LONDON (Alliance News) - Speciality pharmaceuticals company BTG PLC reiterates its revenue expectations for its current financial year Wednesday, and said it continues to expect "modest sales" of its newly launched varicose veins treatment Varithena in its first two years.
In a statement ahead of the company's annual general meeting BTG said it is trading in line with its expectations in its financial first quarter that ended June 30, and reiterated guidance for revenue of between GBP410 million to GBP440 million for the year to end-March 2016.
The company posted revenue of GBP367.8 million for its recently ended financial year.
BTG said the controlled launch of Varithena US reimbursed sector has continued, with the number of physicians having enrolled for training increased to 468 in the quarter and 223 of those physicians having treated patients or scheduling patients for treatment. BTG has increased its sales force for Varithena to over 30 from 24 to drive this launch.
The company cautioned that, as Varithena is a new product and procedure following treatment with Varithena insurance claims currently take "significantly longer" to process than established treatment options. As a result it continues to expect it to take around two years from the first commercial sales of the product in August 2014 to establish a "smooth reimbursement process" and achieve widespread take up of the product.
It expects strong growth in sales of Varithena to begin in the financial year beginning April 2016.
The current run rate for Varithena sales is in line with that of the previous six months, BTG said. At the time of its full year results in May the company reported its first revenue from Varithena of GBP1.0 million since its launch.
The company expects sales of the product to be heavily weighted towards the final few months of the year. It had previously guided for sales of between USD15 million and USD25 million in its current year, and said Wednesday that achieving these estimated sales is based on getting further coverage determinations in its "currently anticipated timelines and achieving a rapid impact on physician ordering patterns."
Elsewhere in the business, sales of its EkoSonic blood clot treatment have continued to increase, with more hospitals in the US adopting the product.
BTG added that within its speciality pharmaceuticals franchise, sales of its snake bite antivenom CroFab, digoxin toxicity antidote DigiFab and methrotrexate toxicity antidote Voraxaze have been in line with expectations, as has royalty revenue from is licensed products.
Shares in BTG are trading down 1.9% at 665.00 pence Wednesday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; hanassmith@alliancenews.com; @HanaSSAllNews and Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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