Lotus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCBB:
LTUS)
announced a 41% increase in revenues in Q1, though net income was up by
a smaller 19%. The company booked $11.7 million in sales, while its
profits totaled $1 million or 2 cents per share, fully diluted. If a
non-cash financing charge is excluded, Lotus’s net income climbs to
$1.4 million a 34% rise from the year earlier figure.
Earlier this week, Lotus announced it will pay 48 million RMB ($7
million) to buy the patent and production rights to an asthma medicine,
Laevo- Bambutero. Lotus is buying rights to the drug, which is not yet
approved by the SFDA, from Dongguan Kaifa Biomedicine, Inc. Terms of
the deal also include a 3% royalty payment to Dongguan Kaifa. Lotus
expects to position Laevo-Bambutero as a better alternative to
Bambutero for asthma, based on a better side-effect profile. Because
the drug must first go through clinical trials, Lotus expects to be
able to launch the drug by 2012, pending SFDA approval.
In terms of its Q1 revenues, Lotus reported that wholesale distribution
accounted for $4.7 million of revenue and also enjoyed a large 94% bump
from the year-earlier figures. Lotus said that much of that gain was
derived from sales of Brimonidine Tartrate Eyes Drops, a drug used to
treat glaucoma, and also Valsartan Capsules, a Lotus treatment for
hypertension drug. The company also said that distribution revenues
from third-party manufacturing products were significantly higher,
though Lotus did not provide specific data. Lotus also has a retail
drug store operation that contributed a comparatively minor $182,500 of
its revenues.
On the downside, actual third-party manufacturing revenues (as opposed
to distribution revenues for these products) for Lotus were cut in half
during Q1, resulting in a $1.5 million decrease when compared to Q1 of
2007. Lotus said it does not expect any turnaround in this shortfall
for the rest of the year.
In February 2008, Lotus received net proceeds from the sale of shares
of a Series A Convertible Mandatorily Redeemable Preferred Stock of
approximately $4.6 million. The company used approximately $2.6 million
to repay its outstanding obligations under its 14% secured convertible
notes. The remainder was used for working capital purposes.
