Pharmaxis, one of last year’s biggest small cap reporting season winners, has tumbled 412 per cent into the red as its fortunes fluctuate on the anti-inflammatory drug it sold to German pharma giant Boehringer Ingelheim four years ago.

After posting a $6.4 million profit last financial year, Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS) today reported a $20 million loss.

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This is largely due to the conditions of the deal Pharmaxis signed with BI. In 2015, BI bought the rights to develop Pharmaxis’ fatty liver drug PXS-4728A, renaming it BI 1467335, and when certain trial conditions were fulfilled, Pharmaxis received $42 million in milestone payments.

Without milestone payments in the current financial year, Pharmaxis’ bottom line took a big hit. It also meant revenue fell 74 per cent, down from $50.8 million to $13.1 million.

All this aside, the company’s preliminary final report doesn’t read too badly. Costs fell by a quarter to $33 million while sales revenue — generated from Bronchitol and Aridol, its on-market treatments for cystic fibrosis and asthma — dipped only 7 per cent.

PXS shares dropped as much as 10 per cent to 18c on the news, though they had recovered to 20c shortly before lunch.

Bronchitol sales improved in Australia, eastern Europe and Russia but were offset by a significant decline in western Europe, while Aridol sales rose 55 per cent year-on-year.

The company is also busy developing programs targeting lysyl oxidase family members, which are important in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, kidney fibrosis, the fatal lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and also play a role in some solid cancers.

It also released an announcement informing shareholders of it plans to grant 927,000 performance rights to its CEO Gary Phillips. It will seek shareholder approval for that at its annual general meeting later this year.

In other ASX health news today…

Oventus (ASX:OVN) widens sleep apnoea reach. Two US-based sleep groups, Delaware Sleep Disorder Centres and Reliable Respiratory, have agreed to buy Oventus’ O2Vent Sleep Treatment Platform which treats obstructive sleep apnoea. However, they can’t be officially launched until the US Food and Drug Administration gives regulatory clearance, which Oventus expects before the end of the year. Shares rose 10 per cent to 51c.

Partner discussions progressing well at Cynata (ASX:CYP). Cynata informed shareholders today that it was continuing to talk to Sumitomo, from whom it received a takeover offer in July, as well as Fujifilm, which has an option to acquire Cynata’s CYP-001 drug. “Cynata wishes to advise that it is continuing to engage with Sumitomo on a non-exclusive basis in order to determine whether the parties can agree terms for a final proposal and enter into a binding definitive agreement to implement a scheme of arrangement,” it said.

Blackmores (ASX:BKL) and InvoCare (ASX:IVC) post results. Vitamin and supplement maker Blackmores oversaw a 24 per cent drop in profit, down to $53 million, though revenue rose 1 per cent to $610 million. Funeral home company InvoCare saw its half-year profit rise 97 per cent to $41.1 million as revenue grew 8 per cent to $244 million.