Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (SPPI) reported fourth quarter earnings per share of 20 cents. The company posted a loss of 28 cents in the prior-year quarter.
The swing from loss to profit was possible due to an accounting restatement made by the company to reclassify common stock warrants from equity to liability, resulting in an income of $19.8 million.
Excluding the impact of the account restatement, Spectrum reported a loss of 19 cents compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 20 cents. For 2009, the company reported a loss per share of 48 cents compared to a loss of 45 cents in 2008.
During the fourth quarter and full year, Spectrum reported revenues of $8.6 million (year-over-year growth of 7.1%) and $38.02 million (a 32.5% growth), respectively.
Spectrum has two FDA approved drugs — Zevalin and Fusilev, with fourth quarter sales of $5.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively. Zevalin accounted for about 60% of the company’s top line.
Additionally, the pipeline consists of two anti-cancer drugs, Belinostat and apaziquone, which are in late-stage trials under the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) program. The company expects to file a New Drug Application for the two drugs in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Research and development (R&D) expenses came down by 54% year-over-year to $3.5 million as development costs of apaziquone were shared with Allergan Inc. (AGN). Development costs of other pipeline products also declined.
Selling, general and administrative expenses increased 78.3% to $11.06 million, primarily due to higher costs associated with the marketing of Zevalin and Fusilev and higher employee related costs. Operating expenses of the company are likely to increase further with the development of its pipeline. Spectrum exited 2009 with $125 million in cash and total investments.
Read the full analyst report on “SPPI”
Read the full analyst report on “AGN”
Zacks Investment Research
