KV's fiscal 3rd-qtr net revenue jumps 39%

The USA's KV Pharmaceuticals says net revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 increased to $163.7 million from $117.9 million in the comparable period last fiscal year. Income from the firm's Ther-Rx unit grew 16.6% to $56.3 million, while ETHEX' net income rose 57.8% to $102.2 million, boosted by important Abbreviated New Drug products including the 100mg and 200mg strengths of metoprolol succinate extended-release tablets, the generic alternative to Toprol XL, originated by AstraZeneca, and diltiazem HCl ER capsules, a copycat version of Forest's Tiazac.

Net income for the quarter was $32.0 million, or $0.56 per diluted Class A share, compared to $18.5 million, or $0.33 per diluted share for the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Consolidated gross profit margin for the period, which corresponds to the last three months of 2007, was 69.3%, compared with 67.4% in the year-ago period, as the margin for ETHEX improved to 66.5% from 58.9%, with Ther-Rx' gross profit also improving to 90.2% from 88.0%.