Abraxis Bioscience first-quarter ABRAXANE revenue increases to $87.9 million

Abraxis BioScience, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABII), a fully integrated biotechnology company, today reported unaudited financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

“We anticipate our clinical activities and continued global expansion to generate additional value for shareholders.”

First Quarter 2010 Highlights

Net revenue for the first quarter of 2010 was $110.8 million compared with $72.6 million for the first quarter of 2009. ABRAXANE^® revenue for the first quarter of 2010 increased to $87.9 million compared with $70.1 million for the first quarter of 2009. Other product revenue and other revenue for the first quarter of 2010 increased to $22.9 million from $2.5 million in the first quarter of last year, primarily due to increased sales of raw material products and sales from Drug Source Company, LLC, an entity in which we obtained a controlling interest during the first quarter of 2010 and whose results of operations are now required to be consolidated into our financial statements.

Gross profit for the first quarter of 2010 was $88.2 million, or 80 percent of net revenue, compared with $63.5 million, or 87 percent of net revenue, for the first quarter of 2009. While gross profit increased due to higher sales volumes in the United States as well as increased net selling prices globally, the decrease in gross margin as a percentage of net revenue was caused primarily by an increase in sales of lower margin raw material products.

"Abraxis continues to achieve significant research and development, commercial and operations milestones. Our recently reported data in non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer combined with our broad line up for the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting (ASCO) lay the groundwork for great progress in 2010," said Bruce Wendel, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abraxis BioScience. "We anticipate our clinical activities and continued global expansion to generate additional value for shareholders."

Research and development expense for the first quarter of 2010 was $33.4 million compared with $32.3 million for the first quarter of 2009. The increase was primarily due to a milestone payment, additional spending on Phase III clinical trials for pancreatic cancer and melanoma and other research and development projects, offset by lower spending on our Phase 3 lung cancer clinical trial.

Selling, general and administrative expenses for the first quarter of 2010 increased to $50.4 million compared to $45.1 million for the first quarter of 2009. The increase was mainly due to additional spending on sales and marketing, primarily in the European Union and China.

On a GAAP basis, net loss for common shareholders for the first quarter of 2010 was $3.0 million, or $0.07 per share, compared with net loss for common shareholders for the first quarter of 2009 of $22.9 million, or $0.57 per share.

Adjusted net income for common shareholders for the first quarter of 2010 was $8.8 million, or $0.22 per share, compared to adjusted net loss for common shareholders of $5.6 million, or $0.14 per share, for the first quarter of the prior year. Adjusted net income (loss) for common shareholders excludes amortization of intangible assets, realized loss on marketable securities and non-cash stock compensation expense.

Company Highlights

• According to IntrinsiQ data for March 2010, in all lines of metastatic breast cancer (MBC), ABRAXANE use represented 31.4 percent of the taxane market. In second line + MBC, ABRAXANE was 41.6 percent. ABRAXANE continues to be a leader in the taxane market in the third line + setting of the MBC market with a 47.6 percent market share.
• In March, Abraxis announced that the Phase 3 study in non-small cell lung cancer had achieved its primary endpoint of overall response rate. Details of the study data will be presented at the upcoming meeting of the ASCO.
• Abraxis announced updated overall survival findings from a Phase I/II study that explored the potential benefit of ABRAXANE in combination with gemcitabine for the first-line treatment of advanced pancreatic cancer. These findings were discussed during a keynote address by Daniel Von Hoff, M.D. of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) at the 101^st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). Also presented at AACR were the results of a pre-clinical study of ABRAXANE given in combination with bevacizumab, which demonstrated that the combination may have potential in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancers.