ARIUS Research Inc. Announces Fourth Quarter and Year-End Fiscal 2007 Financial Results
TORONTO, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - ARIUS Research Inc., , a biotechnology company discovering and developing the next wave of antibody therapeutics, today announced its financial and operational results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year, ended November 30, 2007.
"Fiscal 2007 was a critical year in our development, highlighted by the significant advancement we made with the pre-IND programs for our lead drug candidates, our CD44 Cancer Stem Cell Program, our Trop-2 Signal Transduction Program, our CD59 Complement Inhibitor Program and our CD9 Cancer Stem Cell Program. The majority of our programs target cancer stem cells, an area that cancer researchers are particularly excited about as cancer stem cells have been implicated as the key cells responsible for the growth and spread of cancer," said Dr. David Young, President and CEO. "Building on this momentum, fiscal 2008 will be a pivotal year for us as we transition from a pre-clinical to a clinical company with the mission of moving one or more of our lead products into human clinical trials."
For the year ended November 30, 2007, the Company recorded a net loss of $11,057,039 compared to a net loss of $6,444,189 for the year ended November 30, 2006. The increase in net loss was the result of higher research and development, general administrative and foreign exchange expenses and lower revenues, partially offset by lower interest expense and the absence of a loss on extinguishment of debt. For the three-month period ended November 30, 2007, the Company recorded a net loss of $2,952,338 compared to a net loss of $3,623,727 for the three-month period ended November 30, 2006. This decrease in net loss for the three-month period is primarily the result of lower research and development, general and administrative and interest expenses and the 2006 one time loss on extinguishment of debt of $782,143 relating to the repayment of the convertible bridge loan, partially offset by higher foreign exchange losses and income tax expense.
Revenue decreased to $1,144,094 for the year ended November 30, 2007, compared to $2,847,761 for the year ended November 30, 2006. The decrease during the year ended November 30, 2007, was primarily the result of the recognition of licensing fee revenue from Genentech in the fiscal 2006 period and a decrease in financial contributions from the National Research Council's Industrial Research Assistance Program, partially offset by the recognition of product and research contract revenue from the Takeda collaboration and the recognition of unearned revenue for PDL BioPharma Inc. in the fiscal 2007 period. For the three-month period ended November 30, 2007, the Company's revenue increased to $298,120 compared to $179,751 for the three-month period ended November 30, 2006. The increase was primarily the result of the recognition of product and research contract revenue from the Takeda collaboration.
Interest income decreased to $679,457 for the year ended November 30, 2007, compared to $726,308 for the same period in fiscal 2006. For the three-month period ended November 30, 2007, the Company's interest income decreased to $142,329 compared to $329,342 for the same period in fiscal 2006. The decrease in interest income is the result of lower average cash and investment balances.
Research and development costs amounted to $8,606,344 for the year ended November 30, 2007, compared to $5,688,029 for the same period in fiscal 2006. For the three-month period ended November 30, 2007, the Company's research and development costs amounted to $2,144,353 compared to $2,512,366 for the same period in fiscal 2006. For the year, this increase is primarily the result of increased product development activity, including process development and scale-up, as the Company prepares several of its programs for the clinic as well as an increase in staffing levels and stock option remuneration expense. For the three month period, the decrease in research and development costs is primarily the result of decreased stock option remuneration expense and a decrease in legal expense for patents, offset by an increase in staffing levels.
General and administrative expenses increased to $3,257,430 for the year ended November 30, 2007, compared to $2,833,802 for the same period in fiscal 2006. For the three-month period ended November 30, 2007, the Company's general and administrative expenses decreased to $691,910 compared to $806,589 for the same period in fiscal 2006. The increase for the year is the result of increased head count, stock option remuneration expense, and severance costs, partially offset by decreased consulting and legal costs. The decrease for the three month period is the result of a decrease in stock option remuneration expense, professional fees and salaries, partially offset by an increase in consulting and directors fees.
As at November 30, 2007, the Company's cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and working capital position were $5,635,365, $6,825,190 and $9,088,712 respectively, compared with November 30, 2006 balances of $4,077,065, $16,135,490 and $20,222,321, respectively. The Company believes that it has adequate financial resources for anticipated expenditures until the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008.
Conference Call
ARIUS will host a conference call today (Tuesday January 29, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. ET) to discuss its fourth quarter and year-end fiscal 2007 results. To access the conference call by telephone, dial 416-644-3414 or 1-800-731-6941. Please connect approximately five minutes prior to the beginning of the call to ensure participation. A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available at www.ariusmabs.com. Please connect at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be required to join the webcast. The webcast will be archived at the above website for 365 days.
About ARIUS
ARIUS is a biotechnology company discovering and developing the next wave of antibody therapeutics. Established in 1999, ARIUS has built a proprietary technology platform, FunctionFIRST(TM), that rapidly identifies and selects antibodies based on their functional ability to affect disease. This antibody generation engine has enabled ARIUS to assemble a portfolio of more than 500 antibody candidates. In addition to the antibodies it is developing in-house, ARIUS has ongoing partnerships with key biotechnology and drug development companies. ARIUS is listed on the TSX under the symbol "ARI". For further information, visit www.ariusmabs.com
Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to, ARIUS successfully advancing its new product programs as well as licensing opportunities. These statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Factors that could cause such actual events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by such statements include, but are not limited to: early stage of development; technology and product development; dependence on and management of current and future corporate collaborations; future capital needs; uncertainty of additional funding; no assurance of market acceptance; dependence on proprietary technology and uncertainty of patent protection; intense competition; manufacturing and market uncertainties; and government regulation. These and other factors are described in detail in ARIUS' Annual Report, forthcoming news releases and other filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities available at www.sedar.com. Forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and ARIUS is not obligated to update such information to reflect later events or developments.
CONTACT: Warren Whitehead, C.M.A., Chief Financial Officer, ARIUS Research
Inc., (416) 862-2323 ext. 214, wwhitehead@ariusmabs.com,
contact@ariusmabs.com; James Smith, Investor Relations, (416) 815-0700 ext.
229, jsmith@equicomgroup.com