Invacare Corp., the Elyria, Ohio-based manufacturer of durable medical equipment, is still reeling from its run-in with the Food and Drug Administration.
After the FDA in December 2012 found problems with quality and design control systems at two facilities where wheelchairs were manufactured, the agency ordered Invacare to complete three audits by third-party experts before it would be allowed to resume full operations.
The FDA had since accepted its first two reports, but Invacare said in its most recent quarterly earnings statement that it can't predict when full operations will resume at the facilities.
This past April, Invacare fired John Remmers, the company's executive vice president and general manager of North America and global product development. CEO Matthew Monaghan took over the company's North America/Home Medical Equipment segment and its Institutional Products Group, which manufactures beds, patient-handling products and other furniture.
The company's financial results reflect the ongoing turmoil, though there are signs of improvement. The company suffered a loss of $7.8 million on $283.8 million in sales for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with a $15.1 million loss on sales of $320.5 million during the same time frame in 2014.
And for the three months ended June 30, Invacare saw a loss of $8.2 million on $286.3 million in sales. Invacare's sales were down slightly, 0.9%, from the second quarter to third quarter of 2015.
For the first nine months of this year, Invacare posted a loss of $23.3 million on $859.1 million in sales, an improvement over the $46.7 million loss on $952 million in sales posted a year ago.
The company continues to slash overhead to cope with the mounting losses, reducing its "selling, general and administrative expenses" by 21% in the third quarter compared to a year ago.
