Pet meds developer Aratana Therapeutics' ($PETX) full-year and Q4 financials paint a picture of a company that continues to bleed cash as it attempts to move 18 product candidates through its pipeline.
Aratana reported a net loss of $10.3 million for the period ended December 31, 2014, compared to a net income of $4.5 million for the same period the previous year. For the full year, the company recorded a net loss of $38.8 million versus a net loss of $6.9 million in 2013, the company said in its earnings release.
Additionally, Aratana said it will restate its 2013 consolidated financial statements to "adjust the purchase price accounting related" to its $38 million acquisition of San Diego-based Vet Therapeutics. The company said some third-party royalty payments associated with AT-004 (used for the treatment of B-cell lymphoma in dogs) were "incorrectly excluded" from the valuation.
Shares of Aratana closed Friday off 0.91% at $18.47 per share compared to a 12-month high of $20.74. Following its July 2013 IPO, shares rose as high as $25.50 but began to slip as the company spent heavily on R&D.
The Kansas City, KS-based company has about $98.1 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, which it said would be "sufficient" to fund operations through 2016. Last year, Aratana raised $135.3 million through two equity offerings.
Over the past year, Aratana has bulked up its pipeline by forming development partnerships for products across a range of diseases, including osteosarcoma and osteoarthritis in dogs, and atopic dermatitis, which affects both dogs and cats. The company is betting heavily on pet owners eventually buying into the idea of treating their cats and dogs with cutting-edge medicines.
In January, the company scored a first by winning full USDA approval for AT-004, which it touts as the only species-specific monoclonal antibody to be fully approved for marketing in the animal health industry.
- see the earnings release