Hi-Tech Pharmacal posts $3 million loss

AMITYVILLE, N.Y. Hi-Tech Pharmacal had $40.4 million in sales during its fiscal first quarter ended July 31, the generic drug maker said Thursday. The numbers amounted to a decrease of $3 million from the same period in 2009.

The bulk of the company’s sales came from generic drugs, which had sales of $32.3 million, a $4.4 million decrease from the year before. The decrease mostly resulted from declines in sales of the eye treatments dorzolamide and timolol ophthalmic solution, or dorzolamide ophthalmic solution, whose sales declined by $7.9 million because of a significant reduction in price. At the same time, sales increases of fluticasone propionate nasal spray helped offset the decline.

Sales for the ECR Pharmaceuticals division were $3.5 million, a $241,000 increase over the year before, resulting from higher sales of the Lodrane (brompheniramine) line of allergy drugs, despite a decrease in sales of the DexPak (dexamethasone) line of corticosteroids.

Midlothian Labs, which markets niche generic drugs, had sales of around $1 million, a $340,000 decrease from the year before, while sales for the Health Care Products division, which markets over-the-counter products, were $3.5 million, a $1.4 million increase from the year before.