Cytovax Biotechnologies Inc., which is focused on the prevention and treatment of infectious disease, says its full-year loss widened to $4.8 million just before its recent major restructuring, from $4.4 million in the previous year.
On April 12, Cytovax’s board of directors approved a plan to restructure the company to focus on development partnerships and merger-and-acquisition opportunities, and ending all in-house research and development by May 31. Staff was reduced by 80 per cent and laboratories were shut down.
For the 2004 financial year ended March 31, the loss amounted to 47 cents a share, compared with 44 cents in fiscal 2003, the Edmonton-based firm (CXB-TSX) said. Revenue declined to $263,714 from $368,116. The company cited a one-time writedown of capitalized patents, offset by decreased expenses after completion of the phase 1 clinical trial for the anti-infection vaccine Cytovaxine and a reduction in administration costs.
On October 1, 2003, Cytovax announced clinical results confirming that Cytovaxine was safe for human use. Shire Pharmaceuticals Group has until October 27, 2004, to make a decision on whether to continue with the development of Cytovaxine.
