Nabi's first quarter earnings in line with expectations.(Nabi Biopharmaceuticals Corp.)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

2002 MAY 29 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Nabi Biopharmaceuticals (NABI) announced that financial results for the first quarter ended March 30, 2002, were consistent with previously communicated expectations.

The company reported a net loss for the period, which totaled $0.7 million, or $0.02 per share on a fully diluted basis. The gross margin earned on product sales increased to $14.1 million, or 34% of total sales in 2002, from $13.6 million, or 23% of total sales, in the first quarter of 2001. This improvement reflects increased sales of Nabi-HB [hepatitis B immune globulin (human)], and improvement in the mix of biopharmaceutical sales and antibody sales.

"We continued to leverage the cash return from our current operations to generate funding to advance our research and development pipeline," said David J. Gury, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Nabi. "During the quarter, we generated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $3.3 million, after funding an increase of $1.4 million in research and development expenditures. We further strengthened our financial position by eliminating all indebtedness through the redemption of our 61/2% convertible debt effective April 8, 2002. And, with the initiation of manufacturing of Nabi-HB, our leading antibody-based therapy for the prevention of hepatitis B, at our Boca Raton facility, we strengthened our operations by eliminating our dependence on a third party manufacturer.

"During the quarter, we made further progress in advancing our clinical pipeline," continued Gury. "The value of our Gram-positive infections program was affirmed by the publication of results of the initial phase III trial of StaphVAX (Staphylococcus aureus Polysaccharide Conjugate Vaccine) in the New England Journal of Medicine on ...