FINANCIAL SUMMARY
- Net sales for the third quarter amounted to TSEK 2,119 (2,089) and for the nine-month period to TSEK 12,238 (10,064)
- The operating result for the quarter amounted to TSEK -11,718 (-5,795) and for the nine-month period to TSEK -26,581 (-15,924)
- Result after tax for the quarter amounted to TSEK -12,546 (-5,899) and for the nine-month period to TSEK -29,607 (-16,772)
- Earnings per share before and after dilution were SEK -0.45 (-0.21) for the quarter and SEK -1.06 (-0.74) for the nine-month period
- Cash and cash equivalents amounted to TSEK 28,624 (82,203) at the balance sheet date
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE THIRD QUARTER
- Gary Pitcairn took office as Chief Scientific Officer and Ulf Ericsson as VP Drug Development, as part of the strategy to increase focus on inhalation and respiratory diseases
- The project with the drug candidate NIC-001 for the treatment of gastroparesis was closed
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE NINE-MONTH PERIOD
- Material from large scale production of silica approved with identical quality as material produced at the pilot plant in Södertälje
- GMP-classified NLAB Spiro® material produced
SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER THE END OF THE PERIOD
- No significant events after the end of the period
FOCUS ON PRODUCTION!
Net sales for the quarter increased marginally to TSEK 2,119, most of which again is derived from our partner project with Vicore Pharma. The quarter’s increased operating loss compared to the previous year is according to plan and is mainly due to the expansion phase in which the company is currently in. To take the next step in our growth, we are now fully focused on completing large-scale production capacity, which is a prerequisite for being able to ramp up sales within Chromatography. Within Drug Development, the development of NLAB Spiro® is continuing with the goal of creating a pipeline of drug candidates for clinical development within inhalation and respiratory diseases.
The production of the first commercial products for preparative chromatography is now entering its final stage. A smaller part of the first production campaign is expected to be delivered by the end of the year, followed by larger quantities next year. For the first time in almost two years, we have been able to be present in the factory in England to actively take part in the process, at the same time as we are preparing for the start of sales. Our sales team in chromatography works with customers all over the world, with main focus on the major markets – India, China, the US and Europe. As sales start in preparative chromatography approaches, we intend to strengthen our sales organization by recruiting a VP Chromatography, with the task of leading the work globally.
In the Drug Development business, we are now focusing on inhalation and respiratory diseases. The technological progress we have made, combined with the interest we have seen so far from the market for our inhalation platform, makes it a natural step to streamline our Drug Development strategy and focus our resources to inhalation. In line with this, as we announced earlier, we have closed the project with the drug candidate NIC-001, for which also the commercial conditions have deteriorated.
In the pre-clinical program on our inhalation platform NLAB Spiro®, work is focused on understanding in vivo delivery and clearance of the NLAB Spiro® particles in a preclinical model. This work is an essential prerequisite to the more formal safety studies with NLAB Spiro® that we will conduct with the drug candidates we choose for clinical development.
Our assessment of continued growth remains, and the growth is expected to accelerate when we can sell products from our large-scale production, which is expected to happen during next year. The partner project with Vicore Pharma enters a phase with lower revenues, which during the fourth quarter is expected to lead to a temporary negative growth.
In my ten years as CEO of Nanologica, the company has never been in a more exciting phase than the one we are in right now. The shift in sales towards significantly larger volumes is drawing ever closer. Even though it is difficult to assess exactly when this will happen, my estimation is that it will happen during the first half of next year. However, I am comfortable in saying that it is not a question of IF it will happen but WHEN.
/Andreas Bhagwani, CEO