Drug manufacturer & distributor Sigma Pharmaceuticals Limited suffered a massive loss of $389 million for the full-year ended January 31, 2010 as compared with a profit of $80.1 million in the previous year.

The massive loss includes a writedown in goodwill of $424.23 million, mostly from its merger with Arrow Pharmaceuticals.

Group’s pharmaceuticals arm, which consists of generics, consumer, manufacturing and medical, reported a fall of 5.6 per cent in net sales to $670.9 million.

Core earnings including interest and tax dropped 23.7 per cent to settle at $105 million.

However, group’s healthcare unit reported an increase of 7.5 per cent in sales to $2.549 billion.

Speaking on the topic, Melbourne-based firm said, “Sigma’s underlying business remains sound and profitable.”

Sigma said that it would not pay a final dividend.

Shares in Sigma Pharmaceuticals slipped 58 per cent to 38 cents-a-share.