Walter Herlihy, president and CEO, Repligen
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Since announcing a renewed focus on its bioprocessing business in August, Repligen Corp. (Nasdaq:RGEN) tripled its net income for the third quarter compared to the previous year, the company said today.
The company announced its financial results for the three months that ended in September on Thursday morning, and saw its stock value rise 10 percent to $5.47 by 1:45 p.m.
The spike in income was fueled by a doubling of revenue from its bioprocessing business to $11 million over the previous year, which made up most of the company total quarterly revenue of $15 million for the three months that ended in September, according to a statement from the company.
We continued to deliver strong financial performance during the third quarter and year-to-date, driven by increased revenue from our expanded bioprocessing business, said Walter C. Herlihy, president and CEO of Repligen. In August, we announced our decision to focus corporate strategy and resources on the growth of our profitable bioprocessing business. Our efforts are now directed toward achieving operational and financial excellence as a life sciences company providing high-value consumables to the global biomanufacturing market.
Sondra S. Newman, director of investor relations for Repligen, told Mass High Tech that the companys core product is Protein A, a molecule used in the manufacture and purification of monoclonal antibodies. Originally, Protein A was intended to support the development of the companys own drug candidates, but as interest in monoclonal antibodies has ballooned in recent years, the company has been able to generate significant revenue through sales of the product.
The decision to refocus on producing Protein A came after two events in the company. First was the acquisition in the fall of 2011 of Swedish biopharma business of Novozymes A/S for $22.7 million plus future milestone payments.
Suddenly, we had a larger bioprocessing capability and a greater revenue generating opportunity as well, Newman said.
Then, in the spring, the company was told by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that a pancreatic imaging product candidate, RG1068, which the company was developing internally, would need additional Phase 3 trials, according to Newman. The decision was then made to divest its interest in RG1068 through a partnership with another drug development company. Newman said the company is still looking for a partner for RG1068 while it finishes up two Phase 1 trials which were already underway on two other drug candidates, RG2833 for the treatment of Friedreichs Ataxia and RG3039 for the potential treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). The company plans to seek partners for those two candidates as well, she said.
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Repligen sees positive results from bioprocessing biz