Able has a talented and dedicated group of pharmacists, chemists
and scientists working on the development of a broad range of generic products.
At any given time, our team is working on multiple new formulations utilizing
our fully equipped and extensive scientific laboratory.
The Company's R & D strategy is to focus on:
- Generic drugs that have large, established markets;
- Niche products with limited or no competition;
- Challenging products that require expertise such
as suppositories and extended release formulations and
- Developing liquid formulations
Our research and development activities consist of:
- Identifying brand-name drugs for which patent protection
has expired or will expire in the near future;
- Conducting research and developing new product
formulations based upon such drugs;
- Developing and testing our formulations as necessary;
- Compiling and submitting the information to the FDA;
and
- Obtaining approval from the FDA for our new product
formulations.
As of February 15, 2005, we had six Abbreviated New Drug Applications
pending approval at the FDA. Our product development program includes
multiple active projects in various stages of completion.
For the year ended December 31, 2004, we spent $15.2 million on research
and development activities, compared with $11.2 million for the year ended
December 31, 2003 and $6.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2002.
Our R & D team's efforts produced
16 Abbreviated New Drug Application approvals during 2004. As of December
31, 2004 we had 30 FDA approved product families in 70 different product
strengths available for sale. The continuing efforts of our R&D team
are a cornerstone of Able's growth and its future.
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