PARSIPPANY, N.J. (AP) – Pacira Pharmaceuticals Inc. said it expects to start selling its pain drug Exparel the week of April 9.
Regulators approved Exparel in October as a treatment for pain following surgery. Pacira said it deployed 63 hospital specialists to market the drug in January.
The company said it took a bigger loss in the fourth quarter on increased sales and administrative costs and an impairment charge. Pacira lost $15.3 million, or 72 cents per share. In the fourth quarter of 2010, before Pacira completed its initial public offering, it lost $7 million, or $12.27 cents per share. Revenue rose to $4.2 million from $2.1 million.
Analysts were expecting the company to take a loss of 52 cents per share on $4.1 million in revenue, according to FactSet.
The company said its sales and administrative costs rose to $6.7 million from $2.4 million, and it reported $3 million in costs related to impairment of long-lived assets.
Pacira has two products already on the market: the chemotherapy drug DepoCyte, and the surgical pain drug DepoDur. Both are delivered with the company’s DepoFoam extended-release technology.
Pacira said it lost $43.3 million, or $2.64 per share, in 2011. It lost $27.1 million, or $47.29 per share, in 2010. Revenue grew to $15.7 million from $14.6 million, and the company said it expects $23 million to $25 million in revenue in 2012 excluding sales of Exparel.
Date: March 27, 2012
Source: Associated Press
Filed Under: Drug Discovery
