale manufacturing and large scale manufacturing business components, was $43.5m, an increase of 7% compared with $40.7m in the second quarter of 2010.
Total revenue for the half-year was $110.8m, up 12%, including a $3m milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb, while the net loss narrowed to $2m from a loss of $3.9m a year earlier.
Total contract revenue for the first six months of 2011 was $86.4m, an increase of 9%.
AMRI chairman, president and ceo Thomas D’Ambra, said the firm experienced continued strength in its development and large-scale API manufacturing operations as both biotech and pharmaceutical companies maintain focus on their late-stage portfolios.
In discovery services, AMRI’s Singapore operation continued to show strength, although this was offset by the continued market slowdown for outsourced discovery services.
‘We believe we are at a turning point in the discovery market, and remain optimistic that the market will recover in 2012 as pharmaceutical companies move more decisively to outsource high-end discovery and biotech services,’ D’Ambra said.
He added: ‘We continue to make significant progress on our proprietary development portfolio, having recently received an additional $3m milestone payment from Bristol-Myers Squibb resulting from a Phase 2 clinical trial. We also recently saw the successful completion of a Phase 1 clinical study for our novel MCH-1 receptor antagonist for obesity.’
Other highlights include agreeing a strategic alliance with Proteros Biostructures, an expert in protein crystallisation and X-ray structural analysis, which allows both companies to offer a more comprehensive portfolio of drug discovery services; the promotion of Takeshi Yura to senior director of drug discovery services at AMRI’s Singapore subsidiary; and successful FDA inspections at one of AMRI’s Albany, NY facilities and at its UK facility in Holywell, Flintshire, the former Excelsyn plant.
In the third quarter AMRI expects contract revenue to range from $43m–$47m, an increase of up to 10% compared with 2010. For the full year 2011, it forecasts that contract revenue will range from $179m–$187m, an increase of up to 15%.
