Newport Pharmaceuticals Posts Loss for 1988, Cites Cost of Tests

Newport Pharmaceuticals International Inc., a diversified health care company in Newport Beach, reported a loss of $4.96 million for 1988, which it attributed almost entirely to the cost of tests aimed at proving the effectiveness of Isoprinosine in the treatment of pre-AIDS conditions.

The company reported revenue of $31 million for the year.

In 1988, the company said, it invested over $4.1 million in research and development to complete tests of Isoprinosine in the United States and United Kingdom. Last November the company said the results of these clinical trials failed to show the drug was effective in combatting pre-AIDS conditions.

In January, however, Leo Pharmaceutical Products, the company’s licensee in Denmark, said that a preliminary analysis of the results of Scandinavian tests was promising. Newport Pharmaceuticals said that upon further analysis of the results, it will determine whether to seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market Isoprinosine in the United States.

Kenneth Smith, Newport Pharmaceuticals’ senior vice president of finance, said the firm did not have financial figures for a comparable reporting period in 1987 because the company moved the end of its fiscal year from April 30 to Dec. 31.

The company reported a loss of $2.4 million on revenue of $18.1 million for the eight months ended Dec. 31, 1987.