International Isotopes on Tuesday reported a 118% spike in year-over-year net loss for the first quarter of 2016, which it attributed to a lower gross profit and rising research and development costs.
The Idaho company listed a $374,518 net loss for the three months ended March 31, up from $171,548 in the first quarter of 2015. Gross profit over the same period dropped from $810,538 to $747,137, while product sales were down from $1.9 million in first-quarter 2015 to just under $1.7 million in 2016.
International Isotopes is a producer of nuclear medicine calibration and reference standards, along with providing cobalt-60 products and radioisotopes and radiochemicals for medical, industrial, and other uses.
The firm’s quarterly operating expenses rose due to greater spending on R&D, primarily for product development in its radiochemical business, according to a press release. Total operating expenses hiked from $877,627 last year to $1.04 million in 2016. That R&D should pay off over the medium term, President and CEO Steve Laflin indicated in the release.
“We continue to make excellent progress towards the launch of our new radiochemical product, I3odine/MAXTM, our sodium iodide radiochemical product (I-131), to be supplied as an oral solution or capsule form for use in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases of the thyroid, thyroid cancer, and hyperthyroidism,” Laflin said. “We expect to submit this generic drug product application to the FDA later this year. I 3 odine/MAXTM should be just the first of several generic drug products we plan to submit to the FDA in the coming years. We believe this new business line of generic drug products will significantly increase sales in this business segment.”
