Newport Pharmaceuticals Reports $1.6-Million Loss

Newport Pharmaceuticals International Inc. reported Tuesday a $1.6-million loss for the third quarter. The company said the cost of clinical testing of isoprinosine, a drug believed to slow the advance of the AIDS virus, accounted for most of the loss.

The company has said it will probably give up its 14-year battle to get Food and Drug Administration approval to sell the drug in the United States if the tests are disappointing.

Results of the $4-million, 2,000-patient study conducted in the United States, Great Britain and several other countries are now being compiled and should be completed by the end of the year, Newport Pharmaceuticals President J. Roberts Fosberg said.

If the results are positive, the firm would resubmit its application to the FDA. An earlier application for FDA approval of isoprinosine was denied in 1986.

Isoprinosine has been found in some studies to bolster the body’s natural immune system. The studies suggest that the drug may slow the advance of AIDS in its early stages.

Isoprinosine is Newport Pharmaceuticals’ only drug product. It also owns America’s Pharmacy Inc., which is a pharmaceutical mail-order business.

Newport Pharmaceuticals manufactures isoprinosine for sale in several European countries, particularly in France and Italy, as a treatment for a wide array of viral infections. Earlier this year, the company obtained a license to market isoprinosine in Japan.

Newport Pharmaceuticals has never made money on the drug because of the costs associated with testing.

The third-quarter loss came on sales of $7.3 million. For the same period a year earlier, the company lost $707,000 on revenue of $7.7 million.

For the nine months, the company lost $2.8 million on $23.2 million in sales. Over the same period in 1987, the company lost the same amount on $17.5 million in sales.

In addition to the losses caused by the isoprinosine testing program, the company also lost $244,000 on a minority investment in IPA Information Systems, a computer software company that makes a program to assist in managing hospitals and other health-care facilities.