EMERYVILLE, Calif.—NovaBay Pharmaceuticals (NYSE American: NBY) reported net sales of $3.1 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2018 compared with $4.1 million for the third quarter of 2017. NovaBay said the decrease was primarily due to a lower selling price of Avenova. However, the company’s third quarter net sales were slightly higher than the $2.8 million reported for the second quarter. “We achieved quarterly revenue growth on a sequential basis, as anticipated, driven primarily by deploying sales representatives to territories we’ve identified as having favorable health plan coverage, as well as by initial contributions from sales representatives we hired mid-year,” said Jack McGovern, NovaBay interim CEO and CFO.

“We also saw a modest improvement in net product revenue per unit compared with the second quarter as more patients satisfied their 2018 health plan deductibles,” he said.

NovaBay’s gross margin on net product revenue was 89 percent for the third quarter of 2018, compared with 87 percent for the prior-year period, with the improvement due to product mix. Sales and marketing expenses for the third quarter of 2018 were $3.2 million, compared with $3.3 million for the third quarter of 2017, with the decrease primarily due to a reduction in the number of sales representatives, partially offset by an increase in sampling.

General and administrative expenses for the third quarter of 2018 were $1.3 million, compared with $2.3 million for the prior-year period, with the decrease primarily due to lower stock-based compensation expense and lower professional services and consulting fees. Research and development expenses for the third quarter of 2018 were $45,000, compared with $132,000 for the third quarter of 2017.

The operating loss for the third quarter of 2018 was $1.8 million, a 17 percent improvement from an operating loss of $2.2 million for the third quarter of 2017, the company said. The net loss for the third quarter of 2018 was $1.5 million compared with a net loss for the third quarter of 2017 of $2.4 million.