Tag - Itln

Shares of Intellon Corp. (Nasdaq: ITLN) are flat following news that the maker of integrated circuits for powerline communications reported a fourth-quarter net loss that was not as bad as Wall Street projected.

The Ocala, Fla.-based company announced after the close on Monday that revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, increased 76% to $15.7 million from $8.9 million a year earlier. The net loss for the quarter was $2.7 million, or $0.09 per share.

Five analysts polled by Thomson Financial were calling for revenues of $15.4 million and a net loss of $0.13 per share.

“In its first report as a public company, Intellon’s [fourth-quarter] results and guidance were substantially in line with expectations,” wrote Eric Kainer, an analyst with investment bank ThinkEquity Partners, in a research note today.

Revenue for the entire 2007 year jumped 55% to $52.3 million from $33.7 million in 2006.

“From strong revenue growth to the completion of our initial public offering, 2007 was another exceptional year for Intellon,” said chairman and CEO Charles Harris in a statement. “Perhaps more importantly, we continued to put the building blocks in place for future periods.”

Many of the illnesses that scourge our population are simply related to aging. We can survive so many of the things that killed our ancestors before they turned 40 that now, as we keep going decades longer, we suffer from metabolic breakdowns: diabetes, obesity, and ordinary old age. The easiest way to avoid these conditions is to die young, but that’s not really the best option. Elixir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has no products on the market yet, but it has several in its R&D pipeline that could be interesting. Two compounds, Glinsuna and Metgluna, are both designed to treat Type 2 diabetes. Both are in Phase III clinical trials (to test safety and efficacy in clinical use), and the company hopes to have enough data to submit for approval in 2009. Other products, for diabetes, obesity, opioid-induced bowel dysfunction, and Huntington’s disease, are further behind in the process but could lead to a string of products into the next decade.

With no products for sale, it’s no surprise that Elixir has no revenue and lost about $20 million in 2006. This offering will give the company funding to continue its research and, it is hoped, to bring Glinsuna and Metgluna to market. It has a smart group of experienced health care venture capitalists on board: ARCH Ventures, MPM Capital, Oxford Bioscience and Physic Ventures. It’s a gamble, though: the company seems to have the right people in place and is looking at products that address huge market needs, but there’s no guarantee that anything will work properly, receive FDA approval, and interest doctors enough to write prescriptions.