GLEN ALLEN, Va., May 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Star Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: CIGX) filed its report on first-quarter 2011 yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company reported first-quarter net sales totaling $156 thousand compared with $149 thousand for the same quarter in 2010. Sales of CigRx®, the dietary supplement developed by the Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals subsidiary and in test market since August 2010, contributed 29.5% of first-quarter sales. The company also reported that CigRx sales have responded favorably to an expanded national test market that began in late February.
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The company also reported a first-quarter net loss of approximately $6.1 million compared to a net loss of $4.8 million for first quarter 2010. The increase in the first-quarter net loss over the same period in 2010 is due primarily to a non-cash stock option expense of roughly $1.1 million. Working capital as of March 31 totaled approximately $17.8 million, which included roughly $18.7 million in cash. Star Scientific entered into securities purchase and registration rights agreements with investors during the first quarter under which the company received proceeds of $11.0 million and proceeds of $1.0 million in April in connection with another purchase and registration agreement executed on March 30.
Star Scientific indicated that the Roskamp Institute is in the process of revising the planned Alzheimer’s study using RCP-006, which the Institute announced in an October 7, 2010 release. This revision will significantly increase the size of the subject pool.
The company’s Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals subsidiary also announced that the multi-site clinical trial, the Flint Study, is underway. The study is designed to determine the effect of RCP-006 on peripheral markers of inflammation in individuals with elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) in their blood. Subject screening and blood work has begun this week. As the company stated in a February 28 release that announced IRB approval for this study, elevated CRP levels are reliable markers for underlying chronic inflammation that is present in a number of coronary and vascular diseases, and in auto-immune diseases such as thyroid disease, diabetes and arthritis. The company anticipates that successful validation of the study hypothesis will result in the development and distribution of a nutraceutical product, based on RCP-006, aimed at maintaining healthy CRP levels.
There is intense focus in the scientific community on the search to identify compounds that can significantly reduce CRP levels and the underlying inflammatory processes they signal. The study sites are in the Flint, Michigan area, as well as in another area of the state. The principal investigators at the Roskamp Institute, which is overseeing the study, anticipate that 200-300 subjects will fully complete the study over the course of the next months. The Roskamp Institute has indicated it intends to submit an analysis of the outcomes for publication.
Certain statements in this press release other than purely historical information, including estimates, projections, statements relating to our business plans, objectives, and expected operating results, and the assumptions upon which those statements are based, are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We have tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “continues,” “likely,” “may,” “opportunity,” “potential,” “projects,” “will,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends” and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements, whether in the negative or the affirmative. These statements reflect our current beliefs and are based on information currently available to us. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. These risks, uncertainties, factors and contingencies include, without limitation, the challenges inherent in new product development initiatives through Star Tobacco and Rock Creek, the uncertainties inherent in the progress of scientific research, our ability to raise additional capital in the future that is necessary to maintain our business, potential disputes concerning our intellectual property, risks associated with litigation regarding such intellectual property, uncertainties associated with the development, testing and regulatory approvals of our low-TSNA tobacco, related tobacco products and pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products , market acceptance of our new smokeless tobacco products and nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products, competition from companies with greater resources than us, our dependence on key employees and on our prior strategic relationships with Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation in light of its combination with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Inc.
Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. See additional discussion under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the SEC on March 16, 2011, and other factors detailed from time to time in the Company’s other filings with the SEC, available at www.sec.gov. All information in this release is current as of this date, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update or advise upon any such forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
About Star Scientific
Star Scientific is a technology-oriented company with a mission to reduce the harm associated with tobacco at every level. It is engaged in the development of dissolvable smokeless tobacco products that deliver fewer carcinogenic toxins, principally through the utilization of the innovative StarCured® tobacco curing technology. Its subsidiary, Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is involved in the development of nutraceuticals as well as products to address neurological and mood disorders. Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals has scientific and research offices in Gloucester, MA, and a regulatory office in Washington, D.C. Star Scientific has a Corporate and Sales Office in Glen Allen, VA, an Executive, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs office in Bethesda, MD, and a manufacturing facility in Chase City, VA.
See Star‘s website at: http://www.starscientific.com
Contact:
Sara Troy Machir
Vice President, Communications & Investor Relations
smachir@starscientific.com
(301) 654-8300
SOURCE Star Scientific, Inc.
