MedImmune Inc., a Gaithersburg-based biotechnology company, reported yesterday that its losses widened in the first quarter of 1995 despite a 79 percent increase in revenue.
The company said it lost $5.5 million, or 37 cents per share, in the three months that ended March 31, compared with a loss of $4.5 million, or 31 cents per share, in the same quarter in 1994.
Revenue grew to $5.9 million, from $3.3 million.
MedImmune concentrates on the development and marketing of products for infectious diseases and transplantation medicine. Its stock closed yesterday at $8, down 12.5 cents a share, in Nasdaq trading.
Leading the revenue gain was a 24 percent gain in sales for the company's CytoGam, an antibody product used in connection with kidney transplants. CytoGam sales reached $3.1 million, up from $2.5 million in the first quarter of 1994.
Wayne T. Hockmeyer, chairman and chief executive, said the company's first-quarter earnings were depressed by higher expenses stemming from clinical trials for RespiGam, its most promising future product, and increased unit manufacturing costs for CytoGam.
These expenses are expected to decrease later this year with the completion of clinical trials for RespiGam and the availability of a new supplier of source materials for CytoGam, Dr. Hockmeyer said.
The company has high hopes for RespiGam, which is being developed to prevent respiratory syncytial virus, a condition that can cause bronchial infection and pneumonia in infants and young children. The disease kills about 4,500 children a year in the United States.
If the trials conclude as hoped, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could approve the drug for use in 1996, investment analysts said.
