Schwarz’s results for 2006 “a good start”

Schwarz has revealed its first quarter results for 2006, describing them as “a good start” to the year. Sales increased by 3.9 percent to 247.4 million euros (?172.4 million) and it achieved a gross profit of 169.5 million euros, despite much-increased costs.

The report said that sales in the US were dampened partly due to increased competition for GlycoLax, Schwarz’s gastrointestinal drug, resulting in a 19.8 per cent drop in demand. After adjusting for generics, the company said that US business had increased by 4.7 per cent. Sales in Europe was marked by particularly strong growth in Germany, largely due to the success antiasthmatic drug Atmadisc and Provas, Schwarz revealed.

Research and marketing costs increased by 4.7 per cent and 15.6 per cent respectively, due to a number of products in development and increased marketing costs for the UK and German launches of Neupro, a drug for Parkinson’s disease.

Patrick Schwarz-Schuette CEO of Schwarz Pharma AG, said: “The performance of our business in the first quarter builds a solid basis for achieving our financial targets for 2006.”

“Furthermore, our clinical development projects showed a set of positive results and we have launched the Parkinson?s patch in the first markets. We will continue to focus on research and development in order to further strengthen our clinical development pipeline,” he added. As well as Parkinson’s disease, German-based Schwarz is currently researching, restless legs syndrome, epilepsy, neuropathic pain and incontinence. Schwarz operates its UK-based operations from Chesham, Buckinghamshire.

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