Vivus Shares Dive Following 3rd-quarter Report

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Vivus Inc. fell sharply Wednesday after the drug developer reported a third-quarter loss, though analysts maintained their focus on the company's potential obesity treatment Qnexa.

The stock shed 90 cents, or 11.2 percent, to $7.15 in afternoon trading. Shares have traded between $2.72 and $12.88 over the last 52 weeks.

On Tuesday, Vivus announced a quarterly loss of $21.1 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with profit of $266,000, or less than a penny per share, during the same period a year prior. Revenue plunged to $4.4 million from $25.5 million recorded in the 2008 quarter, when the company reported deferred revenue from the sale of its spray-on hot flash treatment Evamist.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 31 cents per share on revenue of $5.3 million.

During the latest quarter, sales of the erectile dysfunction product Muse fell 2 percent to $4.3 million.

The company said it remains on track to ask for Food and Drug Administration approval of Qnexa by the end of 2009. The development of Qnexa is part of a surge in obesity treatment development from the biotechnology sector. If approved, Qnexa would likely compete with other treatments including Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s lorcaserin and Orexigen Therapeutics Inc.'s Contrave.