Antares Pharma third quarter total revenues increase 26% to $3.9M

Antares Pharma, Inc. (NYSE Amex: AIS) today reported financial and operating results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011.

Quarter and Recent Highlights

• Achieved record quarterly revenues of $3.9 million for the third quarter and $11.0 million for the year-to-date period.
• Increased quarter and year-to-date product revenue 33% and 41%, respectively, compared to the same periods in 2010.
• Granted U.S. Patent number 8,021,335 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), covering technology used in the Company's VIBEX platform of needle-assisted jet injection devices. The patent provides protection for the VIBEX technology until 2027.
• Ended the quarter with $32.2 million in cash and investments.

"During the third quarter, Antares continued to make significant progress across all of our key development programs. In addition to generating strong and growing revenues, we continued to make substantial headway on our wholly-owned VIBEX MTX auto injector product, a potentially significant opportunity in the large rheumatoid arthritis market. We also received development revenues from our marketing partner Watson Pharmaceuticals, triggered by our advances towards commercial manufacturing readiness for Anturol," stated Paul K. Wotton, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer. "We have multiple value-creating catalysts in the near term, including potential FDA approval for Anturol for the treatment of over-active bladder and expected Phase 3 efficacy data for LibiGel, our partnered program with BioSante, for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction. We remain well-positioned from both a product and financial perspective for accelerating and maintaining sustainable growth."

Third Quarter and Nine Month Results

Total revenues were $3.9 million and $3.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, an increase of 26%. For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, the Company's total revenue increased to $11.0 million, or 16%, from $9.5 million in the first nine months of 2010. Product sales were $2.2 million in the third quarter of 2011 compared to $1.7 million in 2010, an increase of 33%. For the nine months ended September 30, 2011, product sales increased 41% to $5.8 million compared to $4.1 million for the same period in the prior year. Product sales to both Teva and Ferring increased in both the third quarter and nine-month period compared to 2010.

Development revenues were $1.0 million and $2.7 million in the third quarter and first nine months of 2011 compared to $0.4 million and $1.7 million during the same periods of 2010, respectively. The development revenue in the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2011 included auto injector and pen injector development work for Teva and development revenue earned under the Watson license agreement for Anturol. The revenue in the three-month and nine-month periods of 2010 included auto injector development work for Teva.

Licensing revenues were $0.1 million and $0.6 million in the third quarter and first nine months of 2011 compared to $0.6 million and $2.5 million during the same periods of 2010, respectively. The licensing revenue in the three and nine-month periods of 2011 included recognition of revenue previously deferred in connection with license agreements with Teva, Ferring and BioSante. The 2010 licensing revenue was primarily due to recognition of revenue deferred in 2009 under an exclusive license agreement with Ferring, in addition to milestone payments received from Teva and BioSante.

Royalty revenues increased to $0.6 million in the 2011 third quarter period from $0.5 million in 2010, or 34%, and increased to $1.9 million in the 2011 nine month period from $1.2 million in 2010, or 52%. The increases were due to royalties received from Teva in connection with sales of their hGH Tev-Tropin^® and royalties on increased device sales to Ferring.

Total gross profit was $2.1 million in the third quarter of 2011 compared to $2.0 million in the same period in 2010, and increased to $6.4 million for the first nine months of 2011 compared to $6.1 million for the first nine months of 2010. The gross profit in the 2010 periods benefited from revenue recognized in connection with milestone payments mainly from Ferring and Teva which had essentially no associated cost of revenue.

Total operating expenses were approximately $3.4 million and $3.7 million for the three months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, and were $10.7 million and $10.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively. Total operating expenses include noncash stock based compensation expense related to options, restricted and performance stock awards of $0.6 million and $0.3 million for the three months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively, and $1.5 million and $0.9 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2011 and 2010, respectively.

Net loss per share was $0.01 and $0.02 for the third quarter of 2011 and 2010, respectively, and improved for the nine month period to $0.04 in 2011 from $0.06 in 2010, due to the reduced net loss and increased number of shares outstanding.

As of September 30, 2011, Antares had approximately $32.2 million in cash and investments, compared to approximately $9.8 million at December 31, 2010. The net increase in cash and investments was due primarily to the public offering of common stock in May 2011.