Stereotaxis sees earnings dip
Shares of Stereotaxis Inc. tumbled 31 percent on Monday following lower-than-expected earnings and word of another delay in the launch of a long-awaited product.
The company, based in the Central West End, said sales were hurt last year by slow U.S. regulatory approval of an irrigated catheter that should dramatically increase the utility of its Niobe cardiac surgical system.
That approval came in January — but was followed by a problem discovered during a limited launch and clinical evaluation: A "relatively small" number of catheters exhibited signs of charring or clotting, indicating a manufacturing problem, Chief Executive Bevil Hogg said Monday.
Stereotaxis’ partner and manufacturer of the catheter, Johnson & Johnson’s Biosense Webster Inc. unit, is halting the launch until the problem is resolved.
"We’re still trying to identify the root cause (of) the problem. … So, we don’t have any estimate at this point of when the marketing will continue," said Christopher Allman, a Biosense Webster spokesman.
There was no impact on patient safety, said Stereotaxis’ chief medical officer, Dr faxless cash advance. David Burkhardt.
Stereotaxis had an order backlog of $58.4 million and more than 275 prospective customers in its pipeline on Dec. 31 — but some hospitals are awaiting availability of the irrigated catheter before placing orders. Hogg said he hopes it will launch by June, and that at least half of that backlog will convert to revenue this year.
In the fourth quarter, Stereotaxis’ operating expenses rose by 28 percent, to $18.8 million, as it spent more on sales, marketing and research and development.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, expected a quarterly net loss of 31 cents a share versus the 34-cent loss that Stereotaxis actually sustained.
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