Biota's six-month profit jumps 31% on GSK deal

Australian anti-infectives company Biota Holdings reported a 31% year-on-year jump in net profit for the six months ended December 2008,  to A$7.2 million ($4.7 million), boosted by A$12.7 million from the  settlement of litigation with GlaxoSmithKline, its partner on influenza  drug Relenza (zanamivir).

GSK, the world's second-largest drugmaker by sales, agreed to pay A$20.0  million in compensation to settle a long-running dispute in which Biota  accused it of under-promoting the product (Marketletters passim).

Six-month revenues totaled A$33.5 million, up 10%. Biota receives a 7%  royalty on sales of Relenza. During the period, the contribution from  this income stream fell to A$3.8 million from A$16.5 million in the  comparable period of the year before. The Melbourne-based company earned  A$6.6 million versus A$9.6 million in collaboration income from  licensing agreements with AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim and grant  income of A$1.1 million vs A$2.4 million from the US National  Institutes of Health for the development of a long-acting  neuraminidase inhibitor.