THE NUMBERS:
Three-year growth: 346%
12-month sales through June: $26.3 million
12-month loss through June: $6.7 million
Recent market value: $12 million
Employees: 510, 10 in OC
Company: drug, medical test maker
Radient Pharmaceuticals Corp., formerly AMDL Inc., has continued mining China and its 1 billion-plus population for growth.
Tustin-based Radient, a maker of drugs and medical testing products, comes in at No. 2 on the Business Journal’s 2009 list of the fastest-growing public companies in Orange County. Last year, then-AMDL topped our list.
Radient posted 346% revenue growth for the three years through June 30. The company went from $5.9 million in revenue for the 12 months through June 2007 to $26.3 million for the same period through this June.
Radient said it’s been growing through a combination of sales in China and the commercialization of its Onko-Sure cancer diagnostic test.
Radient makes drugs and various medical tests. Its customers include stores, hospitals, doctors, clinics and medical laboratories.
Company Moves
Last month, the company changed its name to Radient Pharmaceuticals, an um-brella company for its separate lines of businesses with AMDL, China-based subsidiary Jade Pharmaceuticals Inc. and its Elleuxe skin care line.
Radient has “considerable bench strength” as a name and represents the company’s business and market focus, particularly as it relates to its plans for commercializing Onko-Sure, said Chief Executive Douglas MacLellan in a release.
The company has seen gains from Onko-Sure, a blood test that’s used to detect lung, breast, stomach, liver, colon, rectal and other types of cancer. The company sells the test to hospitals, clinical labs and public and private clinics through distribution partners.
Radient created its AMDL Diagnostics Inc. unit in August to help sell Onko-Sure.
The company believes “we are in a tremendously stronger position to capitalize on the cancer (diagnostic) market,” MacLellan said.
Overall, Radient’s revenue growth primarily has been fueled by its 2006 move into China, which came about when it spent $9.1 million to buy a pair of drug companies from Hong Kong’s Jade Capital Group Ltd.
The Jade unit makes fluids, tablets and related products. Radient’s business plan has included selling more products through Jade’s own stores, which are called Jade’s Healthy Supermarkets.
Hurdles
Radient still faces some hurdles, even with its fast growth.
The Seeking Alpha investor Web site recently reported that Radient may spin off its Jade Pharmaceuticals unit and Jade’s primary operating subsidiary, Jiangxi Bio-Chemical Pharmacy Co.
Revenue from China has dropped in the first two quarters of this year despite Radient’s overall revenue growth, according to Seeking Alpha.
Authorities had shut down a small injection production line for a mandatory manufacturing recertification, and that action cut revenue from Goodnak, an anti-aging injection that was Jade’s best-selling product.
Like many of the smaller companies on the list, Radient is not consistently profitable. For the 12 months ended in June, it posted a net loss of $6.7 million and has had a running deficit of about $45.3 million since its 1989 start.
Radient had a “going concern” warning in a recent Securities and Exchange Commis-sion financial statement. It said it had cash of $2.1 million in the six months through June, and it said its U.S. operations require about $400,000 a month to perform corporate functions, pay executives stationed in China and handle further expenses.
Radient’s shares, which formerly traded on the American Stock Exchange, recently moved to the New York Stock Exchange’s US Alternext. The company’s shares are ba-sically flat since the beginning of the year.
But Radient just got a nod from the investor Web site the Street.com, which called it a “$5 stock that crackles with potential” in a video report.
MacLellan, an economist by training who had served on the company’s board since 1992, took over as chief executive from Gary Dreher, who retired in November.
Radient has 510 workers, only 10 of whom are in OC.
