Ciphergen Biosystems Inc. (NASDAQ: CIPH) reported its second quarter results for 2007 today, prompting the company’s share prices to rise 10.2 percent to 75 cents a share.
The company managed to reduce its total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2007, dropping expenses from $9.5 million last year to $5.9 million this year. Ciphergen attributed this reduction to the “elimination of selling and marketing expenses associated with the company’s former life sciences tools business,” which the company recently sold to Bio-Rad Laboratories.
Unfortunately, since the company sold off its life sciences research business, the company cut off its revenue – and said as much in the statement.
“Going forward, the company does not anticipate having revenue until its diagnostic tests are commercialized,” the statement read. “Accordingly the company had no revenue in the second quarter of 2007 compared to $5.3 million in the second quarter of 2006.”
The company also managed to reduce its net loss in the 2007 second quarter as well. Net loss dropped from $7.7 million in 2006 to $6.8 million in 2007, and basic and diluted net loss per share for the second quarter of 2007 was 17 cents per share based on 39.3 million shares outstanding compared to a basic and diluted net loss per share of 21 per share for the second quarter of 2006 based on 36 million shares outstanding. The company’s cash and investments also dropped, falling from $17.7 million in December 2006 to $9.6 million in June 2007.
Despite some of these minor losses, the company still managed to pull some major rabbits out of its hat this quarter. For starters, Ciphergen is still working on its proteomics-based diagnostic test to detect thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), a blood-borne disease that causes abnormal clotting and possible neurological dysfunction, renal failure, cardiac dysfunction, and even death. The company is also working on a blood-based assay for the detection of peripheral arterial disease, and is on its second test to commercialize the test.
Gail Page, the president and CEO of Ciphergen, was optimistic about the company’s prospects for the rest of the year.
“We continue to make progress advancing our clinical development programs and moving our high-value diagnostic tests forward to commercialization,” Page said. “We are collaborating closely with the Ohio State University Research Foundation to launch our test for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). Quest and [our company] are working to validate our test to detect Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). Enrollment in our ovarian cancer clinical trial is proceeding on schedule and we continue to expect to submit the test for clearance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by the end of 2007.”
Page also discussed the proposed new name for the company – Vermillion Inc. – and the company’s new Nasdaq symbol.
“Later this month we expect to change the name of the company to Vermillion Inc. and on August 27 we plan to begin trading under our new Nasdaq stock symbol: VRML,” Page continued. “This achievement represents the next step in our transformation to become a leading provider of molecular diagnostic products. Vermillion signifies health, life, passion and our commitment to improving patient health. We believe this provides an excellent new identity for our company.”
The company plans on hosting a conference call on Friday, August 24, to discuss the company’s business developments and its new name.
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