AAA financials show more than 28% spike in sales

A year-to-date sales report for the radiopharmaceutical company Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) indicates that the company experienced 28.9 percent growth in sales, equaling about $68.7 million in the first nine months of 2014. Net income for the first three quarters of the year was gauged at approximately $1.5 million.

AAA reported consolidation in the company’s European network, which now includes the acquisition of GE Healthcare’s FDG-PET business in Italy as of the third quarter and the company consolidated production in Warsaw, Poland, and in Bonn, Germany. Both of these sites began commercial operations on Sept. 15.

The company also reported progress in a phase III trial for Lutathera, (Lu-177 DOTA[0]-Tyr[3]-Octreotate), a radiolabeled somatostatin analog that aims for over-expressed somatostatin receptors in certain cancers.

“Demand for our products is strong,” said AAA’s CEO Stefano Buono, in a press release. “We have seen growth across Europe, encouragingly in both established and new markets. With the recruitment for the Phase III trial for our key product candidate Lutathera reaching final stages, we are well-positioned going into the final quarter of 2014.”

The Lutathera trial, called NETTER-1, is being conducted in 51 centers in both the U.S. and Europe to evaluate the drug as a treatment for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. The company expects to complete enrollment of 230 subjects by the end of the year to assess progression-free survival and other endpoints.

AAA also is working on the development of theranostics for PET and SPECT, including a companion diagnostic PET agent for Lutathera  and a SPECT agent for the detection of cell death in a range of clinical applications, including rheumatoid arthritis.