TaiMed Biologics Inc (中裕新藥) yesterday dismissed speculation that it is having financial difficulties because of declining sales of its Trogarzo HIV treatment in the US.
The company’s shares closed 5.21 percent lower at NT$94.60 yesterday on the Taipei Exchange. They have plummeted 42.84 percent this year, trailing the over-the-counter market’s advance of 19.05 percent.
The decline accelerated after TaiMed CEO James Chang (張念原) told an investors’ conference on Wednesday last week that Trogarzo’s sales momentum in the US was weaker than expected, and that the number of patients taking Trogarzo in the US is likely to reach just 400 at the end of this year, lower than its estimate of between 700 and 800.
Taimed’s marketing partner, Theratechnologies Inc, has deferred orders to next year due to high inventories, and the company now expects sales to peak in six years instead of four, Chang said.
“Chang shared why sales were weaker than expected, but he also said he was upbeat that sales would improve next year. However, rumors surfaced the next day — that TaiMed is facing financial trouble or that it is bound to shut down,” TaiMed chief financial officer Jack Chen (陳怡成) told the Taipei Times by telephone.
TaiMed has taken numerous calls from investors asking for an explanation, Chen said.
According to postings on the stock investment online forum Berich (必富網), some investors said they have suffered huge losses after they bought the stock at more than NT$300 a share, while others said they felt pessimistic about the company’s outlook.
“It would take time for sales to boom as our drug is new and a fourth-line treatment,” Chen said, adding that sales are expected to improve next year.
Theratechnologies is expected to solve the inventory issue in the short term, he said.
TaiMed has free cash flow of more than NT$1.6 billion and gross margin improved to 40 percent last quarter, he said.
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