FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAY 5, 2000
VANCOUVER, CANADA - QLT PhotoTherapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: QLTI; TSE: QLT) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2000. All amounts, unless specified otherwise, are in Canadian dollars.
For the three months ended March 31, 2000, QLT reported a net loss of $12,522,000 or $0.19 per common share compared to a net loss of $5,911,000, or $0.10 per common share for the same period in 1999 and a net loss of $12,069,000 or $0.19 per common share for the fourth quarter of 1999.
"The increased loss for the quarter can be directly attributed to QLT's share of costs for the Visudyne™ (verteporfin) expanded access program and accelerated Visudyne pre-marketing activities by CIBA Vision," said Kenneth H. Galbraith, QLT's Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. These costs have been recorded in the Statement of Operations as "Market Development and Other Joint Business Costs" net of amounts received from commercial sales in Switzerland and cost recovery under the expanded access program outside of North America.
"Our marketing partner, CIBA Vision, recorded approximately $5.7 million in net revenues from both the cost recovery from the expanded access program outside of North America which is underway in over 20 countries and commercial sales in Switzerland."
Mr. Galbraith said, "First quarter sales exceeded our expectations and we look forward to reporting results in the future from the U.S. launch of Visudyne which commenced on April 12, 2000."
Royalty revenues on PHOTOFRIN® (porfimer sodium) sales were $619,000 during the first three months of 2000, equivalent to the first three months of 1999. As announced on May 1, 2000, the Company has entered into an agreement to sell the worldwide rights to PHOTOFRIN to Axcan Pharma, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2000.
"During the first quarter, the Company's financial position was strengthened with additional cash resources from borrowings under a long-term lending facility for the Company's new headquarters and research facilities," said Mr. Galbraith. The Company ended the first quarter with total cash resources of approximately $271 million.
QLT PhotoTherapeutics Inc. is a world leader in the development and commercialization of proprietary pharmaceutical products for use in photodynamic therapy, an emerging field of medicine utilizing light-activated drugs in the treatment of disease. QLT's innovative science has advanced photodynamic therapy beyond applications in cancer towards breakthrough treatments in ophthalmology and autoimmune disease.
Visudyne™ is a trademark of Novartis AG.
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Elayne Wandler
Vice President, Corporate Communications
ewandler@qltinc.com
Kenneth H. Galbraith
Executive Vice President & CFO
kgalbrai@qltinc.com
t 800.663.5486 or 604.872.7881
QLT PhotoTherapeutics Inc. is listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the trading symbol “QLTI” and on The Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol “QLT”.
The foregoing information contains forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include: risks associated with the commercialization of Visudyne‘ therapy; dependence on corporate relationships; manufacturing uncertainties; uncertainty of pricing and reimbursement; uncertainties relating to clinical trials and product development; the Company’s history of operating losses and uncertainty of future profitability; competition; rapid growth; uncertainty regarding patents and proprietary rights; product liability claims and insurance; no assurance of regulatory approval; government regulation; uncertainty of access to capital; anti-takeover provisions; and volatility of common share price; among others, all as described in the Company’s Annual Information Form on Form 10-K. |
