Companies: SKP   

Bombed-out drug deliverer SkyePharma should gain from US regulatory approval of four dosage strengths for blood pressure treatment Sular.

Sular is a calcium channel-blocking agent developed by US concern Sciele Pharma to treat high blood pressure and the Food & Drugs Administration (FDA) has now sanctioned a new formulation for Sular. This uses fully listed SkyePharma’s patented GEOMATRIX technology and provides for lower doses of Sular.

FDA approval will trigger a £1 million payment from Sciele to SkyePharma. The company will also receive ‘low to mid single-digit royalties’ on sales of the new Sular, which Sciele expects to launch in the first quarter of this year.

SkyePharma was originally founded by Australian entrepreneur Ian Gowrie-Smith and since last year has been working under new management headed by chief executive officer Frank Condella to recover from £77 million losses in 2006. The company is pinning many hopes on its Flutiform asthma treatment, which it is developing with US group Abbott under favourably revised terms and which has recently received positive Phase 111 clinical trial data.

Analysts suggest SkyePharma, which lost £14.1 million in the first half of 2007, could reach breakeven this year. The shares, which neared 100p in 2001 before plunging all the way to 12.25p last July, now stand at 13.75p, up 1.25p this morning, and offer speculative rallying possibilities as long as progress on key products can be maintained and overall stock market conditions permit.

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Skyepharma	LSE	£30.15m	136.00p	-6.50p
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