LadRx Corp - Quarter Report: 2005 September (Form 10-Q)
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UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
þ | QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2005
OR
o | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from to
Commission file number 0-15327
CYTRX CORPORATION
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
58-1642740 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
11726 San Vicente Blvd. Suite 650 Los Angeles, CA (Address of principal executive offices) |
90049 (Zip Code) |
(310) 826-5648
(Registrants telephone number, including area code)
(Registrants telephone number, including area code)
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by
Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for
such shorter period that the Registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been
subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.
Yes
|
þ | No | o |
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule
12(b)-2 of the Exchange Act).
Yes
|
o | No | þ |
Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12(b)-2
of the Exchange Act).
Yes
|
o | No | þ |
Number of shares of CytRx Corporation Common Stock, $.001 par value, issued and outstanding as
of November 9, 2005: 58,90,792.
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CYTRX CORPORATION
Form 10-Q
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Exhibit 32.1 | ||||||||
Exhibit 32.2 |
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Part I FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1. Financial Statements
CYTRX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(Unaudited)
September 30, | December 31, | |||||||
2005 | 2004 | |||||||
ASSETS |
||||||||
Current assets: |
||||||||
Cash and short-term investments |
$ | 11,212,309 | $ | 2,999,409 | ||||
Prepaid and other current assets |
459,361 | 956,146 | ||||||
Total current assets |
11,671,670 | 3,955,555 | ||||||
Property and equipment, net |
380,048 | 447,579 | ||||||
Molecular library, net |
395,352 | 447,567 | ||||||
Goodwill |
183,780 | | ||||||
Prepaid insurance and other assets |
103,118 | 198,055 | ||||||
Total assets |
$ | 12,733,968 | $ | 5,048,756 | ||||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY |
||||||||
Current liabilities: |
||||||||
Accounts payable |
$ | 551,433 | $ | 1,661,104 | ||||
Accrued expenses and other current
liabilities |
1,240,243 | 1,074,146 | ||||||
Total current liabilities |
1,791,676 | 2,735,250 | ||||||
Accrued loss on facility abandonment |
| 206,833 | ||||||
Deferred gain on sale of building |
| 65,910 | ||||||
Deferred revenue |
275,000 | 275,000 | ||||||
Total liabilities |
2,066,676 | 3,282,993 | ||||||
Minority interest in subsidiary |
| 170,671 | ||||||
Commitments and contingencies |
| | ||||||
Stockholders equity: |
||||||||
Preferred stock, $.01 par value,
5,000,000 shares authorized,
including 5,000 shares of Series A
Junior Participating Preferred Stock;
no shares issued and outstanding |
| | ||||||
Common stock, $.001 par value,
125,000,000 shares authorized;
58,825,000 and 40,190,000 shares
issued at September 30, 2005 and December
31, 2004, respectively |
58,825 | 40,190 | ||||||
Additional paid-in capital |
130,609,987 | 110,028,327 | ||||||
Treasury stock, at cost (633,816
shares, at cost, held at September 30,
2005 and December 31, 2004) |
(2,279,238 | ) | (2,279,238 | ) | ||||
Accumulated deficit |
(117,722,282 | ) | (106,194,187 | ) | ||||
Total stockholders equity |
10,667,292 | 1,595,092 | ||||||
Total liabilities and
stockholders equity |
$ | 12,733,968 | $ | 5,048,756 | ||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
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CYTRX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(Unaudited)
Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | |||||||||||||||
September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||
2005 | 2004 | 2005 | 2004 | |||||||||||||
Revenues: |
||||||||||||||||
License fees |
$ | | $ | | $ | 1,500 | $ | 328,164 | ||||||||
Other |
10,000 | | 10,000 | | ||||||||||||
10,000 | | 11,500 | 328,164 | |||||||||||||
Expenses: |
||||||||||||||||
Research and development (includes
$32,000 and $122,000 of non-cash
stock-based expense for the three and
nine-month periods ended September 30,
2005, respectively, and $40,000 and
$1,334,000 of non-cash stock-based
expense for the three and nine-month
periods ended September 30, 2004,
respectively) |
1,990,963 | 1,326,566 | 6,820,952 | 4,968,446 | ||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
58,074 | 31,828 | 158,486 | 73,636 | ||||||||||||
Common stock, stock options and warrants
issued for general and administrative
services |
26,497 | 134,314 | 342,561 | 939,601 | ||||||||||||
Selling, general and administrative |
1,467,356 | 1,360,343 | 4,423,198 | 5,143,042 | ||||||||||||
3,542,890 | 2,853,051 | 11,745,197 | 11,124,725 | |||||||||||||
Loss before other income |
(3,532,890 | ) | (2,853,051 | ) | (11,733,697 | ) | (10,796,561 | ) | ||||||||
Other income: |
||||||||||||||||
Interest income |
40,420 | 10,995 | 124,150 | 50,748 | ||||||||||||
Minority interest in losses of subsidiary |
| 46,353 | 81,452 | 115,610 | ||||||||||||
Net loss |
$ | (3,492,470 | ) | $ | (2,795,703 | ) | $ | (11,528,095 | ) | $ | (10,630,203 | ) | ||||
Basic and diluted: |
||||||||||||||||
Loss per common share |
$ | (0.06 | ) | $ | (0.08 | ) | $ | (0.20 | ) | $ | (0.30 | ) | ||||
Weighted average shares outstanding |
58,190,792 | 35,306,313 | 56,367,717 | 34,865,315 | ||||||||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
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CYTRX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
(Unaudited)
Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||
2005 | 2004 | |||||||
Cash flows from operating activities: |
||||||||
Net loss |
$ | (11,528,095 | ) | $ | (10,630,203 | ) | ||
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to
net cash used in operating activities: |
||||||||
Depreciation and amortization |
158,486 | 73,636 | ||||||
Minority interest in losses of
subsidiary |
(81,452 | ) | (115,610 | ) | ||||
Gain on
Atlanta lease termination |
(163,000 | ) | | |||||
Common stock, stock options and
warrants issued for services |
485,230 | 2,273,574 | ||||||
Net change in operating assets and
liabilities |
(461,594 | ) | 802,760 | |||||
Total adjustments |
(62,330 | ) | 3,034,360 | |||||
Net cash used in operating
activities |
(11,590,425 | ) | (7,595,843 | ) | ||||
Cash flows from investing activities |
||||||||
Purchases of property and equipment |
(38,740 | ) | (321,371 | ) | ||||
Net cash used in investing
activities |
(38,740 | ) | (321,371 | ) | ||||
Cash flows from financing activities: |
||||||||
Net proceeds from exercise of stock
options and warrants |
251,619 | 525,689 | ||||||
Net proceeds from issuances of common
stock |
19,590,446 | 184,000 | ||||||
Net cash provided by financing
activities |
19,842,065 | 709,689 | ||||||
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash
equivalents |
8,212,900 | (7,207,525 | ) | |||||
Cash and short-term investments at beginning of
period |
2,999,409 | 11,644,446 | ||||||
Cash and short-term investments at end of period |
$ | 11,212,309 | $ | 4,436,921 | ||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
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CYTRX CORPORATION
NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
September 30, 2005
(Unaudited)
1. Description of Company and Basis of Presentation
CytRx Corporation (CytRx or the Company) is a biopharmaceutical research and development
company, based in Los Angeles, California, with a laboratory located in Worcester, Massachusetts.
On September 30, 2005, the Company completed the merger of CytRx Laboratories, Inc., previously a
wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and the owner of its Massachusetts laboratory, with and into
the Company. The Companys small molecule therapeutics efforts include the clinical development of
three oral drug candidates that it acquired in October 2004, as well as a drug discovery operation
conducted by its Massachusetts laboratory. The Company owns the rights to a portfolio of
technologies, including ribonueleic acid interference (RNAi or gene silencing) technology in the
treatment of specified diseases, including those within the areas of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS or Lou Gehrigs disease), obesity and type 2 diabetes and human cytomegalovirus (CMV). In
addition, the Company recently announced that a novel HIV DNA + protein vaccine exclusively
licensed to the Company and developed by researchers at University of Massachusetts Medical School
and Advanced BioScience Laboratories, and funded by the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated
promising interim Phase I clinical trial results that indicate its potential to produce potent
antibody responses with neutralizing activity against multiple HIV viral strains. The Company has
entered into strategic alliances with third parties to develop several of the Companys other
products.
On October 4, 2004, CytRx acquired all of the clinical and pharmaceutical and related
intellectual property assets of Biorex Research & Development, RT, or Biorex, a Hungary-based
company focused on the development of novel small molecules with broad therapeutic applications in
neurology, type 2 diabetes, cardiology and diabetic complications. The acquired assets include
three oral, clinical stage drug candidates and a library of 500 small molecule drug candidates. The
Company recently entered the clinical stage of drug development with the initiation of a Phase II
clinical trial with its lead small molecule product candidate arimoclomol for the treatment of ALS.
Arimoclomol has received Orphan Drug and Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration.
To date, the Company has relied primarily upon selling equity securities and, to a lesser
extent, upon payments from its strategic partners and licensees and upon proceeds received upon the
exercise of options and warrants, to generate the funds needed to finance its operations.
Management believes the Companys cash and cash equivalents balances at September 30, 2005 are
sufficient to meet projected cash requirements into the second quarter of 2006. The Company will be
required to obtain significant additional funding in order to execute its long-term business plans,
although it does not currently have commitments from any third parties to provide it with capital.
The Company cannot assure that additional funding will be available on favorable terms, or at all.
If the Company fails to obtain significant additional funding when needed, it may not be able to
execute its business plans and its business may suffer, which would have a material adverse effect
on its financial position, results of operations and cash flows. The inability to obtain such financing
would adversely affect its ability to obtain an opinion without a going concern qualification from its independent
registered public accounting firm in March 2006 with respect to its 2005 financial statements.
The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements at September 30, 2005 and for the
three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2005 and 2004 are unaudited, but include all
adjustments, consisting of normal recurring entries, which the Companys management believes to be
necessary for a fair presentation of the periods presented. Interim results are not necessarily
indicative of results for a full year. Balance sheet amounts as of December 31, 2004 have been
derived from our audited financial statements as of that date.
The financial statements included herein have been prepared by the Company pursuant to the
rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Certain information and
footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with
accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. have been condensed or omitted pursuant to
such rules and regulations. Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the
2005 financial statement presentation. The financial statements should be read in conjunction with
the Companys audited financial statements in its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004.
The Companys operating results will fluctuate for the foreseeable future. Therefore,
period-to-period comparisons should not be relied upon as predictive of the results in future
periods.
2. Adoption of Recently Issued Accounting Standards
In December 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) revised and issued
Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 123, Share-Based Payment (SFAS
123(R)), which replaced SFAS 123 and eliminates the
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alternative of using the Accounting Principles Board (APB) Opinion No. 25 intrinsic value
method of accounting for stock options. This revised statement will require recognition of the cost
of employee services received in exchange for awards of equity instruments based on the fair value
of the award at the grant date. This cost is required to be recognized over the vesting period of
the award. The stock-based compensation table in Note 4 to the Companys financial statements
illustrates the effect on net income and earnings per share if the Company had applied the fair
value recognition provisions of SFAS 123 to stock-based employee compensation. SFAS 123(R) is
effective with respect to our financial statements beginning in 2006. The adoption of SFAS 123R
will have a material impact on the Companys results of operations, but will not impact the
Companys financial position. Assuming that the Company grants equity awards in 2006 at similar
levels to those granted in 2004 and 2005, the estimated stock-based compensation expense for 2006
will range from approximately $1.0 million to $2.0 million. However, the calculation of
compensation cost for share-based payment transactions may differ significantly from the Companys
estimates due to the uncertainty of additional equity awards which may be granted, the
unpredictability of the fair value of stock options granted and the estimated expected forfeiture
rates.
In March 2005, the SEC staff issued a Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB 107), expressing the
staffs views regarding the interaction between SFAS No. 123R and certain SEC rules and regulations
and regarding the valuation of share-based payment arrangements for public companies. In
particular, SAB 107 provides guidance related to share-based payment transactions with
non-employees, the transition from nonpublic to public entity status, valuation methods (including
assumptions such as expected volatility and expected term), the accounting for certain redeemable
financial instruments issued under share-based payment arrangements, the classification of
compensation expense, non-GAAP financial measures, first-time adoption of SFAS No. 123R in an
interim period, capitalization of compensation cost related to share-based payment arrangements,
the accounting for income tax effects of share-based payment arrangements upon adoption of SFAS No.
123R, the modification of employee share options prior to adoption of SFAS No. 123R and disclosures
in Managements Discussion and Analysis subsequent to adoption of SFAS No. 123R.
SFAS 154 relates to the accounting for and reporting of a change in accounting principles and
applies to all voluntary changes in accounting principles. The reporting of corrections of an error
by restating previously issued financial statements is also addressed by this statement. SFAS 154
applies to pronouncements in the event they do not include specific transition provisions. When a
pronouncement includes specific transition provisions, those provisions should be followed. SFAS
154 requires retrospective application to prior periods financial statements of changes in
accounting principle, unless the period specific effects or cumulative effects of an accounting
change are impracticable to determine, in which case the new accounting principle is required to be
applied to the assets and liabilities as of the earliest period practicable, with a corresponding
adjustment made to opening retained earnings. Prior to SFAS 154, most accounting changes were
recorded effective at the beginning of the year of change, with the cumulative effect at the
beginning of the year of change recorded as a charge or credit to earnings in the period a change
was adopted. SFAS 154 will be effective for us for accounting changes and corrections of errors
beginning in 2006. SFAS 154 does not change the transition provisions of any existing accounting
pronouncements, including those that are in the transition phase as of the effective date of SFAS
154.
3. Loss Per Share
Basic and diluted loss per common share are computed based on the weighted average number of
common shares outstanding. Common share equivalents (which may consist of options and warrants) are
excluded from the computation of diluted loss per share since the effect would be anti-dilutive.
Common share equivalents that were excluded from the computation of diluted loss per share totaled
approximately 25.0 million and 11.3 million shares at September 30, 2005 and 2004, respectively.
4. Stock Based Compensation
The Company uses the intrinsic value method of APB Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued
to Employees (APB 25), in accounting for its employee stock options, and presents disclosure of
pro forma information required under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123,
Accounting for Stock-based Compensation (SFAS 123), as amended by Statement of Financial
Accounting Standards No. 148, Accounting for Stock-Based Compensation Transition and Disclosure
(SFAS 148).
The following table illustrates the effect on net loss and loss per share if the Company had
applied the fair value recognition provisions of SFAS 123 to stock-based employee compensation
(amounts in thousands except per share data):
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Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | |||||||||||||||
September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||
2005 | 2004 | 2005 | 2004 | |||||||||||||
Net loss, as reported |
$ | (3,492 | ) | $ | (2,796 | ) | $ | (11,528 | ) | $ | (10,630 | ) | ||||
Add: Stock-based employee
compensation expense included
in reported net loss |
| | | | ||||||||||||
Deduct: Total stock-based
employee compensation expense
determined under fair-value
based method for all awards |
(130 | ) | (360 | ) | (504 | ) | (1,009 | ) | ||||||||
Pro forma net loss |
$ | (3,622 | ) | $ | (3,156 | ) | $ | (12,032 | ) | $ | (11,639 | ) | ||||
Loss per share, as reported
(basic and diluted) |
$ | (0.06 | ) | $ | (0.08 | ) | $ | (0.20 | ) | $ | (0.31 | ) | ||||
Loss per share, pro forma
(basic and diluted) |
$ | (0.06 | ) | $ | (0.09 | ) | $ | (0.21 | ) | $ | (0.33 | ) |
5. Liquidity and Capital Resources
Based on the Companys currently planned level of expenditures, management believes that it has
adequate working capital to allow it to operate at its currently planned levels into the second
quarter of 2006. The Company is pursuing several sources of potential capital, although it does not
currently have commitments from any third parties to provide capital. The Company will be required
to obtain significant additional funding in order to maintain its operations, including its Phase
II clinical program with arimoclomol for ALS, its planned levels of operations for its obesity and
type 2 diabetes laboratory and its ongoing research and development efforts related to its other
small molecule drug candidates, and in order to continue to meet its obligations under its existing
licensing arrangements. The possibility that the Companys shares will be delisted from Nasdaq if
the Company continues not to satisfy Nasdaqs minimum bid price requirement may adversely affect
the Companys ability to obtain its required financing or the terms or timing of securing that
financing.
6. Equity Events
On January 20, 2005, the Company completed a $21.3 million private equity financing in which
it issued 17,334,494 shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase an additional 8,667,247
shares of its common stock at an exercise price of $2.00 per share. Net of investment banking
commissions, legal, accounting and other fees related to the transaction, the Company received
proceeds of approximately $19.4 million.
On June 30, 2005, the Company issued 650,000 shares of its common stock to Dr. Michael Czech
as part of a transaction in which the Company purchased Dr. Czechs 5% interest in CytRx
Laboratories, which has subsequently been merged with and into CytRx. The purchase of Dr. Czechs
interest in CytRx Laboratories was consummated pursuant to the terms of a Stockholders Agreement
dated September 17, 2003, by and among CytRx, CytRx Laboratories and Dr. Czech, 300,000 of the
shares of CytRx common stock issued to Dr. Czech were unrestricted and in exchange for his 5%
interest in CytRx Laboratories. That stock was valued at $0.91 per share for financial statement
purposes. The transaction was accounted for using purchase accounting, and resulted in $184,000 of
goodwill for financial statement purposes, which represents the difference between the market value
of the 300,000 unrestricted shares issued to Dr. Czech and the fair value of the minority interest
at June 30, 2005. The remaining 350,000 shares of CytRx common stock issued to Dr. Czech are
restricted and will vest subject to the occurrence of certain events set forth in a Restricted
Stock Agreement dated June 30, 2005, by and between Dr. Czech and CytRx.
In July 2005, the Company amended its Certificate of Incorporation to increase the authorized
number of shares of its common stock from 100,000,000 to 125,000,000 shares.
During the quarter ended September 30, 2005, the Company did not receive any funds from the
exercise of stock options or warrants.
7. Termination of Atlanta Facility Lease
Subsequent to the Companys merger with Global Genomics in 2002, it recorded a loss of
$563,000 associated with the closure of its Atlanta headquarters and its relocation to Los Angeles.
This loss represented the total remaining lease obligations and estimated operating costs through
the remainder of the lease term, less estimated sublease rental income and deferred rent at the
time. In August 2005, the Company entered into a lease termination agreement pursuant to which it
was released from all future payment obligations on the lease in exchange for a one-time $110,000
cash payment and the forfeiture of a $49,000 security deposit. As a result of this agreement, the
Company realized a $163,000 offset against its current period general and administrative expenses,
and its future minimum lease commitments decrease by $200,000 for each of 2006 and 2007 and by
$75,000 for 2008.
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Item 2. Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition And Results of Operations
Forward Looking Statements
From time to time, we make oral and written statements that may constitute forward-looking
statements (rather than historical facts) as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995 or by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) in its rules, regulations and
releases, including Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. We desire to take advantage of the safe harbor
provisions in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 for forward-looking statements
made from time to time, including, but not limited to, the forward-looking statements made in this
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, as well as those made in other filings with the SEC.
All statements in this Quarterly Report, including in Managements Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations, other than statements of historical fact are
forward-looking statements for purposes of these provisions, including any projections of financial
items, any statements of the plans and objectives of management for future operations, any
statements concerning proposed new products or services, any statements regarding future economic
conditions or performance, and any statement of assumptions underlying any of the foregoing. In
some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as may,
will, expects, plans, anticipates, estimates, potential or could or the negative
thereof or other comparable terminology. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the
forward-looking statements contained herein and in documents incorporated by this Quarterly Report
are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations or any of the forward-looking
statements will prove to be correct, and actual results could differ materially from those
projected or assumed in the forward-looking statements.
Our future financial condition and results of operations, as well as any forward-looking
statements, are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the risk
factors set forth under the heading Risk Factors in this Quarterly Report, and including risks or
uncertainties regarding: our need for significant additional capital to fund our ongoing working
capital needs; the scope of the clinical testing that may be required by regulatory authorities for
our molecular chaperone co-induction drug candidates, including with respect to arimoclomol for the
treatment of ALS, and other products and the outcomes of those tests; uncertainties related to the
early stage of our diabetes, obesity, cytomegalovirus, or CMV, and ALS research; the need for
future clinical testing of any small molecules and products based on ribonucleic acid interference,
or RNAi, that may be developed by us; the significant time and expense that will be incurred in
developing any of the potential commercial applications for our small molecules or RNAi technology;
and risks relating to the enforceability of any patents covering our products and to the possible
infringement of third party patents by those products. All forward-looking statements and reasons
why results may differ included in this Quarterly Report are made as of the date hereof, and we
assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement or reason why actual results
might differ.
Overview
We are in the process of developing products, primarily in the areas of small molecule
therapeutics and ribonucleic acid interference, or RNAi, for the human health care market. Our
small molecule therapeutics efforts include our clinical development of three oral drug candidates
that we acquired in October 2004, including a Phase II trial initiated in September 2005, as well
as our drug discovery operations conducted at our laboratory in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Development work on RNAi, a relatively recent technology for silencing genes in living cells and
organisms, is still at an early stage, and we are aware of only two clinical tests of medical
applications using RNAi that have yet been initiated by any party. In addition to our work in RNAi
and small molecule therapeutics, we recently announced that a novel HIV DNA + protein vaccine
exclusively licensed to us and developed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical
School, or UMMS, and Advanced BioScience Laboratories, and funded by the National Institutes of
Health, demonstrated promising interim Phase I clinical trial results that indicate its potential
to produce potent antibody responses with neutralizing activity against multiple HIV viral strains.
We have also entered into strategic alliances with respect to the development of several other
products using our other technologies.
On October 4, 2004, we acquired all of the clinical and pharmaceutical and related
intellectual property assets of Biorex Research & Development, RT, or Biorex, a Hungary-based
company focused on the development of novel small molecules based on molecular chaperone
co-induction technology, with broad therapeutic applications in neurology, type 2 diabetes,
cardiology and diabetic complications. The acquired assets include three oral, clinical stage drug
candidates and a library of 500 small molecule drug candidates. We recently entered the clinical
stage of drug development with the initiation of a Phase II clinical program with its lead small
molecule product candidate arimoclomol for the treatment of ALS. Arimoclomol has received Orphan
Drug and Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The initial Phase II clinical trial that we have initiated for arimoclomol for ALS (which we
refer to as the Phase IIa trial) is a
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multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of approximately 80 ALS patients at eight
to ten centers across the U.S. Patients will receive either placebo (a capsule without drug), or
one of three dose levels of arimoclomol capsules three times daily, for a period of 12 weeks. The
primary endpoints of this Phase IIa trial are safety and tolerability. Secondary endpoints include
a preliminary evaluation of efficacy using two widely accepted surrogate markers, the revised ALS
Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R), which is used to determine patients capacity and independence
in 13 functional activities, and Vital Capacity (VC), an assessment of lung capacity. The trial is
powered to monitor only extreme responses in these two categories.
Depending upon the results of the Phase IIa trial, we plan to initiate a subsequent Phase II
trial (which we refer to as the Phase IIb trial) that will be powered to detect more subtle
efficacy responses. Although this second trial is still in the planning stages and will be subject
to FDA approval, it is expected to include approximately 300 ALS patients recruited from 25
clinical sites and will take approximately 18 months to complete.
The acquisition of the molecular chaperone co-induction technology from Biorex represented a
continuation of our business strategy, adopted subsequent to our merger with Global Genomics, in
July 2002, to conduct further research and development efforts for our pre-merger adjuvant and
co-polymer technologies, including Flocor and Tranzfect, through strategic relationships with other
pharmaceutical companies, and to focus our efforts on acquiring and developing new technologies and
products to serve as the foundation for the future of the company.
In April 2003, we acquired our first new technologies by entering into exclusive license
agreements with UMMS covering potential applications for its proprietary RNAi technology in the
treatment of specified diseases. At that time, we also acquired an exclusive license from UMMS
covering its proprietary technology with potential gene therapy applications within the area of
cancer. In May 2003, we broadened our strategic alliance with UMMS by acquiring an exclusive
license from it covering a proprietary DNA-based HIV vaccine technology. In July 2004, we further
expanded our strategic alliance with UMMS by entering into a collaboration and invention disclosure
agreement with UMMS under which UMMS will disclose to us certain new technologies developed at UMMS
over the next three years pertaining to RNAi, diabetes, obesity, neurodegenerative diseases
(including ALS) and CMV, and will give us an option, upon making a specified payment, to negotiate
an exclusive worldwide license to the disclosed technologies on commercially reasonable terms. As
part of our strategic alliance with UMMS, we agreed to fund certain discovery and pre-clinical
research at UMMS relating to the use of our technologies, licensed from UMMS, for the development
of therapeutic products within certain fields.
Although we intend to internally fund the early stage development work for certain product
applications (including obesity, type 2 diabetes and ALS) and may seek to fund the completion of
the development of certain of these product applications (such as arimoclomol for ALS), we may also
seek to secure strategic alliances or license agreements with larger pharmaceutical companies to
fund the early stage development work for other gene silencing product applications and for
subsequent development of those potential products where we fund the early stage development work.
We have no significant revenues and we expect not to have significant revenues and to continue
to incur significant losses over the next several years. Our net losses may increase from current
levels primarily due to activities related to our collaborations, technology acquisitions, ongoing
and planned clinical trials, research and development programs and other general corporate
activities. We anticipate that our operating results will fluctuate for the foreseeable future.
Therefore, period-to-period comparisons should not be relied upon as predictive of the results in
future periods.
To date, we have relied primarily upon sales of equity securities and, to a much lesser
extent, upon payments from our strategic partners and licensees and upon proceeds received upon the
exercise of options and warrants, to generate the funds needed to finance our business plans and
operations. We will be required to obtain significant additional funding in order to execute our
long-term business plans. Our sources of potential funding for the next several years are expected
to consist primarily of proceeds from sales of equity, but could also include license and other
fees, funded research and development payments, gifts and grants, and milestone payments under
existing and future collaborative arrangements. However, we have no commitment or arrangements for
such additional funding.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Managements discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are
based on our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with
accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial
statements requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of
assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosure of contingent assets and
liabilities. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates its estimates, including those related to
revenue recognition, bad debts, impairment of long-lived assets, including finite
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lived intangible assets, accrued liabilities and certain expenses. We base our estimates on
historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the
circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values
of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may
differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.
Our significant accounting policies are summarized in Note 2 to our financial statements
contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed for the year ended December 31, 2004. We believe
the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used
in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements:
Revenue Recognition
Nonrefundable license fee revenue is recognized when collectibility is reasonably assured,
which is generally upon receipt, when no continuing involvement on our part is required and payment
of the license fee represents the culmination of the earnings process. Nonrefundable license fees
received subject to future performance by us or that are credited against future payments due to us
are deferred and recognized as services are performed and collectibility is reasonably assured,
which is generally upon receipt, or upon termination of the agreement and all related obligations
thereunder, whichever is earliest. Our revenue recognition policy may require us to defer
significant amounts of revenue.
Research and Development Expenses
Research and development expenses consist of costs incurred for direct and overhead-related
research expenses and are expensed as incurred. Costs to acquire technologies which are utilized in
research and development and which have no alternative future use are expensed when incurred.
Technology developed for use in our products is expensed as incurred, until technological
feasibility has been established. Expenditures, to date, have been classified as research and
development expense in the consolidated statements of operations, and we expect to continue to
expense research and development for the foreseeable future.
Stock-based Compensation
We grant stock options and warrants for a fixed number of shares to key employees and
directors with an exercise price equal to the fair market value of the shares at the date of grant.
We account for stock option grants and warrants issued to employees and directors in accordance
with APB Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees (APB 25) and related
interpretations and, accordingly, recognize no compensation expense for the stock option grants and
warrants issued to employees for which the terms are fixed.
For stock option grants and warrants which vest based on certain corporate performance
criteria, compensation expense is recognized to the extent that the quoted market price per share
exceeds the exercise price on the date such criteria are achieved or are probable. At each
reporting period end, we must estimate the probability of the criteria specified in the stock based
awards being met. Different assumptions in assessing this probability could result in additional
compensation expense being recognized.
In October 1995, the FASB issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 123,
Accounting for Stock-based Compensation (SFAS 123), which provides an alternative to APB 25 in
accounting for stock-based compensation issued to employees. However, we have continued to account
for stock-based compensation in accordance with APB 25 (See Notes 2 and 14 to our financial
statements for the year ended December 31, 2004).
In December 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) revised and issued SFAS
123, Share-Based Payment (SFAS 123(R)). SFAS 123(R) is effective with respect to our financial
statements beginning in 2006. SFAS 123(R) eliminates the alternative of using the APB 25 intrinsic
value method of accounting for stock options. This revised statement will require recognition of
the cost of employee services received in exchange for awards of equity instruments based on the
fair value of the award at the grant date. This cost is required to be recognized over the vesting
period of the award. The stock-based compensation table in Note 4 to our financial statements
illustrates the effect on net income and earnings per share if we had applied the fair value
recognition provisions of SFAS 123 to stock-based employee compensation. The proforma disclosures
previously permitted under SFAS 123 will no longer be an alternative under SFAS 123(R). The
adoption of SFAS 123R will have a material impact on our results of operations, but will not impact
our financial position. Assuming that we grant equity awards in 2006 at similar levels to those
granted in 2004 and 2005, our estimated stock-based compensation expense for 2006 will range from
approximately $1.0 million to $2.0 million. However, the calculation of compensation cost for
share-based payment transactions may differ significantly from our estimates due to the uncertainty
of additional equity awards which may be granted, the unpredictability of the fair value of stock
options granted and the estimated expected forfeiture rates.
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We have also granted stock options and warrants to certain consultants and other third
parties. Common stock, stock options and warrants granted to consultants and other third parties
are accounted for in accordance with SFAS 123 and related interpretations and are valued at the
fair market value of the common stock, options and warrants granted, as of the date of grant or
services received, whichever is more reliably measurable. Expense is recognized in the period in
which a performance commitment exists or the period in which the services are received, whichever
is earlier. We anticipate that we will continue to rely on the use of consultants and that we will
be required to expense the associated costs.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
We review long-lived assets, including finite lived intangible assets, for impairment on an
annual basis, as of December 31, or on an interim basis if an event occurs that might reduce the
fair value of such assets below their carrying values. An impairment loss would be recognized based
on the difference between the carrying value of the asset and its estimated fair value, which would
be determined based on either discounted future cash flows or other appropriate fair value methods.
Estimated Facility Abandonment Accrual
Subsequent to our merger with Global Genomics in 2002, we recorded a loss of $563,000
associated with the closure of our Atlanta headquarters and its relocation to Los Angeles. This
loss represented the total remaining lease obligations and estimated operating costs through the
remainder of the lease term, less estimated sublease rental income and deferred rent at the time.
In August 2005, we entered into a lease termination agreement pursuant to which we were released
from all future payment obligations on the lease in exchange for a one-time $110,000 cash payment
and the forfeiture of a $49,000 security deposit. As a result of this agreement, we realized a
$163,000 offset against our current period general and administrative expenses, and our future
minimum lease commitments decrease by $200,000 for each of 2006 and 2007 and by $75,000 for 2008.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
At September 30, 2005, we had cash and short-term investments of $11.2 million and total
assets of $12.7 million, compared to $3.0 million and $5.0 million, respectively, at December 31,
2004. Working capital totaled $9.9 million at September 30, 2005, compared to $1.2 million at
December 31, 2004.
To date, we have relied primarily upon sales of equity securities and, to a much lesser
extent, payments from our strategic partners and licensees and upon proceeds received upon the
exercise of options and warrants, to generate funds needed to finance our business and operations.
Although we believe that we have adequate working capital to support our currently planned level of
operations into the second quarter of 2006, we will be dependent on obtaining financing from third
parties in order to maintain our operations, including our Phase II clinical program with
arimoclomol for ALS, our planned levels of operations for our obesity and type 2 diabetes
laboratory and our ongoing research and development efforts related to our other small molecule
drug candidates, and in order to continue to meet our obligations to UMMS. We currently have no
commitments from any third parties to provide us with capital. We cannot assure that additional
funding will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all. If we fail to obtain additional
funding when needed, we would be forced to scale back, or terminate, our operations, or to seek to
merge with or to be acquired by another company. The inability to obtain such financing would adversely
affect its ability to obtain an opinion without a going concern qualification from its independent
registered public accounting firm in March 2006 with respect to its 2005 financial statements.
In the nine-month period ended September 30, 2005, net cash used in investing activities
consisted of $39,000, the majority of which was for the purchase of property and equipment
primarily relating to our obesity and diabetes laboratory. We expect capital spending to increase
over the remainder of 2005 to provide for our increased research and development activities. In the nine-month
period ended September 30, 2004, net cash used in investing activities consisted of $321,000 for the purchase
of property and equipment primarily relating to the establishment of our obesity and diabetes subsidiary and its continuing
needs.
Cash provided by financing activities in the nine-month period ended September 30, 2005 was
$19.8 million. The cash provided includes approximately $252,000 received upon the exercise of
stock options and warrants. Additionally, we raised $19.6 million through the sale of equity, of
which approximately $19.4 million was raised in connection with a private equity financing, net of
expenses, that closed in January 2005. In the nine-month period ended September 30, 2004, we
received proceeds from the exercise of stock options and warrants totaling $526,000 and we raised
an additional $184,000 from the issuance of common stock.
Our net loss
for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2005 was $11.5 million, which
resulted in net cash used in operating activities of $11.6 million. Adjustments to reconcile net
loss to net cash used in operating activities for the nine-month period ending September 30, 2005
include $485,000 of common stock, options and warrants issued in lieu of cash for research and
development and selling, general and administrative services, as well as a net change in assets and
liabilities of $462,000 and the recording of $158,000 depreciation expense. Our net loss for the
nine-month period ended September 30, 2004 was $10.6 million, which resulted in net cash
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used in operating activities of $7.6 million. Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash
used in operating activities for the nine-month period ending September 30, 2004 were primarily
$940,000 of common stock, options and warrants issued in lieu of cash for selling, general and
administrative services. Additionally, we issued $382,000 of common stock, options and warrants in
lieu of cash in connection with certain license fees and $952,000 in connection with research and
development activities.
We believe that we have adequate working capital to allow us to operate at our currently
planned levels into the second quarter of 2006. Our strategic alliance with UMMS requires us to
make significant expenditures to fund research at UMMS relating to developing therapeutic products
based on UMMSs gene silencing technology that has been licensed to us. The aggregate amount of
these expenditures under certain circumstances is expected to be approximately $600,000 during the
remainder of 2005.
We will require significant additional capital in order to fund the completion of the Phase II
clinical program with our lead small molecule product candidate arimoclomol for the treatment of
ALS and the other ongoing research and development related to the drugs acquired from Biorex in
October 2004. We estimate that the Phase II clinical program, including the recently-initiated
Phase IIa trial and the Phase IIb trial that we expect to initiate soon after completion of the
present Phase IIa trial subject to FDA approval, will require us to
expend approximately $16.2 million over a period of approximately 24 months. However, we may incur substantial additional
expense and the trial may be delayed if the FDA requires us to generate additional pre-clinical or
clinical data in connection with the clinical trial, or the FDA requires us to revise significantly
our planned protocol for the Phase IIb clinical trial.
Any additional capital requirements may be provided by potential milestone payments pursuant
to our licenses with Merck & Co. (Merck) and Vical Incorporated (Vical), both of which relate
to TranzFect, or our license with SynthRx, Inc. (SynthRx) related to Flocor, or by potential
payments from future strategic alliance partners or licensees of our technologies. However, Merck
is at an early stage of clinical trials of a product utilizing TranzFect and Vical has only
recently commenced a Phase I clinical trial of a product using Tranzfect, so there is likely to be
a substantial period of time, if ever, before we receive any further significant payments from
Merck or Vical.
We intend also to pursue other sources of capital, although we do not currently have
commitments from any third parties to provide us with capital. The results of our technology
licensing efforts and the actual proceeds of any fund-raising activities will determine our ongoing
ability to operate as a going concern. Our ability to obtain future financings through joint
ventures, product licensing arrangements, equity financings, gifts and grants or otherwise is
subject to market conditions and our ability to identify parties that are willing and able to enter
into such arrangements on terms that are satisfactory to us. There can be no assurance that we will
be able to obtain future financing from these sources. The possibility that our shares will be
delisted from Nasdaq if we continue not to satisfy Nasdaqs minimum bid price requirement may
adversely affect our ability to obtain our required financing or the terms or timing of securing
that financing. Depending upon the outcome of our fundraising efforts, the accompanying financial
information may not necessarily be indicative of future operating results or future financial
condition.
We expect to incur significant losses for the foreseeable future and there can be no assurance
that we will generate significant revenues or become profitable. Even if we become profitable, we
may not be able to sustain that profitability.
Results of Operations
We recorded net losses of $3.5 million and $11.5 million for the three-month and nine-month
periods ended September 30, 2005, as compared to $2.8 million and $10.6 million for the same
periods in 2004.
We earned an immaterial amount in licensing fees during the three and nine-month periods ended
September 30, 2005. We earned $328,000 from milestone payments from a licensee of our Tranzfect
technology during the nine-month period ended September 30, 2004, but none of those milestones were
paid in the three-month period ended September 30, 2004. All future licensing fees under our
current licensing agreements are dependent upon successful development milestones being achieved by
the licensor. During fiscal 2005, we are not anticipating receiving any significant licensing fees.
Research and development expenses during 2004 were primarily the result of our efforts to
develop RNAi through new and existing licensing agreements and sponsored research agreements, as
well as research and development efforts performed at our obesity and diabetes laboratory. Our
laboratory is working to develop small molecule inhibitors against proprietary protein targets
identified through sponsored research agreements and licensing of intellectual property.
In the final quarter of 2005 and into 2006, we expect our research and development expenses to
increase primarily as a result of the recent initiation of our Phase II clinical program with
arimoclomol for the treatment of ALS. We estimate that the Phase II clinical program, including the
recently-initiated Phase IIa trial and the Phase IIb trial that we expect to initiate soon after
completion of the
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present
Phase IIa trial subject to FDA approval, will require us to expend
approximately $16.2 million over a period of approximately 24 months.
Research and development expenses were $2.0 million and $6.8 million during the three and
nine-month periods ended September 30, 2005, as compared to $1.3 million and $5.0 million for the
same periods in 2004. The research and development expenses incurred in the first nine months of
2005 relate to (i) the initiation of our Phase II clinical trial for arimoclomol, (ii) our
commitments to fund research and development activities conducted at UMMS and Massachusetts General
Hospital, and (iii) the research and development activities of our laboratory. Although our actual
research and development expenses for the balance of 2005 could vary substantially, our research
and development expense will remain substantial in the future as a result of our Phase II clinical
trial for arimoclomol, our ongoing research and development expenses related to the other drug
candidates purchased from Biorex, our commitment to fund research and development activities
conducted at UMMS related to the technologies covered by the UMMS license agreements, our agreement
to make specific cash payments to UMMS under our collaboration and invention disclosure agreement
in consideration of their agreeing to disclose certain inventions to us and providing us with the
right to acquire an option to negotiate exclusive licenses for those disclosed technologies and the
on-going operations of our Massachusetts laboratory. Included in each of the periods presented in
the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations, certain vesting criteria of stock
options issued to consultants were achieved, resulting in aggregate non-cash charges for research
and development activities of $32,000 and $122,000 during the three and nine-month periods ended
September 30, 2005, and $40,000 and $952,000 for the three and nine-month periods ended September
30, 2004. Additionally, in the nine-month period ended September 30, 2004, we issued $382,000 of
common stock, options and warrants in lieu of cash in connection with certain license fees.
Depreciation and amortization expense was $58,000 and $158,000 during the three and nine-month
periods ended September 30, 2005, as compared to $32,000 and $74,000 for the same periods in 2004.
The amounts in 2005 primarily relate to depreciation of fixed assets located at our Massachusetts
laboratory and the amortization of the molecular screening library acquired from Biorex, which was
put into service in the first quarter of 2005. The depreciation and amortization amounts for 2004
consist almost entirely of depreciation on assets acquired for our obesity and diabetes laboratory
during the first nine months of 2004.
From time to time, we issue shares of our common stock or warrants to purchase shares of our
common stock to consultants and other service providers in exchange for services. For financial
statement purposes, we value these shares of common stock, stock options, or warrants at the fair
market value of the common stock, stock options or warrants granted, or the services received,
whichever is more reliably measurable, and we recognize the expense in the period in which a
performance commitment exists or the period in which the services are received, whichever is
earlier. During each of the periods presented in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements
of operations, certain vesting criteria of stock options and warrants issued to consultants were
achieved, resulting in aggregate non-cash charges for general and administrative activities of
$26,000 and $343,000 for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2005 and $134,000 and
$940,000 for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2004.
Selling, general and administrative expenses incurred were $1.5 million and $4.4 million
during the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2005, as compared to $1.4 million and
$5.1 million for the same periods in 2004. The higher expenses incurred during the three and
nine-month periods ended September 30, 2004 primarily resulted from accounting fees associated with
our change in auditors in 2004, severance payments to certain former executives, and legal fees
related to both of the foregoing during those periods. We anticipate general and administrative
expenses will continue at approximately the same levels over the remainder of 2005.
Interest income earned was $40,000 and $124,000 for the three and nine-month periods ended
September 30, 2005, as compared to $11,000 and $51,000 for the same periods in 2004. The increase
in interest income is due to the higher levels of cash and investments that were held during the
first nine months of 2005 compared to the smaller amounts in the same period in 2004.
For the nine-month period ended September 30, 2005, we recorded an $81,000 reduction to our
losses as a result of the minority interest share in the losses of CytRx Laboratories, which was
merged with and into CytRx on September 30, 2005, and $116,000 for the corresponding period in
2004. This amount is reported as a separate line item in the accompanying condensed consolidated
statements of operations. On June 30, 2005, we purchased Dr. Michael Czechs 5% interest in CytRx
Laboratories, which, as a result of the purchase, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of CytRx. The
purchase of Dr. Czechs interest in CytRx Laboratories was consummated pursuant to the terms of a
Stockholders Agreement dated September 17, 2003, by and among CytRx, CytRx Laboratories and Dr.
Czech, 300,000 shares of CytRx common stock issued to Dr. Czech were unrestricted and in exchange
for his 5% interest in CytRx Laboratories. That stock was valued at $0.91 per share for financial
statement purposes. The transaction was accounted for using purchase accounting, and resulted in
$184,000 of goodwill for financial statement purposes, which represents the difference between the
market value of the 300,000 unrestricted shares issued to Dr. Czech and the fair value of the
minority interest at June 30, 2005. As a result of the purchase of Dr. Czechs interest in CytRx
Laboratories, no minority interest was recorded for the
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three-month period ended September 30, 2005.
Related Party Transactions
Dr. Michael Czech, a 5% minority shareholder of CytRx Laboratories until June 30, 2005 and a
member of our Scientific Advisory Board, is an employee of UMMS and is the principal investigator
for a sponsored research agreement between CytRx and UMMS. During the nine-month periods ended both
September 30, 2005 and 2004, we incurred expenses to UMMS related to Dr. Czechs sponsored research
agreement of $604,000, and we paid $60,000 to Dr. Czech for his services on the Scientific Advisory
Board.
Risk Factors
We Have Operated at a Loss and Will Likely Continue to Operate at a Loss For the Foreseeable
Future
We have incurred significant losses over the past five years, including net losses of $3.5
million and $11.5 million for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2005 (on an
unaudited basis) and $16.4 million, $17.8 million and $6.2 million for the years ended December 31,
2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively, and we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $117.7
million as of September 30, 2005 (on an unaudited basis). Our operating losses have been due
primarily to our expenditures for research and development on our products and for general and
administrative expenses and our lack of significant revenues. We are likely to continue to incur
operating losses until such time, if ever, that we generate significant recurring revenues. We
anticipate it will take a minimum of three years (and possibly longer) for us to generate recurring
revenues, since we expect that it will take at least that long before the development of any of our
licensed or other current potential products is completed, marketing approvals are obtained from
the FDA and commercial sales of any of these products can begin.
We Have No Significant Recurring Revenues, Which Makes Us Dependent on Financing to Sustain Our
Operations
Our revenues were $428,000, $94,000 and $1.1 million during the years ended December 31, 2004,
2003 and 2002, respectively. We did not have any significant revenue in the first nine months of
2005, and will not have significant recurring operating revenues until at least one of the
following occurs:
| We are able to complete the development of and commercialize one or more of the products that we are currently developing, which may require us to first enter into license or other arrangements with third parties. | ||
| One or more of our currently licensed products is commercialized by our licensees, thereby generating royalty income for us. | ||
| We are able to acquire products from third parties that are already being marketed or are approved for marketing. |
We expect to incur losses from operations until such time, if ever, as we can generate
significant recurring revenues. On January 26, 2005, we completed a private placement financing and
received net proceeds of approximately $19.4 million. Although we believe that we have adequate
financial resources to support our currently planned level of operations into the second quarter of
2006, we will be dependent on obtaining financing from third parties in order to maintain our
operations, including our Phase II clinical program with arimoclomol for ALS, our planned levels of
operations for our obesity and type 2 diabetes laboratory and our ongoing research and development
efforts related to our other small molecule drug candidates, and in order to continue to meet our
obligations to UMMS.
We have no commitments from third parties to provide us with any additional debt or equity
financing, and may not be able to obtain future financing on favorable terms, or at all. A lack of
needed financing would force us to reduce the scope of, or terminate, our operations, or to seek to
merge with or to be acquired by another company, and any inability to obtain such financing would adversely
affect our ability to obtain an opinion without a going concern qualification from our independent registered
public accounting firm in March 2006 with respect to its 2005 financial statements. There can be no assurance that we would be able to
identify an appropriate company to merge with or be acquired by or that we could consummate such a
transaction on terms that would be attractive to our stockholders or at all. The possibility that
our shares will be delisted from Nasdaq if we continue not to satisfy Nasdaqs minimum bid price
requirement may adversely affect our ability to obtain our required financing or the terms or
timing of securing that financing.
Most of Our Revenues Have Been Generated by License Fees for TranzFect, Which May Not be a
Recurring Source of Revenue for Us
License fees paid to us with respect to our TranzFect technology have represented all of our
revenue during 2005, and 93%, 81% and 94% of our total revenues for the years ended December 31,
2004, 2003 and 2002, respectively. We have already licensed most of
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the potential applications for this technology, and there can be no assurance that we will be
able to generate additional license fee revenues from any new licensees for this technology. Our
current licensees for TranzFect, Merck, and Vical, may be required to make further milestone
payments to us under their licenses based on their future development of products using TranzFect.
Since TranzFect is to be used as a component in vaccines, we do not need to seek FDA approval, but
any vaccine manufacturer will need to seek FDA approval for the final vaccine formulation
containing TranzFect. Merck has completed a multi-center, blinded, placebo controlled Phase I trial
of an HIV vaccine utilizing TranzFect as a component. In the Merck trials, although the formulation
of the tested vaccine using TranzFect was generally safe, well-tolerated and generated an immune
response, the addition of TranzFect to the vaccine did not increase this immune response. Moreover,
the DNA single-modality vaccine regimen with TranzFect, when tested in humans, yielded immune
responses that were inferior to those obtained with the DNA vaccines in macaque monkeys.
Accordingly, there is likely to be a substantial period of time, if ever, before we receive any
further significant payments from Merck or Vical under their TranzFect licenses.
We Have Changed Our Business Strategy, Which Will Require Us, in Certain Cases, to Find and Rely
Upon Third Parties for the Development of Our Products and to Provide Us With Products
Following our merger with Global Genomics, we modified our business strategy of internally
developing Flocor and the other, then-current, potential products that we had not yet licensed to
third parties. Instead, we began to seek to enter into strategic alliances, license agreements or
other collaborative arrangements with other pharmaceutical companies that would provide for those
companies to be responsible for the development and marketing of those products. In June 2004, we
licensed Flocor, the primary potential product that we held prior to the Global Genomics merger and
which we had not already licensed to a third party, to SynthRx, Inc., a recently formed Houston,
Texas-based biopharmaceutical company, under a strategic alliance that we entered into with that
company in October 2003. Although we intend to internally fund or carry out a significant portion
of the research and development related to at least one of our small molecule drug candidates, and
the early stage development work for certain product applications based on the RNAi and other
technologies that we licensed from UMMS, and we may seek to fund all of the later stage development
work for our potential ALS products, the completion of the development, manufacture and marketing
of these products is likely to require, in many cases, that we enter into strategic alliances,
license agreements or other collaborative arrangements with larger pharmaceutical companies for
this purpose.
There can be no assurance that any of our products will have sufficient potential commercial
value to enable us to secure strategic alliances, license agreements or other collaborative
arrangements with suitable companies on attractive terms or at all. If we are unable to enter into
collaborative agreements, we may not have the financial or other resources to continue development
of a particular product or the development of any of our products. In connection with the Phase I
clinical trial currently being conducted by UMMS and Advanced BioScience Laboratories, or ABL, on
an HIV vaccine candidate that utilizes a technology that we licensed from UMMS, we do not have a
commercial relationship with the company that provided an adjuvant for the vaccine for the trial.
If we are not able to enter into an agreement with this company on terms favorable to us or at all,
we may be unable to use some or all of the results of the clinical trial as part of our clinical
data for obtaining FDA approval of this vaccine, which will delay the development of the vaccine.
If we enter into these collaborative arrangements, we will be dependent upon the timeliness
and effectiveness of the development and marketing efforts of our contractual partners. If these
companies do not allocate sufficient personnel and resources to these efforts or encounter
difficulties in complying with applicable regulatory (including FDA) requirements, the timing of
receipt or amount of revenues from these arrangements may be materially and adversely affected. By
entering into these arrangements rather than completing the development and then marketing these
products on our own, we may suffer a reduction in the ultimate overall profitability for us of
these products. In addition, if we are unable to enter into these arrangements for a particular
product, we may be required to either sell our rights in the product to a third party or abandon it
unless we are able to raise sufficient capital to fund the substantial expenditures necessary for
development and marketing of the product.
We may also seek to acquire products from third parties that already are being marketed or
have previously been marketed. We have not yet identified any of these products. Even if we do
identify such products, it may be difficult for us to acquire them with our limited financial
resources and, if we acquire products using our securities as currency, we may incur substantial
shareholder dilution. We do not have any prior experience in acquiring or marketing products and
may need to find third parties to market these products for us. We may also seek to acquire
products through a merger with one or more companies that own such products. In any such merger,
the owners of our merger partner could be issued or hold a substantial, or even controlling, amount
of stock in our company or, in the event that the other company is the surviving company, in that
other company.
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Our Current Financial Resources May Limit Our Ability to Execute Certain Strategic Initiatives
In June 2004, we licensed Flocor to SynthRx, which will be responsible for developing
potential product applications for Flocor. Although we are not doing any further development work
on TranzFect or Flocor, should our three principal licensees for those technologies successfully
meet the defined milestones, we could receive future milestone payments and, should any of the
licensees commercialize products based upon our technology, future royalty payments. However, there
can be no assurance that our licensees will continue to develop or ever commercialize any products
that are based on our Flocor or our TranzFect technology.
Our strategic alliance with UMMS will require us to make significant expenditures to fund
research at UMMS relating to the development of therapeutic products based on UMMSs technologies
that we have licensed and pursuant to our collaboration and invention disclosure agreement with
UMMS. We estimate that the aggregate amount of these expenditures under our current commitments
will be $600,000 for the remainder of 2005, approximately $1.5 million for 2006 and approximately
$310,000 for 2007. We have also agreed to fund approximately $140,000 of sponsored research at
Massachusetts General Hospital during the remainder of 2005 and in 2006. Our license agreements
with UMMS also provide, in certain cases, for milestone payments based on the progress we make in
the clinical development and marketing of products utilizing the licensed technologies. In the
event that we were to successfully develop a product in each of the categories of obesity/type 2
diabetes, ALS, CMV, cancer and an HIV vaccine, under our licenses, those milestone payments could
aggregate up to $16.1 million.
We estimate that the Phase II clinical program with arimoclomol for ALS, including the
recently-initiated Phase IIa trial and the Phase IIb trial that we expect to initiate soon after
completion of the present Phase IIa trial subject to FDA approval, will require us to expend
approximately $16.2 million over a period of approximately 24 months. In addition, the agreement
pursuant to which we acquired the clinical and pharmaceutical assets of Biorex provides for
milestone payments based on the occurrence of certain regulatory filings and approvals related to
the acquired products. In the event that we successfully develop any of the products acquired from
Biorex, the milestone payments could aggregate up to $4.2 million. Each of the foregoing milestone
payments, however, could vary significantly based upon the milestones we achieve and the number of
products we ultimately undertake to develop.
Although we believe that an existing grant from the National Institute of Health, or NIH, will
be sufficient to fund all of the costs of an ongoing Phase I trial of the HIV vaccine candidate
using the technology we licensed from UMMS and Advanced BioScience Laboratories, or ABL, for which
we recently announced interim results, we could be required to fund substantial expenses of the
trial not covered by the grant. Under our license for this technology, following the completion of
the current Phase I trial, we will be responsible for all of the costs for subsequent clinical
trials for this vaccine. The costs of subsequent trials for the HIV vaccine will be very
substantial. Although we are seeking NIH or other governmental funding for these future trials, we
do not have, and there can be no assurance that we will be able to secure, such funding for any of
these trials.
The expenditures potentially required under our agreements with UMMS and ABL, together with
the operating capital requirements of our obesity and type 2 diabetes laboratory, our planned
sponsored research funding for Massachusetts General Hospital, our Phase II clinical program with
arimoclomol for ALS and our development of our small molecule drug candidates, substantially exceed
our current financial resources. Although we raised approximately $19.4 million in January 2005,
net of transaction expenses, those required expenditures will nonetheless require us to raise
additional capital or to secure a licensee or strategic partner in order to maintain our
operations, including our Phase II clinical program with arimoclomol for ALS, our planned levels of
operations for our obesity and type 2 diabetes laboratory and our ongoing research and development
efforts related to our other small molecule drug candidates, and in order to continue to meet our
obligations to UMMS. If we are unable to meet our various financial obligations under license
agreements with UMMS, we could lose all of our rights under those agreements. If we were to have
inadequate financial resources at that time, we also could be forced to reduce the level of, or
discontinue, operations at our laboratory.
If Our Products Are Not Successfully Developed and Approved by the FDA, We May Be Forced to
Reduce or Terminate Our Operations
All of our products are at various stages of development and must be approved by the FDA or
similar foreign governmental agencies before they can be marketed. The process for obtaining FDA
approval is both time-consuming and costly, with no certainty of a successful outcome. This process
typically includes the conduct of extensive pre-clinical and clinical testing, which may take
longer or cost more than we or our licensees anticipate, and may prove unsuccessful due to numerous
factors. Product candidates that may appear to be promising at early stages of development may not
successfully reach the market for a number of reasons. The results of preclinical and initial
clinical testing of these products may not necessarily indicate the results that will be obtained
from later or more extensive testing. Companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries
have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after obtaining promising
results in earlier trials.
Numerous factors could affect the timing, cost or outcome of our drug development efforts,
including the following:
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| Difficulty in securing centers to conduct trials. | |
| Difficulty in enrolling patients in conformity with required protocols or projected timelines. | |
| Unexpected adverse reactions by patients in trials. | |
| Difficulty in obtaining clinical supplies of the product. | |
| Changes in the FDAs requirements for our testing during the course of that testing. | |
| Inability to generate statistically significant data confirming the efficacy of the product being tested. | |
| Modification of the drug during testing. | |
| Reallocation of our limited financial and other resources to other clinical programs. |
It is possible that none of the products we develop will obtain the appropriate regulatory
approvals necessary for us to begin selling them. The time required to obtain FDA and other
approvals is unpredictable but often can take years following the commencement of clinical trials,
depending upon the complexity of the drug candidate. Any analysis we perform of data from clinical
activities is subject to confirmation and interpretation by regulatory authorities, which could
delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. Any delay or failure in obtaining required approvals
could have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate revenues from the particular drug
candidate and we may not have the financial resources to continue to develop our products and may
have to terminate our operations.
The Approach We Are Taking to Discover and Develop Novel Drugs Using RNAi and Other Technologies
is Unproven and May Never Lead to Marketable Products
The RNAi and other technologies that we have acquired from UMMS have not yet been clinically
tested by us, nor are we aware of any clinical trials having been completed by third parties
involving similar technologies. Neither we nor any other company has received regulatory approval
to market therapeutics utilizing RNAi. The scientific discoveries that form the basis for our
efforts to discover and develop new drugs are relatively new. The scientific evidence to support
the feasibility of developing drugs based on these discoveries is both preliminary and limited.
Successful development of RNAi-based products will require solving a number of issues, including
providing suitable methods of stabilizing the RNAi drug material and delivering it into target
cells in the human body. We may spend large amounts of money trying to solve these issues, and
never succeed in doing so. In addition, any compounds that we develop may not demonstrate in
patients the chemical and pharmacological properties ascribed to them in laboratory studies, and
they may interact with human biological systems in unforeseen, ineffective or harmful ways.
The Drug Candidates Acquired from Biorex May Not Obtain Regulatory Marketing Approvals
On October 4, 2004, we acquired all of the clinical and pharmaceutical assets and related
intellectual property of Biorex, including three drug candidates (arimoclomol, iroxanadine and
bimoclomol), and a library of small molecule drug candidates. Although each of arimoclomol,
iroxanadine and bimoclomol has undergone clinical testing, significant and costly additional
testing will be required in order to bring any product to market. We may be unable to confirm in
our pre-clinical or clinical trials with arimoclomol, iroxanadine or bimoclomol the favorable
pre-clinical or clinical data previously generated by European investigators for these drug
candidates, which could require us to have to modify our development plans for these compounds.
In September 2005, we initiated Phase II clinical testing for arimoclomol for ALS. There are
no assurances that the clinical testing will be successful, or that the FDA will permit us to
commence our planned Phase IIb clinical trial upon the completion of our ongoing Phase IIa clinical
trial. In August 2005, the FDA requested an amendment to our proposed protocol for this trial. The
revised protocol will increase our originally-anticipated expense necessary to carry out this
trial, and any additional requirements imposed by the FDA in connection with the ongoing Phase IIa
trial, or in connection with our planned Phase IIb trial, could add further time and expense for us
to carry out this trial.
We believe that the FDA may accept the completion of a successful Phase II clinical program as
sufficient to enable us to submit a New Drug Application, or NDA; however there are no assurances
that the FDA will accept our Phase II program in lieu of a Phase III clinical trial. If the FDA
requires us to complete a Phase III clinical trial, the cost of development of arimoclomol will
increase significantly beyond our estimated costs, and the time to completion of clinical testing
would be delayed. In addition, the FDA
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ultimately could require us to achieve an efficacy end point in the clinical trials for
arimoclomol that could be more difficult, expensive and time-consuming than our planned end point.
Although we anticipate developing arimoclomol for the treatment of ALS, arimoclomol has also shown
therapeutic efficacy in a preclinical animal model of diabetes and we may pursue development of
arimoclomol for diabetic indications. However, such development would require significant and
costly additional testing. There is no guarantee that arimoclomol would show any efficacy for any
other indications.
Iroxanadine has been tested in two Phase I clinical trials and one Phase II clinical trial
which showed improvement in the function of endothelial cells in blood vessels of patients at risk
of cardiovascular disease. We intend to develop this product to improve endothelial dysfunction in
indications such as diabetic retinopathy and wound healing, which will require significant and
costly additional testing. There is no guarantee that iroxanadine will show any efficacy in the
intended uses we are seeking. We may also attempt to license iroxanadine to larger pharmaceutical
or biotechnology companies for cardiovascular indications; however, there is no guarantee that any
such company will be interested in licensing iroxanadine from us or on terms that are favorable to
us.
Bimoclomol has been tested in two Phase II clinical trials where it was shown to be safe, but
where it did not show efficacy for diabetic neuropathy, the indication for which it was tested. We
intend to develop this compound for other therapeutic indications; however there can be no
guarantee that this compound will be effective in treating any diseases. In addition, the FDA may
require us to perform new safety clinical trials, which would be expensive and time consuming and
would delay development of bimoclomol. There is no guarantee that any additional clinical trials
will be successful or that the FDA will approve any of these products and allow us to begin selling
them in the United States.
Our Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Laboratory May Not Be Able to Develop Products
In order to develop new obesity and type 2 diabetes products, we will first need to identify
appropriate drug targets and pathways. We are using novel RNAi-based techniques to accelerate this
process, but there is no assurance that these techniques will accelerate our work or that we will
be able to identify highly promising targets or pathways using these techniques or otherwise. Even
if we are successful in identifying these targets or pathways, we will need to then develop
proprietary molecules that are safe and effective against these targets. The development process
and the clinical testing of our potential products will take a lengthy period of time and involve
expenditures substantially in excess of our current financial resources that are available for this
purpose. We are currently seeking a strategic alliance with a major pharmaceutical or biotechnology
company to complete the development, clinical testing and manufacturing and marketing of our
potential obesity and type 2 diabetes products, which are at an early stage of development, but we
may not be able to secure such a strategic partner on attractive terms or at all. We do not have
prior experience in operating a genomic and proteomic-based drug discovery company. Accordingly, we
will be heavily dependent on the prior experience and current efforts of Dr. Michael P. Czech, the
Chairman of our Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Jack Barber, our Senior Vice President Drug
Development, and Dr. Mark A. Tepper, our Senior Vice President Drug Discovery, in establishing
our scientific goals and strategies.
We Will Be Reliant Upon SynthRx to Develop and Commercialize Flocor
In June 2004, we licensed Flocor and our other co-polymer technologies to SynthRx and acquired
a 19.9% equity interest in that newly formed biopharmaceutical company. SynthRx has only limited
financial resources and will have to either raise significant additional capital or secure a
licensee or strategic partner to complete the development and commercialization of Flocor and these
other technologies. We are not aware that SynthRx has any commitments from third parties to provide
the capital that it will require, and there can be no assurance that it will be able to obtain this
capital or a licensee or strategic partner on satisfactory terms or at all.
Our prior Phase III clinical trial of Flocor for the treatment of sickle cell disease patients
experiencing an acute vaso-occlusive crisis did not achieve its primary objective. However, in this
study, for patients 15 years of age or younger, the number of patients achieving a resolution of
crisis was higher for Flocor-treated patients at all time periods than for placebo-treated
patients, which may indicate that future clinical trials should focus on juvenile patients.
Generating sufficient data to seek FDA approval for Flocor will require additional clinical studies
which have not yet been funded or commenced by SynthRx, and those studies will entail substantial
time and expense for SynthRx.
The manufacture of Flocor involves obtaining new raw drug substance and a supply of the
purified drug from the raw drug substance, which requires specialized equipment. Should SynthRx
encounter difficulty in obtaining the purified drug substance in sufficient amounts and at
acceptable prices, SynthRx may be unable to complete the development or commercialization of Flocor
on a timely basis or at all.
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We Are Unlikely to Recover Any Amounts from Global Genomics Portfolio Companies
Due to its inability to raise needed capital, Blizzard, which was Global Genomics principal
portfolio company, has been unable to complete the development of any of its products and has been
notified by the licensor of its core technologies that it is in default under its license for those
technologies. Global Genomics other portfolio company is at a very early stage, is operating
without any full-time or salaried employees and has not been able to raise the capital it will need
to fund its planned operations and to acquire licenses to certain technologies that it will
require. Accordingly, it appears unlikely that either of Global Genomics portfolio companies will
generate revenues for us in the future and, in 2003, we recorded a write-off of the carrying value
of our investments in those companies.
We Are Subject to Intense Competition That Could Materially Impact Our Operating Results
We and our strategic partners or licensees may be unable to compete successfully against our
current or future competitors. The pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology industry is
characterized by intense competition and rapid and significant technological advancements. Many
companies, research institutions and universities are working in a number of areas similar to our
primary fields of interest to develop new products. There also is intense competition among
companies seeking to acquire products that already are being marketed. Many of the companies with
which we compete have or are likely to have substantially greater research and product development
capabilities and financial, technical, scientific, manufacturing, marketing, distribution and other
resources than at least some of our present or future strategic partners or licensees.
As a result, these competitors may:
| Succeed in developing competitive products sooner than us or our strategic partners or licensees. | ||
| Obtain FDA and other regulatory approvals for their products before approval of any of our products. | ||
| Obtain patents that block or otherwise inhibit the development and commercialization of our product candidates. | ||
| Develop products that are safer or more effective than our products. | ||
| Devote greater resources to marketing or selling their products. | ||
| Introduce or adapt more quickly to new technologies or scientific advances. | ||
| Introduce products that render our products obsolete. | ||
| Withstand price competition more successfully than us or our strategic partners or licensees. | ||
| Negotiate third-party strategic alliances or licensing arrangements more effectively. | ||
| Take advantage of other opportunities more readily. |
A number of medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies are seeking to develop products
based on gene silencing technologies. Companies working in this area include Sirna Therapeutics,
Inc., Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Benitec Ltd., Nucleonics, Inc. and a number of the
multinational pharmaceutical companies. A number of products currently are being marketed by a
variety of the multinational or other pharmaceutical companies for treating type II diabetes,
including among others the diabetes drugs Avandia® by Glaxo SmithKline PLC, Actos® by Eli Lilly &
Co. and Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd., Glucophage® by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Symlin® and
Byetta by Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Starlix® by Novartis and the obesity drugs Xenical® by
F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. and Meridia® by Abbott Laboratories. Generic versions of certain of these
drugs have been introduced to the market or are likely to be introduced in the future, which may
put pricing pressure on other drugs, including ones that we may develop, for these disease
indications. Many major pharmaceutical companies are also seeking to develop new therapies for
these disease indications. Companies developing HIV vaccines that could compete with our HIV
vaccine technology include Merck, VaxGen, Inc., Epimmune, Inc., AlphaVax, Inc. and Immunitor
Corporation. In addition, we are aware of two companies founded by ex-employees of Biorex that have
patents and patent applications covering technology that is similar to the molecular chaperone
co-induction technology that we acquired from Biorex.
Currently, Rilutek®, which was developed by Aventis Pharma AG, is the only drug of which we
are aware that has been approved by the FDA for the treatment of ALS. Other companies are working
to develop pharmaceuticals to treat ALS, including Aeolus
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Pharmaceuticals, Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Oxford BioMedica plc. In addition, ALS
belongs to a family of diseases called neurodegenerative diseases, which includes Alzheimers,
Parkinsons and Huntingtons disease. Due to similarities between these diseases, a new treatment
for one ailment potentially could be useful for treating others. There are many companies that are
producing and developing drugs used to treat neurodegenerative diseases other than ALS, including
Amgen, Biogen Idec, Inc., Cephalon, Inc., Ceregene, Inc., Elan Corp. plc, Phytopharm plc, Schwarz
Pharma AG and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
Although we do not expect Flocor to have direct competition from other products currently
available or that we are aware of that are being developed related to Flocors ability to reduce
blood viscosity in the cardiovascular area, there are a number of anticoagulant products that
Flocor would have to compete against, such as tissue plasminogen activator, or t-PA, and
streptokinase (blood clot dissolving enzymes) as well as blood thinners such as heparin and
coumatin, even though Flocor acts by a different mechanism to prevent damage due to blood
coagulation. In the sickle cell disease area, Flocor would compete against companies that are
developing or marketing other products to treat sickle cell disease, such as Droxia® (hydroxyurea)
marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Dacogen, which is being developed by SuperGen, Inc. Our
TranzFect technology will compete against a number of companies that have developed adjuvant
products, such as the adjuvant QS-21TM marketed by Antigenics, Inc. and adjuvants marketed by
Corixa Corp. Blizzards products, if ever developed, will compete with a number of currently
marketed products, including those offered by Axon Instruments, Inc., Affymetrix, Inc., Applied
Precision, LLC, Perkin Elmer, Inc. and Agilent Technologies, Inc.
We Do Not Have the Ability to Manufacture Any of Our Products and Will Need to Rely upon Third
Parties for the Manufacture of Our Clinical and Commercial Product Supplies
We do not currently have the facilities or expertise to manufacture any of the clinical or
commercial supplies of any of our products, including the supply of arimoclomol used in our Phase
II clinical trials. Accordingly, we are and will be dependent upon contract manufacturers or our
strategic alliance partners to manufacture these supplies, or we will need to acquire the ability
to manufacture these supplies ourselves, which could be very difficult, time-consuming and costly.
We have a manufacturing supply arrangement in place with respect to the clinical supplies for both
the Phase IIa and Phase IIb trials for arimoclomol for ALS. We do not otherwise have manufacturing
supply arrangements for our other product candidates, including any of the licensed RNAi
technology, the other drug candidates acquired from Biorex or, with the exception of the clinical
supplies for the current Phase I trial, the HIV vaccine product that utilizes the HIV vaccine
technology that we have licensed from UMMS. There can be no assurance that we will be able to
secure needed manufacturing supply arrangements, or acquire the ability to manufacture the products
ourselves, on attractive terms or at all. Delays in, or a failure to, secure these arrangements or
abilities could have a materially adverse effect on our ability to complete the development of our
products or to commercialize them.
We May Be Unable to Protect Our Intellectual Property Rights, Which Could Adversely Affect the
Value of Our Assets
We believe that obtaining and maintaining patent and other intellectual property rights for
our technologies and potential products is critical to establishing and maintaining the value of
our assets and our business. Although we believe that we have significant patent coverage for the
technologies that we acquired from Biorex and for our TranzFect technologies, there can be no
assurance that this coverage will be broad enough to prevent third parties from developing or
commercializing similar or identical technologies, that the validity of our patents will be upheld
if challenged by third parties or that our technologies will not be deemed to infringe the
intellectual property rights of third parties. In particular, although we conducted certain due
diligence regarding the patents and patent applications acquired from Biorex and received certain
representations and warranties from Biorex in connection with the acquisition, the patents and
patent applications acquired from Biorex were issued or filed, as applicable, prior to our
acquisition and thus there can be no assurance that the validity, enforceability and ownership of
those patents and patent applications will be upheld if challenged by third parties. We have a
nonexclusive license to a patent owned by UMMS and the Carnegie Institution of Washington that
claims various aspects of gene silencing, or genetic inhibition by double-stranded RNA, but there
can be no assurance that this patent will withstand possible third-party challenges or otherwise
protect our technologies from competition. The medical applications of the gene silencing
technology and the other technologies that we have licensed from the UMMS also are claimed in a
number of pending patent applications, but there can be no assurance that these applications will
result in any issued patents or that those patents will withstand third-party challenges or protect
our technologies from competition. Moreover, we are aware of at least one other issued United
States patent claiming broad applications for RNAi, and many patent applications covering different
methods and compositions in the field of RNAi therapeutics have been and are expected to be filed,
and certain organizations or researchers may hold or seek to obtain patents that could make it more
difficult or impossible for us to develop products based on the gene silencing technology that we
have licensed. We are aware that at least one of our competitors is seeking patent coverage in the
RNAi field that could restrict our ability to develop certain RNAi-based therapeutics.
Any litigation brought by us to protect our intellectual property rights or by third parties
asserting intellectual property rights against us, or challenging our patents, could be costly and
have a material adverse effect on our operating results or financial
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condition, make it more difficult for us to enter into strategic alliances with third parties
to develop our products, or discourage our existing licensees from continuing their development
work on our potential products. If our patent coverage is insufficient to prevent third parties
from developing or commercializing similar or identical technologies, the value of our assets is
likely to be materially and adversely affected.
We are sponsoring research at UMMS and Massachusetts General Hospital under agreements that
give us certain rights to acquire licenses to inventions, if any, that arise from that research,
and we may enter into additional research agreements with those institutions, or others, in the
future. We also have a collaboration and invention disclosure agreement with UMMS under which UMMS
has agreed to disclose to us certain inventions it makes and to give us an option to negotiate
licenses to the disclosed technologies. There can be no assurance, however, that any such
inventions will arise, that we will be able to acquire licenses to any inventions under
satisfactory terms or at all, or that any licenses will be useful to us commercially.
We May Incur Substantial Costs from Future Clinical Testing or Product Liability Claims
If any of our products are alleged to be defective, they may expose us to claims for personal
injury by patients in clinical trials of our products or by patients using our commercially
marketed products. Even if the commercialization of one or more of our products is approved by the
FDA, users may claim that such products caused unintended adverse effects. We currently do not
carry product liability insurance covering the commercial marketing of these products. We have
obtained clinical trial insurance for our recently-initiated Phase IIa clinical trial with
arimoclomol for the treatment of ALS and will seek to obtain such insurance for any other clinical
trials that we conduct, including the planned Phase IIb clinical trial for arimoclomol, as well as
liability insurance for any products that we market, although there can be no assurance that we
will be able to obtain additional insurance in the amounts we seek or at all. We anticipate that
our licensees who are developing our products will carry liability insurance covering the clinical
testing and marketing of those products. However, if someone asserts a claim against us and our
insurance or the insurance coverage of our licensees or if their other financial resources are
inadequate to cover a successful claim, such successful claim could have a material adverse effect
on our financial condition or cause us to discontinue operations. Even if claims asserted against
us are unsuccessful, they may divert managements attention from our operations and we may have to
incur substantial costs to defend such claims.
We Cannot Assure You of the Continued Listing of Our Common Stock on the Nasdaq Market
On June 7, 2005, we received a notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market informing us that for the
previous 30 consecutive business days, the bid price of our common stock had closed below the
minimum $1.00 per share requirement for continued inclusion on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market under
Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(4). The letter stated that under Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(8)(D), we will
have until December 5, 2005 to regain compliance with Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(4). To regain
compliance, anytime before December 5, 2005, the bid price of the our common stock must close at
$1.00 per share or more for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days.
On December 5, 2005, if we meet the Nasdaq SmallCap Market initial inclusion criteria set
forth in Marketplace Rule 4310(c), except for the bid price requirement, we may be provided with an
additional 180 calendar day compliance period to demonstrate compliance. If we are not eligible for
an additional compliance period at that time, Nasdaq Staff will provide written notification that
our common stock will be delisted. Upon such notice, we may appeal this Nasdaq Staff determination
to a Listing Qualifications Panel, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Nasdaq Marketplace
Rule 4800 Series. There can be no assurance that, if we do appeal the Nasdaq Staffs determination,
that such appeal would be successful. Additionally, we must continue to meet all other continued
listing requirements; our failure to do so may result in a notice of delisting for which we would
be unable to request a hearing.
There can be no assurance that our common stock will come into compliance with Nasdaqs
minimum bid price requirement before December 5, 2005. We continue to monitor the bid price for our
common stock. If our common stock does not trade at a level that is likely to regain compliance,
our Board of Directors will consider options available to us to achieve compliance. There can be no
assurance that our Board of Directors will be able to implement a change that would enable us to
regain compliance with the minimum bid requirement. If our common stock is delisted from the Nasdaq
SmallCap Market, we could trade on the OTC Bulletin Board, which is substantially less liquid than
the Nasdaq Small Cap Market. If our common stock is delisted from the Nasdaq Small Cap Market, the
trading market for our common stock could be disrupted, which could make it difficult for investors
to trade in our common stock. Our potential delisting also may result in loss of investor
confidence, loss of analyst coverage and depression of our stock price, would could have a material
adverse effect on our business and financial prospects.
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Our Anti-Takeover Provisions May Make It More Difficult to Change Our Management or May
Discourage Others From Acquiring Us and Thereby Adversely Affect Stockholder Value
We have a stockholder rights plan and provisions in our bylaws that may discourage or prevent
a person or group from acquiring us without the approval of our board of directors. The intent of
the stockholder rights plan and our bylaw provisions is to protect our stockholders interests by
encouraging anyone seeking control of our company to negotiate with our board of directors.
We have a classified board of directors, which requires that at least two stockholder
meetings, instead of one, will be required to effect a change in the majority control of our board
of directors. This provision applies to every election of directors, not just an election occurring
after a change in control. The classification of our board increases the amount of time it takes to
change majority control of our board of directors and may cause our potential purchasers to lose
interest in the potential purchase of us, regardless of whether our purchase would be beneficial to
us or our stockholders. The additional time and cost to change a majority of the members of our
board of directors makes it more difficult and may discourage our existing stockholders from
seeking to change our existing management in order to change the strategic direction or operational
performance of our company.
Our bylaws provide that directors may only be removed for cause by the affirmative vote of the
holders of at least a majority of the outstanding shares of our capital stock then entitled to vote
at an election of directors. This provision prevents stockholders from removing any incumbent
director without cause. Our bylaws also provide that a stockholder must give us at least 120 days
notice of a proposal or director nomination that such stockholder desires to present at any annual
meeting or special meeting of stockholders. Such provision prevents a stockholder from making a
proposal or director nomination at a stockholder meeting without us having advance notice of that
proposal or director nomination. This could make a change in control more difficult by providing
our directors with more time to prepare an opposition to a proposed change in control. By making it
more difficult to remove or install new directors, the foregoing bylaw provisions may also make our
existing management less responsive to the views of our stockholders with respect to our operations
and other issues such as management selection and management compensation.
Our Outstanding Options and Warrants and the Registrations of Our Shares Issued in the Global
Genomics Merger and Our Recent Private Financings May Adversely Affect the Trading Price of Our
Common Stock
As of September 30, 2005, there were outstanding stock options and warrants to purchase
approximately 25.0 million shares of our common stock at exercise prices ranging from $0.01 to
$2.94 per share. Our outstanding options and warrants could adversely affect our ability to obtain
future financing or engage in certain mergers or other transactions, since the holders of options
and warrants can be expected to exercise them at a time when we may be able to obtain additional
capital through a new offering of securities on terms more favorable to us than the terms of
outstanding options and warrants. For the life of the options and warrants, the holders have the
opportunity to profit from a rise in the market price of our common stock without assuming the risk
of ownership. To the extent the trading price of our common stock at the time of exercise of any
such options or warrants exceeds the exercise price, such exercise will also have a dilutive effect
on our stockholders.
In August 2003, we registered with the SEC for resale by the holders a total of 14,408,252
shares of our outstanding common stock and an additional 3,848,870 shares of our common stock
issuable upon exercise of outstanding options and warrants, which shares and options and warrants
were issued primarily in connection with our merger with Global Genomics and the $5.4 million
private equity financing that we completed in May 2003. In December 2003, we registered a total of
6,113,448 shares of our common stock, consisting of the 5,175,611 shares issued, or that are
issuable upon exercise of the warrants issued, in connection with the $8.7 million private equity
financing that we completed in September 2003, and an additional 937,837 shares of our common stock
that we issued, or that are issuable upon the exercise of warrants that we issued, to certain other
third parties. In April 2004, we became temporarily ineligible to continue to use Form S-3 for both
of those registrations until April 2005. Our ineligibility to register resales on Form S-3 for that
period may have created liability under certain of our registration rights agreements if we were
not deemed to have amended the existing registrations in a reasonable period of time so as to
permit the holders to again be able to sell their shares under those registrations. In April 2005,
we reinstated the registrations, thus permitting the holders to again be able to sell their shares
under these registrations. In November 2004, we registered 4,000,000 shares of our common stock and
an additional 3,080,000 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants in
connection with the $4,000,000 private equity financing that we completed in October 2004, and an
additional 1,550,000 shares of our common stock issued or issuable upon exercise of warrants to
other third parties. In February 2005, we registered 17,334,494 shares of our common stock and an
additional 9,909,117 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of warrants in
connection with the $21.3 million private equity financing that we completed in January 2005. Both
the availability for public resale of these various shares and the actual resale of these shares
could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock.
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We May Issue Preferred Stock in the Future, and the Terms of the Preferred Stock May Reduce the
Value of Our Common Stock
We are authorized to issue up to 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series.
Our board of directors may determine the terms of future preferred stock offerings without further
action by our stockholders. If we issue preferred stock, it could affect your rights or reduce the
value of our outstanding common stock. In particular, specific rights granted to future holders of
preferred stock may include voting rights, preferences as to dividends and liquidation, conversion
and redemption rights, sinking fund provisions, and restrictions on our ability to merge with or
sell our assets to a third party.
Changes in Stock Option Accounting Rules May Adversely Impact Our Reported Operating Results, Our
Stock Price and Our Competitiveness in the Employee Marketplace
In December 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board published new rules that will
require companies in 2005 to record all stock-based employee compensation as an expense. The new
rules apply to stock options grants, as well as a range of other stock-based compensation
arrangements, including restricted share plans, performance-based awards, share appreciation
rights, and employee share purchase plans. We will have to apply the new financial accounting rules
beginning in the first quarter of 2006. We have depended in the past upon compensating our
officers, directors, employees and consultants with such stock-based compensation awards in order
to limit our cash expenditures and to attract and retain officers, directors, employees and
consultants. Accordingly, if we continue to grant stock options or other stock-based compensation
awards to our officers, directors, employees, and consultants after the new rules apply to us, our
future earnings, if any, will be reduced (or our future losses will be increased) by the expenses
recorded for those grants. The expenses we may have to record as a result of future options grants
may be significant and may materially negatively affect our reported financial results. The adverse
effects that the new accounting rules may have on our future financial statements should we
continue to rely heavily on stock-based compensation may reduce our stock price and make it more
difficult for us to attract new investors. In addition, reducing our use of stock plans to reward
and incentivize our officers, directors and employees could result in a competitive disadvantage to
us in the employee marketplace.
We May Experience Volatility in Our Stock Price, Which May Adversely Affect the Trading Price of
Our Common Stock
The market price of our common stock has experienced significant volatility in the past and
may continue to experience significant volatility from time to time. Our stock price has ranged
from $0.21 to $3.74 per share over the past three years. Factors such as the following may affect
such volatility:
| Our quarterly operating results. | ||
| Announcements of regulatory developments or technological innovations by us or our competitors. | ||
| Government regulation of drug pricing. | ||
| Developments in patent or other technology ownership rights. | ||
| Public concern regarding the safety of our products. |
Other factors which may affect our stock price are general changes in the economy, financial
markets or the pharmaceutical or biotechnology industries.
Item 3 Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Our financial instruments that are sensitive to changes in interest rates are our investments
and cash equivalents. As of September 30, 2005, we held no investments other than amounts invested
in money market accounts or certificates of deposit. We are not subject to any other material
market risks.
Item 4 Controls and Procedures
Our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, after evaluating the effectiveness of
our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Securities Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e)) as of
the end of the quarterly period covered by this Form 10-Q, have concluded that the Companys
disclosure controls and procedures are effective to ensure that information required to be
disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Securities Exchange Act is recorded,
processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange
Commissions rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our
management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to
allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. There were no changes made during our most
recently completed fiscal
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quarter in our internal control over financial reporting that has materially affected, or is
reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
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PART II OTHER INFORMATION
Item 4 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders
Our annual meeting of stockholders was held on July 18, 2005 for the following purposes:
1. | To elect two directors to serve until our 2008 annual meeting of stockholders; | ||
2. | To approve an amendment to our Restated Certificate of Incorporation to increase the authorized number of shares of common stock from 100,000,000 to 125,000,000; and | ||
3. | To ratify the selection of BDO Seidman, LLP as independent auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2005. |
The number of outstanding shares of our common stock as of the record date for the annual
meeting was 57,540,721, out of which in excess of 44,116,202 shares were represented at the annual
meeting.
Steven A. Kriegsman, Marvin R. Selter and Richard L. Wennekamp were reelected as our Class II
directors to serve until the 2008 annual meeting of stockholders. Dr. Louis Ignarro and Dr. Joseph
Rubinfeld, our Class I directors, and Max Link, our Class III director, continued to serve as
directors after the annual meeting.
The following table sets forth the number of votes cast for, against, or withheld for each
director nominee, as well as the number of abstentions and broker non-votes as to each such
director nominee:
Votes Cast Against | Broker | |||||||||||||||
Director Nominee | Votes Cast For | or Withheld | Abstentions | Non-Votes | ||||||||||||
Steven A. Kriegsman |
43,850,474 | 265,728 | | | ||||||||||||
Marvin R. Selter |
43,845,551 | 270,651 | | | ||||||||||||
Richard L. Wennekamp |
43,851,488 | 264,714 |
With respect to the proposal to approve an amendment to our Restated Certificate of
Incorporation to increase the authorized number of shares of common stock from 100,000,000 to
125,000,000: (i) 42,436,266 votes were cast for, (ii) 1,528,413 votes were cast against, (iii)
151,523 shares abstained and (iv) there were no broker non-votes with respect to the proposal.
Accordingly, the proposal was approved by our stockholders.
With respect to the proposal to ratify the selection of BDO Seidman, LLP as independent
auditors for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2005: (i) 43,923,631 votes were cast for, (ii)
96,112 votes were cast against, (iii) 96,459 shares abstained and (iv) there were no broker
non-votes with respect to the proposal. Accordingly, the proposal was approved by our stockholders.
Item 6. Exhibits
The exhibits listed in the accompanying Index to Exhibits are filed as part of this Quarterly
Report on Form 10-Q.
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly
caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
CYTRX CORPORATION | ||||||
(Registrant) | ||||||
Date: November 11, 2005
|
By: | /s/ MATTHEW NATALIZIO | ||||
Matthew Natalizio | ||||||
Chief Financial Officer | ||||||
(Principal Financial Officer) |
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INDEX TO EXHIBITS
Exhibit Number | Description | |||
10.1 *
|
(x) | Employment Agreement dated October 6, 2005 between CytRx Corporation and Dr. Mark A. Tepper | ||
10.2
|
(y) | First Amendment to Office Lease dated October 14, 2005, by and between CytRx Corporation and Douglas Emmett 1993, LLC | ||
10.3 *
|
Schedule of Non-Employee Director Compensation adopted on October 24, 2005 | |||
31.1
|
Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. Section 7241, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 | |||
31.2
|
Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to Section 15 U.S.C. Section 7241, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 | |||
32.1
|
Certification of Chief Executive Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 | |||
32.2
|
Certification of Chief Financial Officer Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 |
* | Indicates a management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement. | |
(x) | Incorporated by reference to the Companys Current Report on Form 8-K filed on October 7, 2005. | |
(y) | Incorporated by reference to the Companys Current Report on Form 8-K filed on October 20, 2005. |
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