07 agosto 2012

Pharmaceutical firms looking to nurse themselves back to health .

... Zeltia posted a net profit of 11.2 million euros, compared with a loss of 3.04 million a year earlier, as operating revenues climbed 13 percent to 95.9 million.

Its biopharmaceutical division continued to lead the way with sales of 35.5 million euros, but that figure was 13 percent down on a year earlier. The fall reflected the fact that Zeltia sold raw materials worth 3 million euros to its partner Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the first half of last year. The division was also affected by the temporary cut in the supply of Caelyx, which is used in conjunction with its Yondelis compound to treat ovarian cancer, due to the closure of a plant in the United States that had been producing it.

The Galician-based company expects to match or exceed last year's earnings, with chairman José María Fernández "confident" about the future in spite of the crisis, mainly due to the encouraging progression of Zeltia's new pharmaceuticals for the treatment of cancers, including Breast, Lung and Ovarian, and other drugs to combat Alzheimer's disease and Glaucoma.