EMERYVILLE, Calif.—NovaBay Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE American: NBY), a biopharma company that commercializes prescription Avenova for the domestic eyecare market, reported last week that its 2018 net sales are expected to be $12.6 million to $12.7 million. The company also said it expects 2019 net sales to be approximately $16 million to $16.5 million, which would represent an increase of up to 30 percent compared with 2018, according to the announcement. “During 2018, we launched a number of refinements to our Avenova commercial strategy as we gained experience from our initial approach,” Jack McGovern, NovaBay’s interim chief executive officer and chief financial officer, said in the announcement. “The successful execution on these refinements gives us confidence in returning to double-digit, year-over-year sales growth in 2019 and sustainable growth thereafter.”

McGovern said the company has contracted with five specialty pharmacy providers as channel partners, which will provide “the dual benefit of significantly improving the overall patient experience and supporting higher per-unit revenue.”

NovaBay also is moving ahead with expanding and upgrading its sales force, and deploying sales representatives in territories that have been identified as having “favorable health plan coverage to improve per-unit revenue,” McGovern said.

“Importantly, Avenova faces ample room for growth,” he added. “Avenova is a proven product that addresses the large underserved conditions of blepharitis and bacterial dry eye that, together, represent about 85 percent of the dry eye market. We are diligently working to educate ophthalmologists and optometrists about the bacterial nature of most cases of dry eye. We strongly believe that Avenova is the best product available to treat the underlying cause of blepharitis and evaporative dry eye.”