Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. reported Monday that its first-quarter losses widened compared with a year ago, but that the company’s future looks bright with anticipated production of a sedative created at Kansas University.

Baltimore-based Guilford said it lost $54.5 million, or $1.19 a share, during the quarter that ended March 31, compared with a $18.1 million loss a year earlier. Of this quarter’s loss, $31 million, or 68 cents a share, came from a one-time charge related to an injection drug.

In April, Guilford committed to a “new strategy” to focus on two other products, said Dean Mitchell, president and CEO. One of them, Aquavan, was created at KU’s Higuchi Biosciences Center and developed through ProQuest Pharmaceuticals, a spinoff company that Guilford bought late last year.

Late-stage clinical trials for Aquavan are expected to resume by the end of the year.