ESTRASORB maker announces increased third quarter revenue.

2003 DEC 10 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Novavax, Inc., (NVAX) announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2003.

Total revenues for the third quarter of 2003 were $4.3 million compared to third-quarter 2002 revenues of $2.3 million.

Revenues for the third quarter included $3.6 million of product sales compared to $1.8 million of product sales in the prior-year period, a 100% increase.

Product sales increased across all of the company's product lines. In particular, sales benefited from the introduction of the company's two new prenatal vitamin products, as well as increased orders for AVC Cream, Nestabs, and Gynodiol. Revenue from research and development contracts with the National Institutes of Health and other government agencies increased 36.5% to $560,000 in the quarter from $410,000 in the third quarter of 2002.

In addition to improved quarterly revenues, the company announced what it called "the most significant event in its history," the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of ESTRASORB, its topical emulsion for estrogen therapy.

For the 9 months ended September 30, 2003, total revenues were $7.7 million compared to total revenues of $12.5 million for the prior-year period, a decline of $4.8 million. Product sales were $6.5 million in the period, a decline of $4.3 million. A decline in prenatal vitamin revenues year-over-year was due to the effects of competitive pressure from generics, aggressive sales promotions in the first half of 2002, and a higher than average volume of expired product returns as a result of those promotions. An AVC product line decline was also the result of sales promotions in 2002. Revenues year-to-date also included $1.0 million from research and development contracts and $212,000 in milestone and licensing fees.

Operating expenses for the 3 months ended September 30, 2003, were $7.2 million, a decrease of $1.6 million, or 18%, from $8.8 million in the 2002 period. Selling and marketing costs were $2.0 million compared to $2.7 million incurred for the same period in 2002, a decrease of 26%. The $700,000 year-over-year decline resulted from cost-cutting initiatives. General and administrative expenses in the quarter were $1.9 million compared to $1.6 million for the third quarter of 2002, an increase of 17%. This increase is due to lower than usual quarterly general and administrative costs in the third quarter of 2002, rather than increases in 2003. Research and development expenses were $2.6 million in the third quarter of 2003 compared to $3.7 million in the prior-year period, a decrease of 30%. This decrease was due to reductions in clinical trial and new drug application filing costs for ESTRASORB when compared to the prior-year period.