Healthy progress for Ardana despite losses hitting £8.8m

The company, which specialises in human reproductive health, turned in an 8.8 million pre-tax loss in the year to March 31, compared with 8.5m the year before.

But the firm, which is still largely in the development stage of its products, saw revenues climb to 490,000 from 135,000 on the back of the launch of its first product, Striant, a testosterone replacement therapy for male hypogonadism, the inability of the testicles to produce testosterone, sperm or both.

Dr Lindsay said: "The year has been extremely busy for Ardana as we concentrated on developing our pipeline and building the profile of the company."

And she added: "We have made significant progress towards our objective of building a successful pharmaceutical business in the field of reproductive health."

Ardana, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in March 2005, launched Striant in tablet form in the UK in 2004, with a rollout in Germany, the Nordic region and the Republic of Ireland this year.

Dr Lindsay said the company, which ended the year with 19.1m still in its development warchest, is also preparing injectable erectile dysfunction treatment Invicorp for marketing, with a potential launch towards the end of 2006.

Ongoing programmes for Teverelix and testosterone cream were "progressing well", with directors hoping to conclude discussions with a number of potential drug development partners soon.

Ardana also has a strong portfolio of follow-on products in development, including the oral growth hormone Secretagogue, which is in early stage trials.

Experts estimate the current global market for products aimed at improving human reproductive health is worth around 14 billion a year.

Dr Lindsay added: "We are very pleased with the progress across our product portfolio."

And she added: "The clinical development and launch of Teverelix for prostate cancer is on track according to our original schedule."

However, Dr Lindsay said the company had a number of commercialisation options for Teverelix, which it wants more time to consider.

Looking ahead, Dr Lindsay said: "We intend to actively pursue product and technology in-licensing and acquisition opportunities, and look to create value by out-licensing other compounds we own which are not core to our strategy. Through these activities we aim to maximise the value in our portfolio."

Separately, Ardana announced the appointment of Huw Jones as a non-executive director. He is a former UK marketing director at drug giant SmithKlineBeecham, and co-founded Daffodil Consulting, a specialist adviser to European biotech firms.

Dr Lindsay said: "Huw brings considerable sales and marketing expertise to our board and we are delighted that he is joining us.

"His contributions will be invaluable as we grow our commercial product pipeline across Europe."