Portland-based biotechnology firm ImmuCell Corp. recently completed its most profitable quarter in 12 years, the company reported Tuesday.

ImmuCell, which develops products to prevent and treat diseases among dairy and beef cattle, reported net income of $479,000, or 15 cents per share, in the first quarter, compared with a net loss of $13,000 during the same period a year earlier. It was the company’s most profitable quarter since the first quarter of 2013.

The company’s total sales increased 49 percent from the first quarter of 2014 to $3.1 million, it said.

At the same time, ImmuCell reduced its product development expenses by 44 percent compared with the first quarter of 2014 to $331,000, the company said. ImmuCell recently completed development of a product called Mast Out, a chemical wipe for cow udders that helps prevent mastitis, a potentially deadly mammary gland infection in lactating dairy cows. It is in the process of obtaining U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, which the company said it expects to receive in the fourth quarter.

ImmuCell’s flagship product, First Defense, contains antibody-rich whey in capsule form, which can be fed to newborn calves to help prevent diseases such as scours, which causes diarrhea and dehydration.

Sales of First Defense totaled $3 million in the first quarter, a 62 percent increase compared with the same period a year earlier, company President and CEO Michael Brigham said.

That figure does not include a backlog of $1.3 million worth of orders ImmuCell was unable to ship by the end of the quarter because it had reached its production capacity, Brigham said.

“Sales of First Defense during the first quarter of 2015 were very strong,” he said, adding that the company is working to boost capacity and expects to complete that effort by the first quarter of 2016.

ImmuCell shares trade on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol ICCC. It is Maine’s smallest public company listed on a major exchange, with a market capitalization of about $17 million.

The company did not release its financial results until after the market closed Tuesday.

Its stock price had fallen 25 cents, or 4.2 percent, in trading during the day to close at $5.65 a share.