aaiPharma Steadies Itself

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aaiPharma (Nasdaq: AAII) was able to pay some of its bills, and that alone was enough for some investors to reward the stock with a 34% gain on Monday.

The specialty pharmaceutical company said it won the approval from debt holders for a restructuring, under which it increased the size of its term loans and made interest payments on its bonds from the new loans. The report was a welcome sign that the company is beginning to right itself months after coming clean with financial shenanigans.

The revelations followed word last week that the Food and Drug Administration had approved Sanofi-Aventis' (NYSE: SNY) Allegra-D, a treatment for allergic rhinitis that uses aaiPharma's extended-release technology. aaiPharma, which will receive a one-time payment and royalties as a result of the approval, saw its stock jump 60% on that news.

Given the positive developments, it's tempting to think that the stock may be worth considering. But hold your horses. aaiPharma is sitting on a lot of debt -- as of June 30, more than $300 million of it, while its cash position stands at under $8 million. The company is also considering selling part or all of its pharmaceuticals sales unit, which makes up about 40% of revenue. Most of what would be left after such a sale is its contract development services side, a competitive, low-margin business.

Perhaps more significantly, aaiPharma is burdened by weighty legal liabilities. The company is the subject of a slew of investigations from state and federal authorities. What's more, it's being sued by Cephalon (Nasdaq: CEPH) subsidiary Cima Labs for $16.5 million in connection with a failed merger.

It's hard to ignore the large gains in aaiPharma's depressed stock. Still, the company has plenty of hurdles ahead of it, and it can't afford many stumbles.

Fool contributor Brian Gorman is a freelance writer in Chicago. He does not own shares of any companies mentioned in this article.