ASTM news looks good.
ANN ARBOR, Mich., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASTM - news) announced today financial results for its second quarter and six months ended December 31, 1998. For the quarter ended December 31, 1998, the Company reported a net loss of $2,276,000, or $.16 per common share, compared to a net loss of $4,408,000, or $.59 per common share for the same period last year. For the six months ended December 31, 1998, the Company reported a net loss of $5,638,000, or $.42 per common share compared to $8,033,000, or $.87 per common share in 1997. These decreases reflect decreasing product development costs associated with the AastromReplicell(TM) Cell Production System (System) as the Company moves into production manufacturing and begins European marketing efforts. Revenues for the quarter and six-month periods ended December 31, 1998, consisted of grant funding and increased to $207,000 and $370,000, respectively, from $49,000 and $65,000, respectively in 1997.
Costs and expenses decreased to $3,861,000 for the quarter ended December 31, 1998 from $4,671,000 for the same period in 1997, and decreased to $7,605,000 for the six-month period ended December 31, 1998 compared to $8,527,000 in 1997. Aastrom management noted that the decreases in costs and expenses were principally the result of decreases in research and development expense to $3,165,000 and $6,258,000 for the quarter and six months ended December 31, 1998, respectively, from $3,788,000 and $7,031,000 for the same periods in 1997. General and administrative expenses also decreased to $696,000 and $1,347,000 for the quarter and six months ended December 31, 1998, from $883,000 and $1,496,000, for the same periods in 1997, primarily as a result of certain non-cash charges incurred in 1997.
''In line with the Company's objectives, we announced CE Mark approvals during the second quarter which will allow us to begin European marketing efforts of the AastromReplicell System and the SC-I Therapy Kit for use in stem cell therapy,'' commented R. Douglas Armstrong, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Aastrom. ''Furthermore, in the past several months we have significantly advanced the clinical development program of the AastromReplicell System that will be used to support these marketing efforts. Most notably, we presented data from several feasibility studies at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology, and initiated our first U.S. pivotal trial of the AastromReplicell System in breast cancer patients. The data presented provided further evidence of the safety and clinical utility of the AastromReplicell System for the production of bone marrow and cord blood cells for transplantation procedures.''
Dr. Armstrong continued, ''We will continue to advance our commercialization efforts for the AastromReplicell System and place equipment into our first customer sites in Europe. We also expect to receive permission to place the CE Mark on the remaining components of CB-I Therapy Kit for cord blood cell production, adding to the family of therapy kits being developed for the product line. With these goals in mind, we implemented a reorganization in November to focus our resources on the European market introduction of the AastromReplicell System and U.S. pivotal trials.''
|
