Aratana Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PETX) has hit another milestone in its pet drug development efforts. The company said that the veterinary unit of the FDA has approved its local anesthetic drug for dogs called Nocita. This isthe company’s third therapeutic product to be approved by the FDA this year.
What are the plans?
But a string of FDA approvals is not everything that Aratana is seeking. The company wants to bring those products that have been approved to market. CEO Steven St. Peter said that what is before them is a plan to introduce the approved products on the market in the coming months.
As for the case of Nocita, Aratana is working to ensure that the drug is commercially available this fall. However, the company did not provide specifics as to how far it has gone in its preparations to commercially produce Nocita and its other recently approved candidates.
But by giving a timeline of the fall of this year, it seems the management is confident that the drug will soon enter mass production so that it can be made available to veterinarians.
Aratana Therapeutics’s Nocita is a long-acting, local anesthetic that can last up to 72 hours in the system of a dog after it undergoes cranial cruciate ligament surgery.
Aratana said that Nocita is administered to dogs as a single dose. Its administration is done by way of tissue infiltration. CEO Peter said that Aratana believes that Nocita will transform how veterinarians control pain in dogs after they undergo cranial cruciate ligament operations.
Nocita sales projections
Though the management sounded optimistic on the sales prospects of Aratana, it didn’t provide any specific estimates of the amount of revenue it expects from the drug in the first year or any such timeline. However, Aratana is working to build a stronger sales organization that will support the launch of its recently approved therapeutic products.
What transpired in 2Q?
Aratana Therapeutics reported a largely successful 2Q2016. It generated revenue of $38 million and posted EPS profit of $0.61. That marked a significant improvement from EPS loss of $0.23 in the same quarter last year.