Furiex Pharmaceuticals reported sharp increases in first quarter revenue and net income, thanks to aloglipitin, a diabetes drug partnered with Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. whose approval sparked a $25 million milestone payment to Furiex.
Morrisville-based Furiex also reported a $5.0 milestone payment in the first quarter from the Menarini Group for that company’s commercial launch of Furiex’s premature ejaculation drug Priligy in France. Furiex’s total milestone revenue in the quarter was $30.0 million.
“Our milestone and royalty-based portfolio continues to provide an important financial foundation for our business,” Furiex Chairman Fred Eshelman said in a statement. “In the past 12 months, our collaborations have generated $77.4 million in milestone and royalty revenue and we look forward to building on this success with the launch of alogliptin-related products in the U.S. and Priligy in regions outside of the U.S.”
Furiex reported $9.0 million in net income for the quarter ended March 31 on total revenue of $39.3 million. A year ago, Furiex reported $2.6 million in revenue and a loss of $9.7 million.
First quarter research and development expenses were $25.4 million, compared to $9.4 million for the same period in the prior year and $14.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Furiex attributed the increase to phase III clinical trial costs for the continued development of eluxadoline, a drug candidate being developed to treat diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. Eluxadoline, Furiex’s lead drug program, is on track for a mid-2014 new drug application submission to the Food and Drug Administration, the company said.
