Coulter posts losses in fiscal 1999

Radiopharmaceutical firm Coulter Pharmaceuticals reported losses for both the fourth quarter and fiscal year 1999 (end-December). The company posted quarter losses of $14.5 million, compared to net income of $25.5 million in 1998, and dramatic year-end losses of $50.6 million, compared to $2 million the year before. The South San Francisco, CA, company attributed these results to increased operating expenses to support its R&D and commercialization activities for Bexxar, the cancer therapy product Coulter is developing with SmithKline Beecham for the treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Coulter ended the year with cash assets of $82 million.

In other Coulter news, the firm has received a composition patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Arising from Coulter’s work on Bexxar, the patent covers radiolabeled monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of B-cell lymphomas, and strengthens Coulter’s position in the field of radioimmunotherapy, according to president and CEO Michael Bigham.