AVITA Medical Inc (ASX: AVH) shares have plunged in opening trade today after the company released its second-quarter results for the fiscal year 2021. At the time of writing, the AVITA share price is trading at 5.85% lower at $6.55.
AVITA Medical is a regenerative medicine group that aims to address unmet medical needs in burn injuries, trauma injuries, chronic wounds and dermatological and aesthetics indications. The company endeavours to advance care for burn patients with its novel technology platform, the RECELL System. AVITA is also listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the United States under the ticker RCEL.
Let's take a look at its quarterly results for the period ended 31 December 2020.
Financial results
The company reported a US-based RECELL revenue of $5.0 million. This is a 62% increase compared to the same quarter of the prior year.
Total global revenue increased 57% compared to the previous corresponding period (pcp), coming in at $5.1 million.
Operating expenses decreased to $10.4 million for the period compared to $13.4 million in the pcp. AVITA attributes the savings partially to lower legal costs and lower stock-based compensation.
As of 31 December 2020, the company held $59.8 million in cash.
AVITA did not provide financial guidance due to current uncertainty stemming from coronavirus. The company advised that because it gained its revenue via 20 accounts with physicians, its accounts were susceptible to the impacts of COVID-19. This was currently creating an unpredictable business space.
AVITA reported a net loss of $5.6 million for the quarter, compared to the net loss of $10.5 million for the same quarter in the previous year.
CEO commentary and AVITA share price snapshot
AVITA Medical CEO Dr Mike Perry made the following comments:
I'm proud of our progress over the last quarter as we strive to broaden the applications of our platform to serve patients. With our burn centre account base now mostly built out, our sales team is poised and ready to drive utilisation as the pandemic abates and we regain access to hospitals and patients.
We have continued to make strong progress with our vitiligo pivotal trial, seeing very encouraging interest and enrolment trends, and we believe this could put us in a position to file for FDA approval in 2022.
The AVITA Medical share price has fallen more than 56% over the previous 12-month period. Year-to-date, the share price has gained around 44%.
