International Isotopes Inc. recorded a net loss of $1.8 million in 2015, compared to a loss of $1.5 million in 2014, according to the latest earnings report from the company, which attributed the net-loss increase to a boost in research and development spending on new pharmaceutical products.
The Monday earnings report shows the company had $397,955 in cash as of December 2015, which compares to about $558,541 for the same month in 2014. Company President and CEO Steve Laflin said in a statement that two consecutive years of positive cash flow signifies an improving business.
“While we did incur an increase in net loss in 2015 compared to 2014, that net loss was largely the result of our decision to increase research and development costs in order to develop new products,” Laflin said. “As we have indicated in the past, we have been able to successfully balance our need to develop new products while managing our expenditures to sustain a positive cash flow. We expect shareholders will see the first of those new products being submitted for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in 2016.”
International Isotopes manufactures nuclear medicine calibration and reference standards and various cobalt-60 products. It also produces radioisotopes and radiochemicals for medical devices, calibration, clinical research, and industrial applications. Total revenue in 2015 was reported at $7 million, compared to $7.5 million in 2014.
Laflin noted that International Isotopes has obtained trademark registration for Iodine/MAXTM, the company’s new sodium iodide capsule product used for the treatment of thyroid diseases, thyroid cancer, and hyperthyroidism, as well as for use in investigational and clinical trials for potential treatment of breast, lung, prostate, and ovarian cancers.
The losses in 2014 and 2015 represent improvements from 2013, when the company recorded a net loss of $2.5 million. For 2015, the company spent $821,453 on research and development for new products, compared to $464,206 spent in 2014.
The company says it still hopes to raise enough capital for its planned deconversion facility in Hobbs, N.M. The facility, which has been on hold since 2014, would provide two services: deconversion of depleted uranium hexafluoride and fluorine extraction. International Isotopes has secured a contract with URENCO that would amount to 50 percent of the facility’s capacity, but Laflin said Friday during a phone call that the investment community needs the plant to be operating at 100 percent capacity to move forward.
“When those things come to fruition, there will be at some time, definitely a need for a facility, and we’ll be able to get it committed under contract,” Laflin said.
The company so far has spent about $20 million on the $125 million construction project, Laflin said. Those expenses include siting, licensing, preliminary design, and fluoride-gas operations testing at an adjacent pilot facility.
“In the interim, the company has limited further investment in the planned deconversion facility and limited spending on the project to those expenses necessary to maintain licensing, and continued interactions with New Mexico and Lea County,” the release states. “The Company plans to continue to defer further engineering work on the deconversion project until it can secure additional contracts and adequate financing for the deconversion project.”
The report also highlights the company’s expansion plans in other business segments, including nuclear medicine standards, cobalt products, and radiological services. According to the release, nuclear medicine product manufacturing has expanded to allow a 40-percent increase in output capacity. For cobalt products, the company has reached several long-term supply agreements for the purchase of cobalt-60. For radiological services, the company has maintained contracts from the Department of Energy’s orphan source recovery program, which the release says resulted in a 90-percent revenue increase for this segment from 2014 to 2015.