Flamel suffers greater losses in 2007

The company remains optimistic that the success of GlaxoSmithKline's Coreg CR (carvedilol) heart medication, which makes use of Flamel's Micropump drug delivery technology, and a series of 10 new partnerships for its the Medusa drug delivery platform, to turnaround its fortunes in 2008. "We are satisfied with the results for 2007, and believe it puts us in a strong position for 2008​," Sian Crouzet, Flamel's principle financial officer, revealed in a teleconference. "We have demonstrated our ability to adapt to the changing landscape​." During 2005 and 2006 Flamel experienced a series of false starts for its two drug delivery systems, including failed attempts by various pharmaceutical companies to use the systems for insulin and lansoprazole administration. These ultimately led to pre-tax losses of $9.6m in the first quarter of 2006. The fourth quarter revenue for 2007 included $2m in milestone payments from GSK, and $4.7m from product sales and services - compared to $2.1m a year ago. Other revenue consisted of $2.4m in royalty income from GSK's Coreg CR product - compared to $0.1m in 2006. In total this amounted to a revenue of $10.6m compared to a revenue of $7.8m a year ago. Despite a string of cuts to its costs, this increased revenue still equates to a net loss of $5.4m compared to $5.9m a year ago for this quarter, and the net losses for 2007 are actually greater than 2006 - $37.2m compared to $35.2m. It is thought that the company may have suffered from the poor exchange rate between the euro and the dollar. However, it is hoped that the company's fortunes may be on the point of turning, with the success of the Micropump system for the Coreg CR drug demonstrating that the company's techniques are still viable methods of drug delivery, and the 10 new agreements over the Medusa platform demonstrating increased interest from the pharmaceutical industry. "During 2007, a major focus of our company was to establish new relationships with interested partners and to develop our internal projects and technology platforms​," Stephen Willard, Flamel's CEO, stated. "We succeeded in re-establishing and strengthening the Medusa platform by creating 10 new Medusa relationships, including those with Merck Serono and Wyeth. These relationships are a strong, well-diversified foundation for us to build the Medusa platform.​" The fourth quarter also saw Flamel completing clinical trials for FT-105 basal insuling, and IFN-Alpha XL - the results of which are "compelling proof of concept for those two products​" according to Willard. Flamel is now trying to license the products, which could eventually generate future revenue.