Sales Advance at Noven

Noven Pharmaceuticals(NOVN Quote), a developer of prescription-drug patches, recorded strong first-quarter revenue growth and said earnings exceeded analysts' estimates.

For the three months ended March 31, net income rose to $5 million from $500,000 last year. Diluted earnings per share climbed to 20 cents from 2 cents in the year-ago period and beat the Thomson Financial consensus target of 18 cents.

Net revenue for the most recent quarter increased 90% to $19.3 million, primarily because of $4.4 million in Daytrana product sales to Shire (SHPGY Quote) and $3 million in license revenue from the same patch, a treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Shire markets the product.

Noven's Chief Financial Officer Diane Barrett said during a conference call Monday that sales of Daytrana to Shire for the full year should be $16 million to $20 million.

Also boosting the top line were higher hormone-therapy product sales to Novogyne Pharmaceuticals, the women's health joint venture between Noven and Novartis (NVS Quote).

Product sales, which exclude contract and license revenue, totaled $15.6 million for the first quarter, compared with $8.6 million in the same period of 2006.

The company expects that the first six months of the year will account for more than half of its total revenue for 2007 because of back orders from the final quarter of last year that were filled in the first quarter.