Sales of Abiomed Inc.‘s Impella cardiac assist device continued to grow during the fiscal 2010 second quarter, but sales were flat and net losses widened by 21.2 percent.
The Danvers, Mass.-based company posted sales of $20 million during the three months ended Sept. 30, flat compared with the same number during the second quarter of fiscal 2009. Net losses for the quarter gapped to $7.7 million, compared with $6.3 million during Q2 2009.
The numbers improved on first-half comparisons, however, with revenues rising 9.8 percent during the first six months of fiscal 2010 to $39.9 million, compared with $36.4 million during H1 2009. Net losses were flat, at $15.4 million during both the just-ended half and the year-ago period.
But sales of Abiomed’s flagship Impella device, a tiny support pump inserted into the heart via catheter during heart surgeries, continued their year-long rise. The devices accounted for $10.5 million in worldwide sales during the second quarter last year and $13.2 million during Q2 2010 — a 26 percent jump. And the average number of patients using the device per week also soared, rising 225 percent from eight a year ago to 26 during the 2010 second quarter.
The results prompted the company to reaffirm its full-year revenues of $86 million to $91 million for fiscal 2010, or growth of 17 percent to 24 percent.
