ATLANTA, March 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GeoVax Labs, Inc. , an Atlanta-based biotechnology company focused on development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine, today announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2008, and provided a summary of recent operational highlights for calendar year 2009 to date.
GeoVax reported a net loss of $1,039,217 for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2008, as compared to a net loss of $1,155,870 for the comparable period in 2007. For the full year of 2008, the Company reported a net loss of $3,728,187 as compared to a net loss of $4,241,796 in 2007. GeoVax's operating results fluctuate due to the timing of activities and related costs associated with its vaccine research and development activities. Summarized financial information is presented below. GeoVax's full set of audited financial statements are included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Robert T. McNally, Ph.D., GeoVax's president and chief executive officer, stated, "For a company of GeoVax's size and stage of clinical development, our financial position is on target. Our operational expenses are reduced by the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) support of our ongoing Phase 2a preventative clinical trial being conducted by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), and are further offset by the direct grant from the NIH to GeoVax, covering research and development for future vaccine improvements. Our financial security is enhanced by the common stock purchase agreement with Fusion Capital Fund II, LLC. These funds are providing the Company with resources to conduct its own clinical trial in HIV infected, drug controlled subjects. Planning for this therapeutic trial is underway with a projected start for later this year."
About GeoVax Labs, Inc.
GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on developing human vaccines for diseases caused by HIV-1 (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and other infectious agents. GeoVax's AIDS vaccine technology is the subject of 20 issued or filed patent applications. GeoVax AIDS vaccines are designed for use in uninfected people to prevent Acquired Immunodeficiency Disease (AIDS), caused by the virus known as HIV-1, should the person ever become infected. GeoVax AIDS vaccines also may be effective as therapeutics, treatment of people already infected with AIDS virus.
GeoVax's core AIDS vaccine technologies were developed by Dr. Harriet Robinson, Senior V.P. of Research and Development, through a collaboration of colleagues at Emory University's Vaccine Center, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and GeoVax.
GeoVax AIDS vaccines have moved forward in human clinical trials conducted by the HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) based in Seattle, Washington. The HVTN, funded through a cooperative agreement with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is the largest worldwide clinical trials program dedicated to the development and testing of AIDS vaccines. Preclinical work enabling evaluation of GeoVax DNA and MVA vaccines was funded and supported by NIAID, which provided additional support to GeoVax AIDS vaccine development program with a $15 million IPCAVD grant awarded in late 2007.
Safe Harbor Statement
All statements in this news release, not statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on expectations and assumptions on the date of this press release and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, whether: GeoVax can develop and manufacture these vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax's vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax's vaccines will effectively prevent AIDS in humans, vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete vaccine development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax's products, and other factors over which GeoVax has no control. GeoVax assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, and does not intend to do so. Certain matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements involving certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, risks detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports.
CONTACT: Bob McNally of GeoVax Labs, Inc., +1-404-727-0971,
bmcnally@geovax.com; or Leslie Loyet of Financial Relations Board,
+1-312-640-6672, lloyet@mww.com, for GeoVax Labs, Inc.
Web site: http://www.geovax.com/
