Dallas, Texas 12/02/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:RPTP)’s Board of Directors recently approved inducement stock option awards pursuant to the company’s 2014 Employment Commencement Stock Incentive Plan. The plan was approved to induce new employees to enter into employment with Raptor.
The company is strengthening its leadership team to ensure expansion of its product development programs as well as commercial activities into new territories.
The grants consisted of stock options to six new employees and to David Happel, Raptor’s new Chief Commercial Officer. The per share exercise price for the Company’s common stock is fixed at $9.92, which was the closing price prior to the grant date. The grants consisted of an aggregate of 382,288 shares.
Financial Performance
Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:RPTP) reported net loss of $6 million or $0.10 per share during 3Q14. The company significantly narrowed its losses as compared to a net loss of $17.3 million or $0.29 per share during 3Q13.
The improvement was mainly attributed to stellar sale performance of PROCYSBI during the quarter. Net product sales jumped to $23.8 million in 3Q14 as compared to $6.6 million in 3Q13 driven by continued market penetration. PROCYSBI is commercially available in the U.S., Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Key Expenses
Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. (NASDAQ:RPTP) invested heavily in research personnel, clinical and pre-clinical trials, and non-commercial drug manufacturing during 3Q14. As a result, its 3Q14 R&D expenses soared to $9.0 million from $6.8 million in 3Q13.
Selling, general, and administrative expenses also increased $15.1 million during 3Q14 from $8.3 million in 3Q13, mainly due to commercialization costs associated with PROCYSBI in the U.S. In addition, the company also invested toward infrastructure for its EU commercial headquarters.
Raptor expects net product sales for full-year 2014 to remain in the range of $65 to $70 million. The company is planning for registration filing for its lead product PROCYSBI in Canada during the first half of 2015.