MISSISSAUGA, ON, April 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Vasogen Inc. , today reported the results of operations for the three months ended February 29, 2008. All dollar amounts referenced herein are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.
At February 29, 2008, our cash and cash equivalents totaled $19.9 million, compared with $23.5 million at November 30, 2007.
We incurred a net loss for the three months ended February 29, 2008, of $5.3 million, or $0.24 per common share, compared with a net loss of $7.7 million, or $0.47 per common share for the same period in 2007. A key driver of this decrease was a $1.6 million reduction in expenses resulting from the repayment of the senior convertible notes in April 2007, and lower infrastructure and other support costs driven by lower employee numbers in 2008.
For the three months ended February 29, 2008, research and development expenses decreased to $2.8 million from $3.0 million for the comparable period in 2007. During the first quarter of 2008, these costs were incurred for the initial commercialization of Celacade in Europe and for preparations for ACCLAIM II, a study designed to evaluate the Celacade technology for the treatment of patients with NYHA Class II heart failure.
General and administration expenses were $2.7 million for the three months ended February 29, 2008, compared to $3.6 million for the same period in 2007 as a result of lower employee numbers.
Due to the fact that we recently provided a detailed update on corporate activities during our Annual Shareholders' Meeting on March 25, 2008, we will not host a conference call at this time. A replay of the Annual Shareholders' Meeting presentation is available at www.vasogen.com.
About Vasogen:
Vasogen is a biotechnology company engaged in the research and commercial development of therapies designed to target the destructive inflammatory process associated with the development and progression of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders. The Company's lead product, the Celacade(TM) System, is designed to activate the immune response to apoptosis - an important physiological process that regulates inflammation. Celacade has received European regulatory approval under the CE Mark for chronic heart failure and is being marketed in the EU by Grupo Ferrer Internacional, S.A. Celacade is also in late-stage clinical development for the treatment of chronic heart failure in the United States. Vasogen is also developing a new class of drugs for the treatment of certain neuro-inflammatory disorders. VP025 is the lead candidate from this new class of drugs.
Certain statements contained in this press release, or elsewhere in our public documents constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and/or "forward-looking information" under the Securities Act (Ontario). These statements may include, without limitation, plans to advance the development of the Celacade(TM) System or VP025, plans to fund our current activities, statements concerning our partnering activities, health regulatory submissions, strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues and projected costs. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "predicts", "potential", "continue", "intends", "could", or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. We made a number of assumptions in the preparation of these forward-looking statements, including assumptions about the nature, size, and accessibility of the market for Celacade in the treatment of chronic heart failure, particularly in Europe, the regulatory approval process leading to commercialization and the availability of capital on acceptable terms to pursue the development of Celacade, and the feasibility of additional trials. You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements which are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, future circumstances or events to differ materially from those projected. These risks include, but are not limited to, the outcome of further ongoing analysis of the ACCLAIM trial results, the requirement or election to conduct additional clinical trials and the size and design of any such trials, delays or setbacks in the regulatory approval process, difficulties in the maintenance of existing regulatory approvals, securing and maintaining corporate alliances, the need for additional capital and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability, the potential dilutive effects of any financing, risks associated with the outcomes of our preclinical and clinical research and development programs, the adequacy, timing, and results of our clinical trials, competition, market acceptance of our products, the availability of government and insurance reimbursements for our products, the strength of intellectual property, reliance on partners, subcontractors, and key personnel, losses due to fluctuations in the U.S.-Canadian exchange rate, and other risks detailed from time to time in our public disclosure documents or other filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities commissions or other securities regulatory bodies. Additional risks and uncertainties relating to our Company and our business can be found in the "Risk Factors" section of our Annual Information Form and Form 20-F for the year ended November 30, 2007, as well as in our later public filings. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention and have no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
The unaudited interim consolidated financial statements, accompanying notes to the unaudited interim consolidated financial statements, and Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended February 29, 2008, will be accessible on Vasogen's Website at www.vasogen.com and will be available on SEDAR and EDGAR.
CONTACT: Glenn Neumann, Investor Relations, 2505 Meadowvale Blvd,
Mississauga, ON, Canada, L5N 5S2, tel: (905) 817-2004, fax: (905) 569-9231,
www.vasogen.com, investor@vasogen.com
