rvine drug developer Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc. topped Wall Street projections with fourth-quarter results released earlier this month.
The cancer drug maker earned $4.4 million in the quarter, down 56% from a year earlier when it saw a $19.8 million one—time gain related to stock warrants.
Fourth-quarter revenue surged 294% to $33.9 million.
Analysts had expected Spectrum to post a loss of $2.6 million on $19.6 million in sales.
Revenue from Fusilev, Spectrum’s first branded drug, totaled $23 million in the quarter. Fusilev’s used to treat side effects of methotrexate, a chemotherapy drug.
It’s also approved for patients who have osteosarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer.
Zevalin, Spectrum’s drug to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, saw $8.1 million in sales, up 57% from a year earlier.
The drug maker also received $3 million in licensing payments during the quarter.
Investors took notice, sending Spectrum’s stock up 10% after it reported results. The company had a recent market value of nearly $400 million.
In an article on investor website Motley Fool, author Rich Duprey called the results a vindication of Fusilev.
But Duprey was cautious about Spectrum’s prospects:
“However, given stiff competition, let’s see how well Spectrum performs from here,” he wrote.
Cell Therapeutics Inc., which is based in Seattle, is working on pixantrone, a drug to treat relapsed or advanced cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that could compete with Zevalin.
The Food and Drug Administration recently gave Cell Therapeutics the go-ahead on a clinical trial design for pixantrone.
Weston, Mass.-based Biogen Idec Inc. makes Rixutan for treating blood cancer, which competes with Zevalin.
Spectrum also updated its products under development.
The drug maker expects the FDA to take action on its application for using Fusilev to treat colorectal cancer that’s metastasized, a much larger market, by April 29.
On Zevalin, Spectrum said it would initiate a large B-cell lymphoma trial on an undisclosed date this year.
Spectrum expects to file a new drug application with the FDA for its apaziquone bladder cancer drug by 2012, the company said.
Spectrum is working with Allergan Inc., the Irvine maker of Botox and other drugs, on apaziquone.
Under terms of its deal with Allergan and others it’s working with, Spectrum could receive up to $450 million in payments based on meeting certain clinical, regulatory and commercialization milestones for apaziquone.
Danaher, Beckman
Earlier this month, Danaher Corp.’s $6.8 billion deal for Beckman Coulter Inc. moved forward with a regulatory approval.
The Federal Trade Commission said it gave Danaher, a Washington, D.C. conglomerate, antitrust approval to buy Brea-based Beckman, a maker of medical diagnostic equipment and supplies.
Danaher is interested in the $25 billion yearly clinical diagnostic market that Beckman is part of because of an aging population, more emphasis on preventive medical care and growth in emerging markets such as China, Chief Executive Lawrence Culp told Reuters.
After the Beckman deal is completed this summer, medical technology will account for about 40% of Danaher’s revenue, which analysts estimate will come in at $14.3 billion this year.
Health Net Lease
Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. signed a five-year extension of a lease for office space in Huntington Beach.
How much space the health insurer took wasn’t disclosed. Health Net’s Huntington Beach office is at 7755 Center Ave., within the Towers of Bella Terra.
Wade Clark, an executive vice president in Jones Lang LaSalle’s Irvine office, along with Cara Trani and Jason Goff from the brokerage’s Sacramento office, represented Health Net. Rich Essen of Orion Property Partners in Irvine represented the landlord, Bella Terra Office JV, LLC.
Health Net has about 144,000 health maintenance members and 23,000 preferred provider organization members in Orange County.
Bits and Pieces:
Aliso Viejo medical device maker Vertos Medical Inc. said that two studies showed its minimally invasive lumbar decompression treatment, known as “mild,” was safe and effective in the long term as well as superior to epidural steroid injections in treating lumbar spinal stenosis, or a narrowing of the spinal cord. The two studies involving Vertos were unveiled at the Cleveland Clinic’s annual pain management symposium … ChromaDex Corp. of Irvine said it signed a deal with Bruker Optics, a unit of Billerica, Mass.-based Bruker Corp., to co-promote dietary supplement testing … Western Medical Center-Santa Ana said it installed a vascular X-ray machine made by Toshiba America Medical Systems, a Tustin-based unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp. The X-ray machine will be used by doctors practicing at the hospital.
