Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc (CVE:AQS) (OTCMKTS:AQSZF) posted third-quarter results after the bell on Friday, which highlighted potential future revenue from a new ophthalmology partnership.
“Aequus has continued to advance the business in Q3, signing a key collaboration with Medicom Healthcare [Ltd] which adds a collection of market-ready ophthalmology products along with late-stage development assets to our growing ophthalmology franchise in Canada,” CEO and Chairman Doug Janzen said in a statement. “This collaboration with Medicom fits perfectly into our goals and vision for the franchise. Aequus looks forward to continuing our business development efforts in the coming quarters and finishing the year strong with our current set of revenue-generating products.”
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Under an exclusive distribution agreement signed in July, Aequus will receive commercial rights to the Evolve line of preservative-free dry eye products. The products contain five commercial-stage products and two products in development, the company said.
Aequus has completed its regulatory work on the Health Canada applications and said it expects to file with the agency once it receives an audit report from Medicom. Looking ahead, the company expects to launch Evolve products in 2020.
For the three months ended September 30, Aequus saw revenue of $370,799, a 12% dip year-over-year. The reason for the decline, the company said, was a particularly strong quarter in 2018, coupled with a previously announced decrease in royalty share at the beginning of 2019.
“Despite the challenges of a decrease in the partner royalties, volume growth in ophthalmology grew by 81% Q3 2019 vs Q3 2018,” Chief Commercial Officer Ian Ball said in a statement. “Additionally, our year to date volume growth in 2019 vs 2018 grew by 60% which demonstrates the momentum that our commercial organization is generating.”
The company also said it has paused promotion of its Zepto Capsulotomy System, an eye surgery tool, while modifications are made by the manufacturer. The move is not expected to affect 2020 revenues.
Aequus added that it does expect to see product sales growth for its Tacrolimus and Vistitan ophthalmology offerings.
Aequus operates by taking medications that are already available in the US or elsewhere and licensing or acquiring the Canadian rights, then taking the clinical data that supported that approval and working with Health Canada, the country's national health system, to get them approved and commercialized.
Contact Andrew Kessel at [email protected]
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