Pozen posts $13.3 million 2nd-quarter profit

Chapel Hill drug company Pozen reported this morning that it posted a $13.3 million profit in the second-quarter -- reversing its loss of a year ago -- thanks to a $20 million milestone payment from partner GlaxoSmithKline.

The 43 cents per share profit compares to a loss of $3.8 million, or 13 cents per share, a year ago.

The milestone payment from GlaxoSmithKline, the British pharmaceutical giant that has one of its two U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, was triggered by the Food and Drug Administration’s April 15 approval of Treximet, the migraine medication Pozen developed in conjunction with GSK. Treximet is Pozen’s first product.

Treximet, which hit pharmacy shelves in mid-May, is the designated successor to GSK’s Imitrex, a blockbuster pill that generated $1.37 billion in sales last year. Treximet will face competition from cheaper generic versions of Imitrex that could be launched as early as December, but analysts project annual sales will exceed $1 billion by 2011.

Pozen received $800,000 in royalties from Treximet sales in the second quarter. The company said that, based on IMS data, Treximet accounted for 3.7 percent of new migraine prescriptions in June.

Revenue in the second quarter totaled $33.1 million, versus $11.9 million a year ago. Operating expenses rose to $20.3 million, up from $16.5 million a year ago, an increase the company attributed to increased drug-development costs. Pozen is developing other pain medications, one of them in partnership with AstraZeneca.

Pozen reaffirmed that it expects revenue this year to be between $62 million and $68 million, while operating expenses should reach $67 million to $71 million. The consensus projection among analysts is that revenue will hit $63.9 million this year, according to Bloomberg News.

Pozen shares closed Monday at $12.04, down 66 cents. The company’s shares have fallen 35 percent in the past 12 months.