Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Net Falls, But Sales Rising
Detroit-based Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories Ltd. reported a net loss vs. net income in its second fiscal quarter ended Sept. 30, but the year-ago profit was prompted by $20 million in one-time income, part of an asset purchase agreement, partly offset by a $7.5 million reserve for inventory seized by federal regulators.
Sales for the generic drug maker, a subsidiary of India's Sun Pharma, were $97.8 million, up from $78.4 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Sales for the six months were $227.8 million, up from $126.4 million a year earlier.
The net loss for the quarter was $1.5 million or 4 cents a share, compared to net income of $6.7 million or 16 cents a share a year earlier. For the six months, the loss was $298,048 or 1 cent a share, compared to a loss of $2.8 million or 7 cents a share in the first six months of the prior fiscal year.
Caraco said it is continuing to work with consultants to resume production at its Michigan plants, which were shut down by the United States Food and Drug Administration last year due to quality concerns. Caraco entered into a consent decree with the FDA Sept, 29, 2009, setting out a path to resuming production. Caraco says it has "made significant progress" on that path, and said it believes it will resume manufacturing by March 31. However, Caraco said that "even assuming a successful remediation process, it will take significant time before the company reaches its previous levels of manufacturing in its Michigan facilities.|"
Caraco develops, manufactures, markets and distributes generic pharmaceuticals to the nation's largest wholesalers, distributors, drugstore chains and managed care providers.
More at www.caraco.com.
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