GPC's 2006 loss up 3% on satraplatin costs

German biopharmaceutical GPC Biotech AG says that, for the full year 2006, its net loss was 64.0 million euros ($84.4 million), an increase of 3% on the 62.2 million euro deficit it recorded in 2005. The firm attributed the slight decline to costs associated with the ongoing clinical and regulatory development of its anticancer agent satraplatin.

US satraplatin launch still on track

The Martinsried-headquartered company explained that development of the drug, which it licensed from the USA's Spectrum Pharmaceuticals in 2002 (Marketletters passim), caused a 16% increase in its R&D expenditure, which was 64.7 million euros, but added that the agent has real potential in a wide range of cancers. Analysts at Lehman Brothers echoed this opinion, predicting that the product will achieve peak annual sales of $800.0 million, after it is launched as a therapy for prostate cancer, later in the year.