Alchemia earns record fondaparinux profit in Q4

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) earned a record $3.9 million through its share of gross profit from sales of anticoagulant drug generic fondaparinux during the June quarter.

The company’s marketing partner for fondaparinux, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, recorded net sales of US$12.2 million during the quarter - the highest since the product launched in 2011.

“Sales volumes have recovered from those seen in the previous quarter, and specifically for this quarter, net pricing has been stronger than expected,” Alchemia CEO Charles Walker said.

After Alchemia makes its quarterly contribution of $600,000 towards the costs of improving fondaparinux production, the company’s profit share will be $3.3 million. Alchemia has agreed to invest US$500,000 of its profit share over a 10-quarter period to jointly fund the US$10 million project.

For FY13, Alchemia is due to receive a net profit share of $9.6 million from fondaparinux sales.

The company started receiving a share of fondaparinux sales after Dr Reddy’s recouped its development costs during the June quarter of 2012.

Dr Reddy’s has recently won regulatory approval to market generic fondaparinux in Canada and expects to launch the product in the next few months.

Canada will be the second market outside of the US where Dr Reddy’s introduces the product, following a launch in India in April. The total fondaparinux market in Canada was worth around US$2.9 million in 2012.

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) shares were trading 7.69% higher at $0.42 as of around noon on Tuesday.