Cancer drugs a tonic for ProStrakan

Published on Thursday 14 May 2009 21:22

STRONG early sales of two key cancer treatments saw ProStrakan yesterday report a 40 per cent rise in sales in the first four months of the year.

The Borders pharmaceutical company is in a strong growth phase after launching its first drug in the United States in November and putting a cancer pain treatment into two major new European territories.

ProStrakan is now selling around 850 Sancuso patches a week in America. The patches help to prevent nausea in chemotherapy patients.

While the early sales are in line with expectations, the growth has led to a boost in ProStrakan's US sales force, with seven sales representatives recruited in recent weeks, taking its headcount to 82.

Chief executive Wilson Totten said yesterday that the additional staff had been taken on in smaller US centres after its partner company Novaquest, which is funding its sales force in return for a share of revenue, decided sales to additional countries would be profitable.

Totten said: "There are additional parts of the country where, based on the success we've had in other parts of the US in the early months, it's actually worth getting more sales reps into extra territories."

He added that the size of the sales force would remain under "perpetual review" although he did not expect the company to continue to grow its US staff every quarter.

Nomura Code Securities analyst Samir Devani says Sancuso could add $14 million (92m) to ProStrakan's sales this year.

North America is expected to be ProStrakan's chief growth driver in the coming years, on the back of a rise in sales of Sancuso and future drug launches.

The company recently refiled an application to the US Food and Drug Administration for Fortigel, a testosterone gel, rejected after clinical trials by a previous owner.

It plans to submit applications for two other drugs in the coming weeks, and Totten aims to have all three treatments launched in North America before the end of 2010.

In Europe, the group reported strong sales of Abstral, a pill designed to alleviate breakthrough cancer pain, after launching the treatment in the UK and Germany in January. Already it is selling around 7,200 tablets a week. It is expected to be launched in France and Spain later this year.

Galashiels-based ProStrakan reiterated its expectation that it would hit monthly break-even before the end of this year.

Sales were also boosted by the weakness of sterling, increasing the contribution from its US and eurozone businesses.

Shares in ProStrakan were up 3.5p to 80p yesterday.