This Biotech Company is Pursuing Positive Cash Flow In 2023

Biotech company Agile Therapeutics Inc. AGRX began selling its contraceptive patch in 2021, and the company is pursuing positive cash flow by the end of 2023. 

The Princeton, New Jersey-based company’s Twirla patch gives women the choice to not take a birth control pill every day. Instead, women can apply the patch weekly on their buttocks, lower abdomen, or upper torso, but not their breasts. About 80% choose to adhere it to their buttocks or lower abdomen, according to the company. 

Additionally, Twirla is the first and only birth control patch that delivers a low dose of estrogen, which puts it in line with many daily low-dose birth control pills.

“We think this product can become a market leader,” Agile CEO Al Altomari said during his RHK Disruptive Growth Conference presentation on Dec. 5.

Based on Agile’s third-quarter financial results, Twirla may be a viable alternative to other methods of contraception.

Between the second and third quarters: 

• Net revenue grew 43%, from $2.1 million in the second quarter to $3 million in the third quarter.
• Non-GAAP operational expenditures (OPEX) decreased by 19%.
• Twirla factory sales increased by 54%.
• The company had $6.1 million cash on hand as of Sept. 30.

“Based on performance so far in the fourth quarter, Agile believes revenue will continue to grow and OPEX will continue to be managed at a responsible level,” Altomari said.

“We are on a really great growth spurt right now,” Altomari said. “That third quarter was not a fluke. We’re not going back. We expect both the retail and non-retail side to grow.”

If Agile can continue to accelerate revenue growth and maintain OPEX consistent with the past two quarters, the company can potentially begin to generate positive cash flow by the end of 2023. Agile has also expressed a desire to acquire or license another commercial women’s health product, which could potentially accelerate the timeline to generating positive cash flow.  

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Twirla in 2020, and Agile began selling it in 2021. Most of the company’s sales are through retailers such as CVS Health Corp. CVS, and it’s working on increasing its non-retail partnerships with organizations such as Planned Parenthood in the coming years.

Reaching Its Audience

Agile has partnered with Afaxys Inc. to help it get Twirla into college and university health centers in addition to Planned Parenthood clinics across the United States.

On the retail side, it’s working with the telehealth platform Nurx to make Twirla available to its patients. Many women in Agile’s target market — women ages 18 to 24 — get their prescriptions through telehealth platforms. Nurx medical providers have prescribed contraception to more than 1 million women.

“Young women typically don’t want to spend time going to see doctors or to the pharmacy so we prioritized expanding our footprint in telehealth,” Altomari said. 

Twirla’s connected TV (CTV) commercial is airing in five key states — California, Florida, Texas, New York, and Illinois — where 45% of women in its target demographic live.

“We have an approved product that is growing and generating revenue in a multi-billion dollar market,” Altomari said. “Our job now is to continue growing Twirla, achieve positive cash flow, and deliver shareholder value.”

Photo credit: Agile Therapeutics 

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