On Tuesday, drug developer BioMarin Pharmaceutical
Revenue was up 23% year over year but BioMarin still experienced a minor net loss in the second quarter. With nearly $590 million in cash and investments after a $280 million convertible note offering in April, BioMarin has plenty of wiggle room as sales of Aldurazyme from partner Genzyme
Speaking of enzyme replacement therapy Kuvan, BioMarin submitted a New Drug Application for the compound earlier this quarter and expects to get an FDA response by the end of November. Build-out of its sales and marketing force for the drug is continuing apace.
Earlier in the year, BioMarin announced mixed results from a phase 2 study of its pipeline candidate 6R-BH4 as a treatment for hypertension. In 2008, the company expects to announce multiple sets of phase 2 data for the drug for various cardiovascular conditions, among others.
On the conference call, BioMarin guided for one or possibly two deals that it will use its large cash pile on by the end of the year. Guidance for 2007 is still for a net loss of around $20 million, but this loss forecast will likely be reduced by several million dollars due to strong sales growth of Naglazyme.
With the upcoming FDA regulatory decision on Kuvan, six clinical trials for 6R-BH4, and the potential for new outside products to enter the pipeline, BioMarin has a busy rest of 2007 ahead.
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Fool contributor Brian Lawler does not own shares of any company mentioned in this article. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
