Senomyx Inc. narrowed its third-quarter loss, backed its 2012 earnings outlook and said its partner has begun to launch a consumer product that incorporates the company's S6821 bitter blocker.
"This is the first time a Senomyx bitter blocker has been used in a consumer product,” said Kent Snyder, Senomyx's CEO.
Although the executive didn't provide specifics on the company's partner or the consumer product involved, he noted: “Marketing activities are underway in a country in Southeast Asia and we expect our partner to expand to other regions and products. With this launch, four flavor ingredients discovered and developed by Senomyx—our S336 savory flavor; S2383 and S6973 from our sweet taste program, and our S6821 bitter blocker—are now being commercialized by our partners.”
As announced in October, Senomyx has received new regulatory approvals for Senomyx flavor ingredients in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere. Like S6973, the company’s new S9632 flavor ingredient can be used in lower-calorie products to improve the taste of products in which the sucrose has been reduced.
Looking ahead to the full year 2012, Senomyx continues to expect a loss of $8 million to $10 million and total revenue of $30 million to $33 million.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, the biotechnology company that develops flavor ingredients said its loss narrowed to $2.03 million compared to $2.62 million a year earlier. Revenues rose more than 10% to $7.9 million from $7.1 million a year earlier. The increase in total revenues was primarily due to $1.3 million of development milestones earned in the third quarter.