Inspire posts loss; marketing is next

Inspire Pharmaceuticals on Tuesday reassured investors who had become jittery after the Durham pharmaceutical company lowered its annual revenue projections about a month ago.

Inspire warned in January that sales of AzaSite lagged projections made when the pink-eye treatment came to market six months ago. But Christy Shaffer, Inspire's chief executive, said Tuesday that a plan is in place to improve marketing of AzaSite.

Inspire has 98 U.S. sales representatives promoting drugs to eye-care specialists and pediatricians. The company also reported that its losses mounted in the fourth quarter and for all of 2007, mainly because of increased costs to market AzaSite.

"We know we need to do more to increase acceptance" among physicians who can prescribe AzaSite, Shaffer told analysts in a conference call.

Inspire plans to increase AzaSite sales by providing more data about the drug to eye-care specialists and by persuading more health insurers to pay for AzaSite prescriptions, Shaffer said.

Investors are optimistic about research tests on several other promising medicines that are advancing smoothly, said analyst Angela Larson with Susquehanna Financial Group. Two of Inspire's experimental drugs -- denufosol for cystic fibrosis and a treatment for seasonal allergies -- are in late-stage testing.

The company has had a spotty regulatory record, but even its troubled dry-eye treatment, Prolacria, may be headed for another late-stage test. Many of the test results will become available this year.

"They have a lot of information coming that bodes well for investors to gain confidence," Larson said.

With cash reserves of about $140 million, Inspire has the resources to analyze the data and work with the Food and Drug Administration, whose increased focus on safety is delaying approval of new drugs. For a drug-development company of Inspire's size, Larson said, "that's unique to have that flexibility."

Inspire's shares gained about 12 percent to close at $4.23 Tuesday, up 40 cents. The stock is down 25 percent from the beginning of the year.

Excluding a one-time $8.3 million charge in the fourth quarter, the company's loss for the three months that ended Dec. 31 widened but was in line with analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Financial.

The loss for the quarter was $18.1 million, worse than a loss of $15.5 million a year earlier. Fourth-quarter revenue was $13.9 million, about 3 percent below analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Financial.

For the full year, Inspire reported a $63.7 million loss on $48.7 million in revenue.

For 2008, Inspire projected revenue of $62 million to $76 million.