Brian Fielding, interim Chief Executive Officer of Millenium since March 29, has been permanently appointed to the position.
"Brian's work with Millenium over the past five months has demonstrated critical strategy and leadership skills during challenging times and he has proven to be an integral part of the Company's restructuring efforts to date," said Jeremy Curnock Cook, Chairman of Millenium's Board of Directors. "His fortitude and dedication are traits that the Board believes are valuable assets that will help enable the Company's long term success."
Restructuring
Millenium has implemented cost reductions decreasing headcount by approximately 35%. This reduction is expected to result in a decrease in the Company's burn rate from $1.2 million per month now, to approximately $650,000 per month by the end of September 2006.
The cost of the staff terminations is estimated to be $400,000.
As a part of these reductions the Company will defer more expensive beta site testing, manufacturing scale-up and initial commercial launch of its ACTES system pending the completion of its planned partnering and financing activities.
Other work associated with the Company's ACTES-C (Cartilage), ACTES-B (Bone), high-strength micro-porous version of Skelite(TM), and Bone and Cartilage Stimulating Peptide ("BCSP") programs remain unaffected by these reductions.
Additionally, the Company has terminated costs associated with its line of synthetic bone graft Skelite(TM) products until a corporate partner with established sales and marketing infrastructure to accelerate commercialization and market uptake has been identified.
"While these reductions are regrettable, they are necessary in order for Millenium to execute on near-term value-driving milestones and partnering initiatives," said Brian Fielding, Millenium's CEO. "We extend our best wishes to our departing employees and thank them sincerely for their considerable efforts in advancing our technology programs."
Update on Project Milestones ACTES-C (Cartilage) and B (Bone)
With respect to its ACTES program, Millenium will continue to pursue early approval of ACTES as a lab instrument for clinical use by centres providing cell therapy for the treatment of cartilage damage. It expects to complete internal biological testing in the fourth quarter of calendar 2006. Millenium also continues to progress its ACTES-B (Bone) technology for advanced bone reconstruction. It expects to complete pre-clinical proof-of-concept testing by the end of the calendar year. These initiatives are considered important to the partnering activity underway. High-strength micro-porous version of Skelite(TM)
Millenium continues to develop its high-strength implant Skelite(TM) products. The Skelite(TM) technology is uniquely positioned to meet high strength applications. The Company recently filed a 510K submission for Skelite(TM) as a spine bone graft containment device and anticipates this product to be available for commercial use by the end of calendar 2006.
BCSP
Pre-clinical work to demonstrate the performance of BCSPs in bone healing remains on target for completion for the end of September 2006. It is expected that this data will be influential in augmenting the data under review by partner candidates.
Update on Financial Status
With regards to Millenium's financial situation, as of June 30, it will have cash of $1.0 million. The Company is reviewing various strategic options and is in advanced discussions with investors to obtain the resources necessary to continue execution of the business plan. However there can be no assurance that these financing initiatives will be successful. The implementation of the Company's strategy is entirely dependent on successfully securing additional resources in the very near term.
About ACTES
ACTES is Millenium's proprietary closed bioreactor system for cell culture and tissue engineering, delivered through a modular clinical based workstation that provides automated end-to-end control over the full biological process from biopsy to tissue creation. Millenium believes that ACTES has the potential to be the first fully automated process that allows human cells to be cultivated outside a cGMP laboratory.
About Millenium Biologix Corporation
Millenium Biologix Corporation is focused on the development and commercialization of next generation cell culture and tissue engineering systems that will drive change from synthetic implants to more effective biologics-based solutions. For more information about Millenium, please visit www.millenium-biologix.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, which provide our current expectations or forecasts of future events. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "plan", "project", "forecast" or "intend" or future or conditional words such as "may", "will", "should", "would" or "could"; however, the absence of such words does not necessarily mean that a statement is not forward-looking.
The forward-looking statements are based upon certain material factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection as reflected in the forward-looking statements, including our perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments as well as other factors we believe are appropriate in the circumstances.
Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on potentially inaccurate assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements due to a number of material factors, including, the impact of general economic conditions on future operations and business plans, changes in product development plans and timing, delays in receipt of regulatory approvals for our products, the level of our costs and operating expenses relative to our revenues, our future capital requirements and the sufficiency of our cash, cash equivalents, investments and other sources of funds, including financing from external sources, to meet these requirements, the outcome of contingencies, such as litigation, and other factors described in the "Risk Factors" section of our most recent annual information form, particularly those under the heading "Dependence on Additional Financing/Need for Additional Financing". You should carefully consider the factors described above and in that "Risk Factors" section in evaluating our forward-looking statements. Other factors besides those described above and in the annual information form could also affect actual results.
You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligations to update publicly any forward-looking statement to reflect circumstances or events after the date such statement was made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should, however, review the factors and risks we describe in the reports we file from time to time with the applicable Canadian securities commissions or similar regulatory authorities. Such additional information is available at www.sedar.com.
For further information
General inquiries: Manisha Mawji, Millenium Biologix Corporation, investor@millenium-biologix.com, T: (613) 389-6565, Toll-free: 866.MBC.3380 Christina Bessant, The Equicom Group Inc., cbessant@equicomgroup.com, T: (416) 815-0700 x269
Source: Millenium Biologix Corporation
