PolarityTE prepares for launch of SkinTE in 2019; posts $1.1M in revenue in fiscal 4Q

PolarityTE Inc (NASDAQ:PTE), the commercial-stage biotech company, said it has bolstered its sales staff to prepare for the commercial launch of SkinTE in the US, its flagship product for skin repair, reconstruction and replacement.

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 ending on October 31, the Salt Lake City, Utah company posted total revenue of $1.1 million, of which over $400,000 was from sales of SkinTE and over $700,000 stemmed from the company’s contract research operations.

“We successfully transitioned from a limited market release of our SkinTE product to the beginning of a regional market release. With this transition we have begun to hire a sales force to drive revenue and effectively commercialize SkinTE as we move through 2019,” noted CEO Dr Denver Lough in a statement.

READ: PolarityTE looks to raise US$32mln for R&D in stock offering

Looking to this year, Lough expects older data will help to drive the adoption of SkinTE and further case studies and additional clinical data will show its benefits over skin grafts.

In the last quarter, 22 sales representatives were added to bring the company’s total to 24 by the end of last year.

In other news, OsteoTE, a product intended for bone repair, reconstruction and replacement, was registered with the US Food and Drug Administration in preparation for limited release in 2019.

PolarityTE’s net loss for the three months until October 31, came to $22.5 million compared with a net loss of $9.6 million for the year-ago period. The company attributed the widening of its net loss to increased headcount, costs associated with its manufacturing and commercial infrastructure and stock-based compensation.

Having assessed its product development and commercialization plans, the company’s management thinks its existing cash and cash equivalents will be adequate to meet its capital needs for at least the next 12 months.

As of the close of October, PolarityTE was sitting on cash and cash equivalents of $71 million compared with $17.7 million in the year-ago quarter.

PolarityTE focuses on developing a range of regenerative tissue products and biomaterials for the fields of medicine, biomedical engineering and material sciences. The PolarityTE platform technology begins with a small piece of a patient’s own healthy tissue, rather than artificially manipulated individual cells. From this small piece of autologous tissue, the company creates a product which is designed to stimulate the patient’s own cells to regenerate the target tissues.

PolarityTE shares slipped 8% to hit $15.13 in afternoon trade on Monday.

Contact Ellen Kelleher at [email protected]

Story by ProactiveInvestors