ALISO VIEJO, Calif. (AP) – Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported a bigger loss for its fiscal second quarter due to costs to launch the drug Nuedexta.

Nuedexta is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for a condition known as pseudobulbar affect – involuntary emotional outbursts such as laughing or crying associated with brain disease or injury. Avanir launched the drug in February and said 1,000 new prescriptions were written in the seven weeks between the drug’s launch and the end of the quarter.

The company posted a loss of $14.5 million, or 12 cents per share, for the three months that ended March 31, compared with a loss of $6.4 million, or 8 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Operating expenses more than doubled to $15.8 million from $7.4 million.

Revenue rose to $1.4 million from $1 million, including $505,000 from Nuedexta and $974,489 in royalty revenue.

Analysts polled by FactSet had expected a bigger loss of 15 cents per share on $2.4 million in revenue, on average.

Date: May 9, 2011
Source: Associated Press