Sirtex Medical Q3 dose sales grow 34%

Sirtex Medical (ASX:SRX) has reported record quarterly sales growth of its SIR-Spheres microspheres targeted radioactive liver cancer treatment.

The NSW-based biotech revealed that dose sales for the quarter ending in March grew 34% year-on-year.

Sales in the grew 47% in the US and 46% in Asia-Pacific during the third quarter, but European sales growth was just 8%.

Sirtex CEO Gilman Wong said the company has now recorded 31 consecutive quarters of sales growth. He attributed the continuing growth to “our strategy of making appropriate investments in the company, sales and marketing, clinical studies and research.”

Last month, Sirtex posted a 69.7% increase in 1H12 profit to $6.1 million. Unit sales for the half-year grew 16.1% year-on-year to 2,698 units, but revenue grew by a more modest 8.1% to $36.8 million.

Sirtex is currently enrolling patients for phase III trials of SIR-Spheres, aimed at providing more proof of the efficacy of the treatment.

SIR-Spheres microspheres are injected into the hepatic artery via a catheter, and are designed to lodge into the vasculature of a tumour. The microspheres then transmit radiation to the tumour tissue in a bid to damage or – in the best case scenario – eliminate it.

Sirtex Medical (ASX:SRX) shares grew 5.85% in Wednesday's ASX trading to $5.610.