THE NUMBERS:
Three-year growth: 220.6%
12-month sales through June: $30.4 million
12-month loss through June: $26.6 million
Recent market value: $280 million
Employees: 126, 71 in OC
Company: drug maker
It seems people like Spectrum Pharmaceuti-cals Inc.’s new personality.
Spectrum, which made a name selling generic drugs, has reinvented itself as a branded drug maker and seen sales soar.
The Irvine-based drug maker ranks No. 3 on the list of fastest-growing public companies headquartered here. The list is ranked by three-year revenue growth.
Spectrum posted 220.6% revenue growth for the three years through June 30. The drug maker went from $9.5 million in revenue in the 12 months through June 2007 to $30.4 million for the same period through this June.
Spectrum now has a pair of branded drugs it sells: Fusilev for osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, and Zevalin for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a form of blood cancer.
“2009 has been a transformation year for Spectrum,” Chief Executive Rajesh Shrotriya said on the drug maker’s most recent earnings call.
In addition to seeing more revenue from Fusilev and Zevalin, the company has strong hope for bladder cancer drug candidate EoQuin, which has substantial financial support from Irvine drug maker Allergan Inc.
The Food and Drug Administration last month cleared Zevalin for use in a wider range of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Spectrum said it would hire sales representatives for Zevalin with a goal of expanding it in the current quarter.
Spectrum is the fourth company to own Zevalin since it was approved eight years ago. Zevalin is clinically effective, but has had slow sales for several reasons, including the challenges of handling a radioactive drug.
Spectrum began to move away from its historical thrust of selling generic versions of common drugs in 2008 when it launched Fusilev, which is used to reduce toxicity levels and enhance the effectiveness of other drugs used
to treat osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma usually occurs in children.
Spectrum, like many early stage drug makers, has had some profit challenges. The company posted a loss of $26.6 million in the 12 months through June 30.
That hasn’t slowed investor interest. The company’s shares are up about 350% since the beginning of the year with a recent market value of about $280 million.
Some of that run-up could be attributed to buzz about Spectrum being a takeover target.
In August, an article published on the Seeking Alpha investor Web site talked about speculation that Spectrum could be bought and cited a few companies that could be interested, including Allergan. The article also mentioned other potential buyers, including Germany’s Bayer AG, which sells Zevalin.
Spectrum has remained mum on that subject.
The stock surge prompted Morgan Joseph & Co. analyst Shiv Kapoor to downgrade Spectrum in late September, saying that its stock has “appropriately reacted” to the expanded Zevalin usage and a possible expansion of Fusilev usage to colorectal cancer, which is a much larger market.
Meanwhile, Spectrum is awaiting regulatory word on EoQuin, which is designed to treat bladder cancer that hasn’t spread deep into a patient’s bladder muscle layer. Spectrum is working with Allergan on EoQuin under a deal announced in November.
Spectrum was once known as NeoTherapeu-tics Inc. It’s changed its thrust from neurology to cancer drugs under Shrotriya, who took over as Spectrum’s boss in 2002. Shrotriya is a drug industry veteran whose career includes 18 years with Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.
Spectrum has 71 workers in Orange County and 126 in total. It got started in 1987.
