Akorn reveals revenues for 2Q , purchases stake in Aciex

Earlier on Tuesday, Generic drugmaker Akorn Inc. announced that it made profits in the second quarter, and further said that it agreed to purchase a minority stake in Aciex Therapeutics, an eye drug maker.

Although Akorn reported a loss of $9.4 million, or 10 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2010, the company said it earned $17.9 million, or 17 cents per share.

Akorn’s sales of certain assets to Pfizer Inc., which were a part of the Akorn-Strides joint venture, resulted in a profit of $13.4 million in the latest quarter.

Backed by the $26 million acquisition of Advanced Vision Research during the quarter, Akorn’s revenue spiked 59 percent to $32.1 million from $20.2 million. The products of AVR include those used for cleansing eyelids, eye nutrition, as well as TheraTears, a treatment for dry eyes. Sales jumped 41 percent exclusive of AVR.

According to FactSet, analysts anticipated a gain of 9 cents per share and $26.7 million in revenue.
In midday trading, shares of Akorn jumped 10.7 %, or 77 cents, to $8.

Akorn refrained from revealing expenses for its unspecified venture with a Westborough-MA based ophthalmic drugs developer called Aciex. It said that human testing for some of Aciex’s products is in progress. A global licensing agreement for a single over-the-counter eye product is a part of the deal.

In 2011, Akorn is expecting revenues between $124 million and $126 million, which is a sizeable increase from its approximation of $106 million to $110 million. On an average, analysts are projecting $114.3 million.