Minrad Cuts Loss By More Than a Third
By David Robinson, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
May 3–Minrad International cut its first-quarter loss by more than a third as the Buffalo-based medical device and anesthesia maker’s sales jumped by 29 percent and the company slashed its interest expenses.
Despite more than doubling its spending on marketing as the company tripled the size of its sales force, Minrad cut its losses as the company benefited from a steep drop in interest expenses.
The company, which has regularly sold shares and taken other steps to raise the money needed to fund its money-losing operations, also said it hopes to raise more than $30 million by selling 10 million additional shares of its stock.
About a third of the proceeds from the stock sale would help pay for the 37,000-square-foot laboratory and office facility, now under construction, that it plans to lease in an Orchard Park industrial park. The company also is planning an 11,500-square-foot addition that will increase the size of its Bethlehem, Pa., anesthetics manufacturing plant by about 40 percent.
The company also intends to use about $5 million of the money to pay for research and development efforts on new products and to pay off about $3.1 million in debt. The rest of the proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
During the first quarter, Minrad’s loss narrowed to $564,708, or 3 cents per share, which was an improvement from a loss of $895,288, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier. While Minrad’s interest expenses dropped by nearly $700,000, the company’s spending on marketing jumped by $452,000 as the firm increased its sales staff to 21 people from 7 a year ago.
Minrad’s sales grew to $3.1 million from $2.4 million as the company increased its sales of some of its anesthesia products in both the North American and international markets. Minrad doubled its sales of enflurane, an anesthetic used during baby deliveries and abdominal surgery. Revenues from its sevoflurane surgical anesthetic, which it has been selling for less than a year, topped $500,000.
Minrad also said it plans to begin selling another anesthetic product, desflurane, once it comes off patent protection in February 2007. The company plans to produce its first test batches of the anesthetic this month and seek regulatory approval to sell generic desflurane later this year.
—–
To see more of The Buffalo News, N.Y., or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.buffalonews.com.
Copyright (c) 2006, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.
MNRD,