BioSphere Medical Inc. posted first-quarter sales of $7.28 million, up 1 percent compared with $7.21 million during the same period last year.
But the Rockland embolotherapy products maker’s net loss grew 17 percent during the period ended March 31, to $1.6 million, compared with $1.4 million during the first quarter of 2008.
Gross profit rose to nearly 75 percent of sales, compared with 71.7 percent during the same period last year, but operating expenses also rose as research and development, marketing and legal costs increased.
R&D expenses hit 13.5 percent of total revenues during the first quarter, compared with nearly 9 percent during the 2008 first quarter. Marketing costs hit 20.8 percent of sales, compared with 18.3 percent during the prior year’s quarter, and general, administrative and patent costs rose to 28.4 percent of revenues, up 2 percent compared with the same period last year.
President and CEO Richard Faleschini said the company, which inked a Japanese distribution deal earlier this month, expects to see growth in the United States as marketing and sales initiatives take hold. The company’s overseas business is beginning to recover from the economic collapse of the last half of 2008, Faleschini added.
