Shares in Avita Medical have jumped after sales for its asthma products jumped 72 per cent to nearly $2 million.
Shares in Avita Medical have jumped after sales for its asthma products jumped 72 per cent to nearly $2 million.
For financial year ending March 31 2009, Avita reported sales for its Breath-A-Tech and Funhaler spacers of $1.83 million, up from $1.06 million on the previous corresponding period.
Shares in Avita climbed 2.1 cents to a high of 9.3 cents before easing to 7.8 cents at 14:15 AEDT.
The announcement is below:
Avita Medical Ltd (ASX: AVH) is pleased to announce the following sales and marketing update.
Record Respiratory Sales. Revenue for the 2009 year to date1 from Avita Medical's respiratory products, including the Breath-A-Tech and Funhaler spacers, is $1.829 million, up 72% on the same period last year ($1.061 million).
Avita Medical General Manager, Asia Pacific Lorraine Glover said the respiratory division showed signs of continued good performance through the remainder of the financial year. "Spacer sales in Australia alone are up over 45% during the March 2009 Quarter compared to last year's actual March 2008 Quarter sales," said Ms Glover.
"Respiratory sales for the year to date are significantly ahead of expectations and we anticipate continued acceleration of sales as we enter the winter months which is traditionally our busiest period."
New Spacer Manufacturing Process On Line.
In February 2009 Avita Medical announced a major revision of its spacer manufacturing process including the relocation of manufacturing to a new GMP facility in Malaysia. All tool qualification, validation processes and first production run have been completed and Avita Medical is pleased to report that the initial production lot of Breath-A-Tech spacers manufactured under the new process has shipped approximately 1 week ahead of schedule.
Avita Medical VP Operations William Marshall said the new manufacturing process for the Company's respiratory products had reduced production costs by more than 30%.
"Implementation of the new manufacturing process has proceeded exceptionally well under a very tight timeline. We have successfully met an aggressive production schedule and exceeded our estimated cost savings," said Mr Marshall.
"The increased sales volume over the past 3 months has added pressure to meet the timeline and left little room for error in getting production on line."
Avita Medical CEO Dr William Dolphin said he was pleased with Avita's progress over the past 9 months.
"The Company has made tremendous progress over the first 9 months of the 2009 financial year. The Operations team has done an exceptional job in getting our new manufacturing up and running and the Sales & Marketing team, through a new focus of effort, is generating very encouraging results for both the respiratory and regenerative product line," said Dr Dolphin.
"The improved efficiency, reduced manufacturing costs and increased sales will positively impact our top and bottom lines and will be increasingly apparent over the next several quarters."
