THE STABILISATION OF THE TESTOSTERONE MARKET AND RESULTING ROYALTY REVENUE STREAM FOR AXIRON WILL BE ABLE TO FUND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT WORK ON OUR PRODUCT PIPELINE.
We continue to have a strong cash position and were pleased to have announced a 6 cent fully-franked dividend for the year ended 30 June 2015.
Your Board has endorsed a business strategy which will result in the Company having a more balanced asset portfolio. Our portfolio includes development programs which are expected to generate new intellectual property, as well as programs which will be able to achieve product commercialisation through generic regulatory pathways. This revised portfolio will enable us to diversify our earnings base in the future and broaden our future income streams.
The market for Axiron appears to have stabilised since the publication of the Drug Safety Communication by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States in March 2015. Since then, labelling changes have been implemented for all testosterone products. Sponsors of marketed testosterone products are in dialogue with the FDA over a long term safety trial. The stabilisation of the testosterone market and resulting royalty revenue stream for Axiron will be able to fund further development work on our product pipeline.
Since our last Annual Report, Perrigo Company plc has been appointed as the distributor for Evamist in the US, resulting in a more effective distribution franchise for the product. In Europe, Gedeon Richter has received a number of regulatory approvals for Lenzetto. Evamist and Lenzetto are the US and European trademarks respectively for our proprietary estradiol spray.
We continue to progress development of an antifungal therapeutic for onychomycosis. Subject to the results of work currently being undertaken as part of the development program, new intellectual property is expected to be generated. In a separate initiative, we have made significant progress with superior formulations of two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.
As evidenced by this list of developments since our last annual report, Michael Kotsanis and the senior management team have had a very active year since Michael’s appointment as CEO. Acrux is well positioned for continued regeneration following the disruption of the US testosterone replacement therapy market.
I thank them all for their efforts.
Ross Dobinson
Chairman