Procyon BioPharma Inc.
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T.PBP
0.80 (-0.02)
Annual General and Special Meeting & Second Quarter Results,
8/20/01
PROCYON BIOPHARMA INC ("PBP-T") - Annual General and Special Meeting &
Second Quarter Results, - Continued Progress in R&D, Financing and Important
Agreements
Procyon BioPharma Inc. ("Procyon") held its annual General and Special
Shareholders' meeting today in Montreal for the year ended December 31, 2000.
Mr. Hans J. Mader, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, indicated
important growth and progress in the six-month period following the change of the
Company's year-end from June 30 to December 31.
"We have taken important strides forward in our research and corporate
objectives," said Mr. Hans J. Mader. "The Company has been active with the
licensing-out of COLOPATH(R) to IMI International Medical Innovations Inc., with
the co-development agreement we signed with Biovation Ltd. for our lead ANA
therapeutic candidate, 2C5, and with the approval of the Investigational New Drug
(IND) application for FIBROSTAT(R) in Canada and the commencement of Phase
II clinical trials," he added. "In the second quarter of 2001, we made important
progress towards an IND application to the Food and Drug Administration in the
U.S. for both ANA and PSP(94). In this regard, we signed an agreement for the
GMP manufacture of our lead ANA monoclonal antibody, c-2C5 with Goodwin
Biotechnology and a second agreement with Multiple Peptide System for the
GMP manufacture of our lead synthetic peptide, PCK3145. We also completed a
financing for $1 million, which has qualified Procyon's common shares for
eligibility on the Quebec Stock Savings Plan list."
Second Quarter Activities
During the quarter, Procyon welcomed Ms. Monique Letourneau, CFA, as
Executive Vice-President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Ms. Letourneau
joined Procyon in June after having worked for several years with increasing
responsibilities at Power Corporation of Canada. Her most recent position was
that of Treasurer, which she held since 1997. She brings to Procyon a wealth of
experience as well as contacts in the field of institutional financing.
Additional Financing Obtained
On June 22, 2001, the Company closed a private placement totaling $1 million
with NATCAN and SIPAR for $500,000 each. The common shares of the
Company now qualify for listing on the Quebec Stock Savings Plan.
Research & Development Advancing Well
During the quarter, the Company received the cell line, which produces the
antibody c-2C5 - the chimeric version of its monoclonal ANA antibody 2C5 - from
its ANA technology development partner, Biovation Limited (part of the Merck
KGaA group). Following the close of the quarter, Procyon also entered into an
agreement for the manufacture of GMP grade chimeric monoclonal antibody,
c-2C5, with Goodwin Biotechnology Inc. of Florida and has begun work on the
production of the de-immunized version of this monoclonal antibody as a
second-generation drug candidate.
Procyon's PSP(94) program is also progressing well towards the development of
a diagnostic/prognostic test and the Company expects to have a prototype for
clinical testing later this year. The synthetic peptide PCK 3145 has been
selected as the therapeutic drug candidate that Procyon will advance to human
clinical trials for the treatment of late stage prostate cancer. Following the close
of the quarter, the Company signed an agreement with Multiple Peptide System
of San Diego, California for the GMP manufacture of the synthetic peptide PCK
3145. All pre-clinical studies, including a primate toxicology study, are close to
completion. Preparations for an IND application for the PSP(94) therapeutic
approach to treating prostate cancer using the PCK 3145 peptide are currently
underway with the objective of filing the IND before the end of the year.
Phase II clinical trials are ongoing for Procyon's scar management product,
FIBROSTAT(R). Clinical trial recruitment is underway in nine centers across
Canada and so far, over 70 patients have been recruited. The Company is on
target to file its IND application for clinical Phase III studies for FIBROSTAT(R)
later this year.
Procyon's colorectal cancer screening product, COLOPATH(R), was licensed to
IMI in the last quarter and is currently being further developed by IMI in
conjunction with IMI's ColorectAlert(TM) cancer screen test for clinical trials in
the U.S.
Financial Results
The Company's net loss for the quarter ended June 30, 2001 was $2,536,905
compared to a loss of $1,176,267 for the quarter ended June 30, 2000. The
year-to-date loss for the six months ended June 30, 2001 was $4,505,122
compared to a loss of $2,500,582 for the previous year.
The Company's liquidity consists of cash, cash equivalents and short-term
investments. As at June 30, 2001, our liquid assets totaled $10,928,034
compared to $14,163,170 as at December 31, 2000. This decrease is attributable
to the operating loss for the period.
Management believes that it has sufficient liquidity to support its activities for at
least the next fifteen months. Procyon expects operating expenses to continue
to increase as it further advances its research and development activities. Future
revenue which will be derived from research contracts and the commercialization
of the Company's products may not be realized on a timely basis or be sufficient
to support operating cash. The Company is therefore anticipating another round
of financing within the next twelve months to fund future research programs and
to facilitate the acquisition of new technologies to add to its existing portfolio.
Procyon BioPharma Inc. is a publicly listed, biopharmaceutical Company
focused principally on advancing two powerful platform technologies that have the
potential to diagnose and treat cancer. Procyon's non-pathogenic Antinuclear
Autoantibodies (ANAs) bind specifically to multiple cancer cell types strongly
enhancing the immune response to cancer cells. Prostate Secretory Protein
(PSP(94)) is a naturally occurring human protein that has the potential to treat
prostate cancer by inhibiting abnormal prostate cell growth. In addition, the
estimation of PSP(94) levels in prostate cancer patients may have prognostic and
diagnostic applications. Procyon also has two late-stage products:
FIBROSTAT(R), a topical cream for the management of newly formed scars
following surgery or burns and COLOPATH(R), a rapid, non-invasive screening
test for colorectal cancer.
Procyon's shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol,
PBP.
This release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the company's
current expectations regarding future events. The forward-looking statements
involve risks and uncertainties. Actual events could differ materially from those
projected herein and depend on a number of factors including, but not limited to,
changing market conditions, successful and timely completion of clinical studies,
uncertainties related to the regulatory approval process, establishment of
corporate alliances and other risks detailed from time to time in the company's
filings. TEL: (514) 685-9283 Hans J. Mader, Procyon BioPharma Inc. Email:
ir@procyonbiopharma.com Internet: www.procyonbiopharma.com TEL: (514)
843-2309 Nathalie Bourque
NATIONAL Public Relations (Public Relations) Email: nbourque@national.ca
TEL: (514) 939-3989 John Boidman (Investor Relations)
Renmark Financial Communications Inc. Email: jboidman@renmarkfinancial.com
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THis was a comment from someone that was there today:
Was there last year and today. There was so many people this year that they did not have enough chairs for everyone. The
meeting had more of a marketing feel than last time and it was a success from a PR perspective. All I can say it that PBP is in
an amazing position. Fibrostat and Colopath will make money for the company and Hans reiterated that this was guaranteed.
He said these products are low- risk high-return products. So basically conservatively this stock can reach $4 again just from
these 2 products by the end of 2002. PBP estimates that the market potential for these products is around $900 M. I'm pretty
sure the royalties (info from source) are at least 10%. So eventually maybe in 2008 PBP can have annual revenues of $90 M
per year (and almost 100% profit margins) just from these two products. If thats the case the stock can easily be at $6-7 at
that time.
But there PSP and ANA platforms have amazing potential. I couldn't help to notice Hans smiling when this section of the
presentation was discussed. Basically, by the end of 2002 we will know how well these technologies work on humans...and if
they do well PBP will go to another level - since the market rewards ANA and PSO much more that Colopath and Fibrostat as
was explained by Hans.
The research with these products is going well from what I gathered. The great part about them is that it is much more easy to
go from pre-clinical to clinical because they are not toxic.
Also Hans explained why the want to increase share capital...basically to be able to accomodate potential acquisitions. As he
explained these happen fast in the Biotech industry and PBP did not have the structure to handle acquisitions.
All in all it was a great meeting, even the marketing person from Bioval was there, and PBP made very effort to inform well
investors. The presentation explained clearly what this products do - it wasn't as boring as last time - and plenty of information
posters and packages were available to read. Not to mention that PBP scientists were open to questions after the meeting.
I don't know about the pessimists in this board but for 80 cents I can't really think of a bigger bargain. Even if you're a
short-term trader I think PBP has a good chance of going to 1.40 within six months...not bad at all. And the downside seems
rather small at this point. |
