TORONTO, April 11 /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 first fiscal quarter of 2008, ended February 29, 2008.
“During the quarter, we continued to focus on advancing our antibody drugs efficiently and rapidly towards human clinical trials. Most significantly, we completed our pre-IND meeting with the US FDA for our lead CD44 Cancer Stem Program,” said Dr. David Young, President and CEO of ARIUS. “We also presented new findings from our lead programs, including data from our CD9 Cancer Stem Cell program in collaboration with Dr. John Dick, a pioneer in the cancer stem cell field. Maintaining this momentum, five ARIUS abstracts have been selected for presentation in the upcoming AACR Annual meeting this month, demonstrating the scientific community’s ongoing interest in our programs and the high quality of our research.”
For the three-month period ended February 29, 2008, the Company recorded a net loss of $2,584,081 ($0.06 per share) compared to a net loss of $2,306,695 ($0.05 per share) for the three-month period ended February 28, 2007. The increase in net loss was primarily the result of higher research and development, general administrative and foreign exchange expenses, partially offset by higher revenues.
For the three-month period ended February 29, 2008, the Company’s revenue increased to $1,047,294 compared with $108,454 for the same period in fiscal 2007. The increase was primarily the result of the recognition of product and research contract revenue from the Takeda collaboration.
Interest income decreased to $106,792 for the three-month period ended February 29, 2008, compared with $199,923 for the same period in fiscal 2007. The decrease was primarily the result of lower average cash and investment balances.
Research and development costs increased to $2,595,906 for the three-month period ended February 29, 2008, compared to $1,957,328 for the same period in fiscal 2007. The increase was primarily the result of an increase in staffing levels related to an overall increase in activity as the Company is preparing three products for the clinic, accompanied by increased patent and licensing activity.
General and administrative expenses increased to $1,021,281 for the three-month period ended February 29, 2008, compared to $674,336 for the same period in fiscal 2007. The increase was primarily the result of an increase in staffing levels, consulting fees and legal expenses.
As at February 29, 2008, ARIUS’ cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments and net working capital position were $9,760,273, $1,299,844 and $8,245,154, respectively, compared with November 30, 2007 balances of $5,635,365, $6,825,190 and $9,088,712, respectively. The Company currently believes that it has adequate financial resources to continue into the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008 based on planned research and development expenditures and operating costs.
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
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
