180-day exclusive sales in US
Drug manufacturer Orient Pharma (友霖生技) yesterday said that it inked a deal with Ireland-based generic drug maker Actavis PLC to form a partnership to file a paragraph IV patent challenge for exclusive sales of 180 days in the US for a generic version of Pitavastaint to treat hyperlipidemia.
Both sides will share the expenses in the legal processes of the patent challenge, Orient Pharma said in a statement.
If the product is approved in the US, Orient Pharma will own the drug license and be responsible for manufacturing the drug, while Actavis will be in charge of selling the drug in the US market, the company said. Both companies will share the sales profits in the market, it added.
According to IMS Health, from July last year through June this year, Pitavastatin had total sales of approximately US$155 million in the US.
Weak revenue delays launches
Touchpanel maker TPK Holding Co (宸鴻) yesterday said revenue dropped 0.82 percent month-on-month, but rose 11.66 percent year-on-year to NT$10.54 billion (US$352 million) last month, the lowest in four months. In the first eight months, accumulated revenue fell 26.33 percent annually to NT$78.496 billion.
TPK blamed delay in product launches on weak revenue growth momentum last month.
TPK forecast that revenue would be flat or grow 5 percent this quarter from last quarter’s NT$30.7 billion. That means the company needs to generate NT$9.53 billion this month in order to hit the revenue target.
Unity Opto revenue soars
Unity Opto Technology Co (東貝), the nation’s second-largest LED chip packager by sales, yesterday reported that its revenue expanded for the third consecutive month to hit the highest level in the company’s history.
Consolidated revenue was NT$910.21 million (US$30.37 million) last month, up 59.45 percent year-on-year and 13.59 percent month-on-month, thanks to rising shipments of LED lighting and backlight products.
That brought Unity Opto’s total sales from January through last month to NT$5.67 billion, up 13.31 percent from NT$5.01 billion in the same period of last year, according to the company’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Lextar sales post record
Lextar Electronics Corp (隆達電子), which manufactures sapphire-based LED chips and LED lighting products as well as provides chip packaging services, yesterday said its consolidated sales rose 14.73 percent year-on-year and 0.31 percent month-on-month to NT$1.42 billion last month, a record-high monthly level.
Accumulated revenue in the first eight months ending Aug. 31 was NT$9.85 billion, rising 6.22 percent from the previous year, said Lextar, which last week announced the sale of a 13 percent stake to US-based Cree Inc in a strategic move to jointly develop the fast-growing LED lighting market.
SPIL sales up year-on-year
Siliconware Precision Industries Co (SPIL, 矽品精密), the nation’s second-largest chip packager and tester, yesterday said its consolidated sales for last month increased from the previous year but decreased from July.
The firm’s revenue hit NT$7.01 billion, up 7.65 percent year-on-year but down 5.13 percent month-on-month, the Greater Taichung-based company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
From January to last month, SPIL’s accumulated revenue totaled NT$54.38 billion, an increase of 23.43 percent from the NT$44.06 billion reported for the same period last year, the company’s data showed.
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