Unilife sales drop in Q4

30-Aug-2011 - Last updated on 31-Aug-2011 at 09:17 GMT

Unilife sales tumbled in the fourth quarter due to closure of its contract manufacturing operations and a drop in milestone payments.

Revenue fell year-on-year by 74 per cent to $0.7m (€0.5m). In the fourth quarter of 2010 a syringe industrialisation milestone and contract manufacturing added $2m and the loss of these sent sales down in the latest results.

Unilife is positive about the longer-term outlook though. “Looking ahead, our company has never been stronger or better positioned to capitalise on untapped opportunities within an injectable drug delivery device market”, Alan Shortall, CEO of Unilife said.

Exiting the contract manufacturing business is part of a strategy to focus on its proprietary line of products. In recent months Unilife has begun supplying Sanofi and an unnamed US pharma with the Unifill syringe and has expanded its product portfolio with development of a multi-chamber device.

Unilife is hoping sales of these and other products will return it to profitability. For the full year Unilife recorded a $41.2m operating loss, compared to a $30.6m deficit in 2010. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Unilife said it will not pay a dividend for 2011.

Auto-injector

Unilife has developed an auto-injector for self-administration by patients. Operated with the push of a button, Unilife predicts up to 20 per cent of its products could be supplied with the system as demand for auto-injectors grows.

“Our Unifill auto-injectors utilise fewer components, are more reliable and are compact in size for portability, easy handling and convenient disposal”, Shortall said. The auto-injector uses a prefilled syringe which retracts the needle back into the barrel upon delivery of a full dose.