After market close today, Crystal Research published a business update on Unilife Corp. (UNIS-NASDAQ). Beyond covering Unilife’s recent significant news and progress under its Industrialization Agreement with sanofi-aventis SA (SNY-NYSE), the update also includes an early look at Unilife’s financials for the second quarter of FY 2011, ended December 31, 2010. This data comes from Unilife’s Appendix 4C for the three and six months ended December 31, 2010, filed on January 31, 2011, with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
Unilife’s new manufacturing facility in York, PA
Additional highlights from the report, which is available at www.crystalra.com, are included below.
Unilife is progressively launching its patented portfolio of prefilled and clinical syringes under two brands: (1) Unifill, glass-barreled, prefilled safety syringes; and (2) Unitract, a line of plastic-barreled, clinical safety syringes. To the Company’s knowledge, the Unifill Syringe is the world’s first and only known prefilled syringe with safety integrated inside the glass barrel. Its non-commodity nature streamlines pharmaceutical industrial processes for the filling, packaging, and transport of prefilled syringes, optimizes product lifecycles, and serves as a brand differentiator in competitive therapeutic markets.
The distinctive feature of all Unilife syringes is that needle retraction is both automatic and operator controlled within a fully integrated syringe, a combination of safety features that Unilife does not believe is available in any other technology marketed today.
Sanofi-aventis, thought to be the world’s largest purchaser of prefilled syringes, is funding up to $38.5 million (pre-sales) for the industrialization and exclusive right to buy the Unifill Syringe in therapeutic areas such as vaccines and antithrombotics. As well, discussions with other pharmaceutical leaders are now accelerating.
International healthcare and pharmaceutical markets are being driven by legislation to the mandatory use of safety syringes. However, since 2002, reported rates of needlestick injuries in U.S. healthcare facilities have remained largely stable, with safety syringes now causing the majority of injuries.
To meet projected market demand and stringent pharmaceutical standards for primary drug containers, Unilife emphasizes its operational capabilities and recently constructed, state-of-the-art facility in Pennsylvania. The Company has also built a highly experienced team with expertise in medical device and pharmaceutical markets.
The Company plans to further increase production and possesses several near-to-mid-term revenue streams. Per its January 31, 2011, filing with the ASX, Unilife held cash and cash equivalents of over $39.5 million as of December 31, 2010.