UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Form 10-Q
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QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 | |
For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2004 | ||
or | ||
o
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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
Delaware
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58-1642740 | |
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
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11726 San Vicente Blvd Suite 650 Los Angeles, CA (Address of principal executive offices) |
90049 (Zip 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
Number of shares of CytRx Corporation Common Stock, $.001 par value, issued and outstanding as of May 13, 2004: 34,927,327
Exhibit 10.1 | ||||||||
Exhibit 10.2 | ||||||||
Exhibit 10.3 | ||||||||
Exhibit 10.4 | ||||||||
Exhibit 10.5 | ||||||||
Exhibit 31 | ||||||||
Exhibit 32 |
CYTRX CORPORATION
Form 10-Q
Table of Contents
Page | ||||||
PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION | ||||||
Item 1
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Financial Statements: | |||||
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets as of March 31, 2004 (unaudited) and December 31, 2003 | 1 | |||||
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (unaudited) for the Three Month Periods Ended March 31, 2004 and 2003 | 2 | |||||
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (unaudited) for the Three Month Periods Ended March 31, 2004 and 2003 | 3 | |||||
Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements | 4 | |||||
Item 2
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Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations | 6 | ||||
Item 3
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Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk | 19 | ||||
Item 4
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Controls and Procedures | 19 | ||||
PART II. OTHER INFORMATION | ||||||
Item 1
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Legal Proceedings | 20 | ||||
Item 2
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Changes in Securities and Use of Proceeds | 20 | ||||
Item 6
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Exhibits and Reports on Form 8-K | 20 | ||||
SIGNATURES | 21 | |||||
INDEX TO EXHIBITS | 22 |
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Part I FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1. Financial Statements
CYTRX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
March 31, | December 31, | |||||||||
2004 | 2003 | |||||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||||||
ASSETS | ||||||||||
Current assets:
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||||||||||
Cash and short-term investments
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$ | 10,005,300 | $ | 11,644,446 | ||||||
Prepaid and other current assets
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617,073 | 236,349 | ||||||||
Total current assets
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10,622,373 | 11,880,795 | ||||||||
Property and equipment, net
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306,186 | 227,413 | ||||||||
Other assets
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||||||||||
Prepaid and other assets
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982,726 | 216,076 | ||||||||
Total assets
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$ | 11,911,285 | $ | 12,324,284 | ||||||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY | ||||||||||
Current liabilities:
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||||||||||
Accounts payable
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$ | 760,101 | $ | 738,135 | ||||||
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities
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616,216 | 381,977 | ||||||||
Total current liabilities
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1,376,317 | 1,120,112 | ||||||||
Accrued loss on facility abandonment
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286,032 | 312,433 | ||||||||
Deferred gain on sale of building
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86,855 | 93,836 | ||||||||
Deferred revenue
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275,000 | 275,000 | ||||||||
Total liabilities
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2,024,204 | 1,801,381 | ||||||||
Minority interest
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295,359 | 330,287 | ||||||||
Commitments and contingencies
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Stockholders equity:
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||||||||||
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
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Common stock, $.001 par value, 100,000,000 shares
authorized; 35,496,143 and 34,392,000 shares issued at
March 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003
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35,496 | 34,392 | ||||||||
Additional paid-in capital
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105,411,133 | 102,239,460 | ||||||||
Treasury stock, at cost (633,816 shares held
at March 31, 2004 and December 31, 2003)
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(2,279,238 | ) | (2,279,238 | ) | ||||||
Accumulated deficit
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(93,575,669 | ) | (89,801,998 | ) | ||||||
Total stockholders equity
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9,591,722 | 10,192,616 | ||||||||
Total liabilities and stockholders equity
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$ | 11,911,285 | $ | 12,324,284 | ||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated balance sheets.
1
CYTRX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
Three Months Ended March 31, | |||||||||
2004 | 2003 | ||||||||
Income
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License fees
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$ | 100,000 | $ | | |||||
Expenses:
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|||||||||
Research and development (includes non-cash stock
compensation of $274,000 in 2004)
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1,431,948 | 2,500 | |||||||
Depreciation and amortization
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16,330 | 60 | |||||||
Common stock, stock options and warrants issued
for selling, general and administrative
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1,283,832 | 148,500 | |||||||
Selling, general and administrative
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1,199,795 | 525,139 | |||||||
3,931,905 | 676,199 | ||||||||
Loss before other income
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(3,831,905 | ) | (676,199 | ) | |||||
Other Income
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Interest income
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23,306 | 15,766 | |||||||
(3,808,599 | ) | (660,433 | ) | ||||||
Minority interest in losses of subsidiary
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34,928 | | |||||||
Equity in losses from minority-owned entity
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| (253,564 | ) | ||||||
Net loss
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$ | (3,773,671 | ) | $ | (913,997 | ) | |||
Basic and diluted loss per common share
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$ | (0.11 | ) | $ | (0.04 | ) | |||
Basic and diluted weighted average shares
outstanding
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34,215,007 | 21,510,111 | |||||||
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
2
CYTRX CORPORATION
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
Three Months Ended March 31, | |||||||||||
2004 | 2003 | ||||||||||
(Unaudited) | |||||||||||
Cash flows from operating activities:
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Net loss
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$ | (3,773,671 | ) | $ | (913,997 | ) | |||||
Adjustments to reconcile net loss to net cash
used in operating activities:
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Depreciation and amortization
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16,330 | 60 | |||||||||
Equity in losses from minority-owned entity
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| 253,564 | |||||||||
Minority interest in losses of subsidiary
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(34,928 | ) | | ||||||||
Common stock, stock options and warrants issued
for selling, general and administrative
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1,557,582 | 148,500 | |||||||||
Net change in operating assets and liabilities
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153,054 | 4,033 | |||||||||
Total adjustments
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1,692,038 | 406,157 | |||||||||
Net cash used in operating activities
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(2,081,633 | ) | (507,840 | ) | |||||||
Cash flows from investing activities:
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Maturity of held-to-maturity securities
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| 1,401,358 | |||||||||
Purchase of property and equipment
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(95,103 | ) | | ||||||||
Net cash (used in) provided by financing
activities
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(95,103 | ) | 1,401,358 | ||||||||
Cash flows from financing activities:
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Net proceeds from exercise of stock options and
warrants
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353,590 | | |||||||||
Net proceeds from issuances of common stock
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184,000 | | |||||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities
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537,590 | | |||||||||
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash
equivalents
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(1,639,146 | ) | 893,518 | ||||||||
Cash and short-term investments at beginning of
period
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11,644,446 | 387,314 | |||||||||
Cash and short-term investments at end of period
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$ | 10,005,300 | $ | 1,280,832 | |||||||
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
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 research subsidiary, CytRx Laboratories, Inc. (the Subsidiary), based in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Company owns the rights to a portfolio of technologies, including ribonucleic 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), as well as a DNA-based HIV vaccine technology. In addition, the Company has entered into strategic alliances with third parties to develop several of the Companys other products.
The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements at March 31, 2004 and for the three month periods ended March 31, 2004 and 2003 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. Certain prior year amounts have been reclassified to conform to the 2004 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, 2003.
2. Adoption of Recently Issued Accounting Standards
In January 2003, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Interpretation No. 46, Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities, (FIN No. 46) as superseded in December 2003 by FASB-issued Interpretation No. 46R, Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities an interpretation of ARB 51 (FIN 46R). FIN 46R requires the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity (VIE) to consolidate the entity and also requires majority and significant variable interest investors to provide certain disclosures. A VIE is an entity in which the equity investors do not have a controlling interest, equity investors participate in losses or residual interests of the entity on a basis that differs from its ownership interest, or the equity investment at risk is insufficient to finance the entitys activities without receiving additional subordinated financial support from the other parties. FIN 46R was applicable starting January 1, 2004 and had no material effect on the Companys consolidated financial statements.
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 antidilutive. Common share equivalents which could potentially dilute basic earnings per share in the future, and which were excluded from the computation of diluted loss per share totaled approximately 11,281,000 and 6,379,000 shares at March 31, 2004 and 2003, 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).
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NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued)
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).
Three Months Ended | ||||||||
March 31, | ||||||||
2004 | 2003 | |||||||
Net loss, as reported
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$ | (3,774 | ) | $ | (914 | ) | ||
Deduct: Total stock-based employee compensation
expense determined under fair-value based method for all awards
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(324 | ) | (72 | ) | ||||
Pro forma net loss
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$ | (4,098 | ) | $ | (986 | ) | ||
Loss per share, as reported (basic and diluted)
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$ | (0.11 | ) | $ | (0.04 | ) | ||
Loss per share, pro forma (basic and diluted)
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$ | (0.12 | ) | $ | (0.05 | ) |
Included on the March 31, 2004 condensed consolidated balance sheets is $1,078,000 of prepaid compensation expense related to the issuance of common stock and vested and non-forfeitable options to purchase the Companys common stock to non-employees. $779,000 of such prepaid compensation expense is included in noncurrent prepaid and other assets and the remaining $299,000 is included in prepaid and other current assets in the Companys condensed consolidated balance sheets.
5. Subsequent Event
In May 2004, the Companys current Chief Financial Officer tendered his resignation as the Companys Chief Financial Officer, with such resignation to be effective as of June 15, 2004.
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NOTES TO CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued)
Item 2. Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition And Results of Operations
Forward Looking Statements |
This report and other documents that we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission contain forward looking statements that are based upon our current expectations, beliefs, estimates, forecasts and projections about us, our business and our future performance. In addition, we, or others on our behalf, may make forward looking statements in press releases or written statements, or in our communications and discussions with investors and analysts in the normal course of business through meetings, webcasts, phone calls, and conference calls. Words such as expect, anticipate, outlook, could, target, project, intend, plan, believe, seek, estimate, should, may, assume, continue, or variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict, including without limitation those risks identified under Risk Factors set forth below. We have based our forward looking statements on our managements beliefs and assumptions based on information available to our management at the time the statements are made. We caution you that actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied, or forecast by our forward looking statements. Except as required under the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission, we do not have any obligation and do not intend to update publicly any forward looking statements after the distribution of this report, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
Overview |
We are in the process of developing products, primarily in the areas of RNAi and small molecule therapeutics, for the human health care market. RNAi is a new technology for silencing genes in living cells and organisms. Development work on RNAi is still at an early stage, and we are not aware of any clinical testing of medical applications using RNAi that have yet been initiated by any party. In addition to our work in RNAi, we are involved in the development of a DNA-based HIV vaccine and have entered into strategic alliances with respect to the development of several other products using our other technologies.
Subsequent to our merger with Global Genomics, in July 2002, we modified our business strategy by discontinuing any further research and development efforts for our pre-merger pharmaceutical technologies and began to seek strategic relationships with other pharmaceutical companies to complete the development of those technologies. Instead of continuing research and development for those technologies, we focused our efforts on acquiring 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 UMass covering potential applications for its proprietary RNAi technology in the treatment of specified diseases. At that time, we also acquired an exclusive license from UMass covering its proprietary technology with potential gene therapy applications within the area of cancer. In May 2003, we broadened our strategic alliance with UMass by acquiring an exclusive license from it covering a proprietary DNA-based HIV vaccine technology.
As part of our strategic alliance with UMass, we agreed to fund certain discovery and pre-clinical research at the medical school relating to the use of our technologies, licensed from UMass, 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 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 not achieved profitability on a quarterly or annual basis and we expect to continue to incur significant additional losses over the next several years. We expect our net losses to increase primarily due to
6
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 the sale of equity securities and payments from our strategic partners and licensees to generate the funds needed to finance the implementation of our business plans. We will be required to obtain 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, and milestone payments under existing and future collaborative arrangements.
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 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 in accordance with APB Opinion No. 25, Accounting for Stock Issued to Employees
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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 13 to financial statements).
We have also granted stock options and warrants to certain consultants and other third parties. 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 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. The Company anticipates that it will continue to rely on the use of consultants and that it will be required to expense the associated costs. The Company anticipates continuing the use of stock options to compensate employees, and continuing to expense the options in accordance with APB 25.
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 |
During 2002, we recorded a loss of $478,000 associated with the closure of our Atlanta headquarters and relocation to Los Angeles, subsequent to our merger with Global Genomics. This loss represents the total remaining lease obligations and estimated operating costs through the remainder of the lease term, less estimated sublease income. This accrued charge was combined with deferred rent of $85,000 already recorded, so that the total accrual related to the facility abandonment was $563,000 as of December 31, 2002. To the extent that we are able to negotiate a termination of the Atlanta lease, our operating costs are different or our estimates related to sublease income are different, the total loss ultimately recognized may be different than the amount recorded as of December 31, 2002 and such difference may be material. As of March 31, 2004, we have a remaining lease closure accrual of $392,000.
Liquidity and Capital Resources |
At March 31, 2004, we had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $10,005,000 and net assets of $9,592,000 compared to $11,644,000 and $10,193,000, respectively, at December 31, 2003. Working capital totaled $9,246,000 at March 31, 2004, compared to $10,761,000 at December 31, 2003. By Board resolution, we have allocated approximately $5,806,000 of our cash and cash equivalents to the current and future operations of our obesity and type 2 diabetes subsidiary.
To date, we have relied primarily upon selling equity securities and payments from our strategic partners and licensees to generate funds needed to finance the implementation of our plans of operations. We believe that our current cash and investments balances will be sufficient to meet cash requirements for at least the next twelve months. We will be required to obtain significant additional funding in order to execute our long-term business plan. We cannot assure that additional funding will be available on favorable terms, if at all. If
8
In the three-month period ended March 31, 2003, net cash used in investing activities consisted of $1,401,000, representing funds received upon the maturity of U.S. government obligations. The only cash used in financing activities for the three-month period ended March 31, 2004, was for the purchase of $95,000 of property and equipment.
Net cash provided by financing activities was $538,000 in the first quarter of fiscal 2004. There were no financing activities for the three-month period ended March 31, 2003. Cash provided by financing activities in 2004 was comprised of $354,000 received upon the exercise of stock options and warrants and the sale of shares to a single purchaser for $184,000.
Although our net loss for the three-month period ending March 31, 2004 was $3,774,000, net cash used in operating activities was only $2,082,000 due primarily to $1,558,000 of common stock, options and warrants issued in lieu of cash for selling, general and administrative services. Net cash used in operating activities in the three-month period ended March 31, 2003 was $508,000 because the net loss during that prior years period was less, and the net loss included a non-cash loss from our minority-owned entities.
Based on our internal projections of expected expenses, we believe that we will have adequate working capital to allow us to operate at our currently planned levels for at least the next twelve months. Our strategic alliance with University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMass) may require us to make significant expenditures to fund research at that medical institution relating to developing therapeutic products based on that institutions proprietary gene silencing technology that has been licensed to us. The aggregate amount of these expenditures under certain circumstances is expected to be approximately $1,800,000 during the next 12 months.
We also may require additional working capital in order to fund any product acquisitions that we consummate. Any additional capital requirements may be provided by potential milestone payments pursuant to the Merck and Vical licenses or by potential payments from future strategic alliance partners or licensees of our technologies. However, Merck and Vical are both at an early stage of clinical trials of a product utilizing 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 to also 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. These efforts are 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. Our ability to obtain future financings through joint ventures, product licensing arrangements, equity financings 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. Additionally, depending upon the outcome of our fund raising 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 become profitable. Even if we become profitable, we may not be able to sustain that profitability.
Results of Operations |
We recorded a net loss of $3,774,000 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2004 as compared to $914,000 in the same fiscal quarter in 2003.
During the three-month period ended March 31, 2004, we earned a $100,000 milestone payment from one of our licensees. No license fee income was recorded during the three-month period ended March 31, 2003.
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Research and development expenses were $1,432,000 during the three-month period ended March 31, 2004, as compared to only $3,000 for the same fiscal period in 2003. Subsequent to our merger with Global Genomics, Inc. in July 2002, we modified our corporate business strategy so that we have not pursued additional internal research and development efforts for any of our then existing products or technologies, other than through partnering or out-licensing this research and development work to outside parties. As a result, we conducted virtually no internal research and development during the three-month period ended March 31, 2003. The research and development expenses incurred in the first fiscal quarter of 2004 relate to (i) our commitment to fund research and development activities conducted at UMass and Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General), and (ii) the research and development activities of CytRx Laboratories, Inc., our obesity and type II diabetes subsidiary. Although our actual research and development expenses for the balance of 2004 could vary substantially, our research and development expense will remain substantial in the future as a result of our commitment to fund research and development activities conducted at UMass related to the technologies covered by the UMass license agreements and the on-going operations of our CytRx Laboratories subsidiary.
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 or warrants at the fair market value of the stock 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 statement of operations, certain vesting criteria of stock purchase warrants issued to consultants were achieved, resulting in aggregate non-cash charges of $1,284,000 during the three month period ended March 31, 2004, and $149,000 during the same period in 2003.
Selling, general and administrative expenses paid or to be paid in cash were $1,200,000 during the three-month period ended March 31, 2004, as compared to $525,000 for the same period in 2003. Our new corporate business strategy contributed to the increase for 2004 resulting in (a) a greater use of consultants for technical, financial and business development advisory services and (b) higher legal and accounting costs.
Interest income was $23,000 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2004, as compared to $16,000 for the three-month period ended March 31, 2003. The increase in interest income is due to the substantial additional amounts of cash and investments we held during the fiscal 2004 quarter compared to the smaller amounts in the fiscal 2003 quarter. However, the increase in the amounts earning interest was partially offset by lower interest rates in the 2004 period.
For the three months ended March 31, 2004, we recorded $35,000 reduction of our losses as a result of the minority interest share in the losses of our subsidiary. This amount is reported as a separate line item in the accompanying condensed consolidated statement of operations.
We record our portion of the losses of Blizzard Genomics, an unconsolidated entity in which we own 40% of the outstanding equity interests, on the equity method. For the three months ended March 31, 2003, we recorded $254,000 as our share in the losses of Blizzard Genomics. Since we wrote off our entire investment in Blizzard Genomics at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2003, we did not record any losses from our investment in Blizzard Genomics for the three months ended March 31, 2004.
Risk Factors
You should carefully consider the following risks before deciding to purchase shares of our common stock. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business or prospects could be materially adversely affected and the trading price of our common stock could decline, and investors in our securities could lose all or part of their investment. You should also refer to the other information in this Quarterly Report, including our financial statements and the related notes.
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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 approximately $3,774,000 for the three months ended March 31, 2004 (on an unaudited basis), and $17,845,000, $6,176,000 and $931,000 for 2003, 2002, and 2001, respectively, and we had an accumulated deficit of approximately $93,576,000 (on an unaudited basis) as of March 31, 2004. 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. Unless we are able to acquire products from third parties that are already being marketed and that can be profitably marketed by us, it will take a minimum of three years (and possibly longer) for us to generate recurring revenues, since we anticipate that it will take at least several years before the development of any of our licensed or other current potential products is completed, FDA marketing approvals are obtained and commercial sales of any of these products can begin.
We Have No Source of Significant Recurring Revenues, Which May Make Us Dependent on Financing to Sustain Our Operations |
Although we generated $3,751,000 in revenues from milestone payments and license fees from our licensees during 2001 and $1,051,000 from these sources during 2002, we generated only $94,000 in such revenues in 2003. Although we earned a $100,000 milestone payment from one of our licenses in March 2004, we do not have any significant sources of recurring operating revenues. We 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 are likely to incur negative cash flows from operations until such time, if ever, as we can generate significant recurring revenues. Although we believe that we have adequate financial resources to support our currently planned level of operations for at least the next twelve months, should we thereafter be unable to generate recurring revenues, it is likely that we will become dependent on obtaining financing from third parties to continue to meet our obligations to the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and maintain our operations, including our planned levels of operations for our obesity and type 2 diabetes subsidiary. We have no commitments from third parties to provide us with any debt or equity financing. Accordingly, financing may be unavailable to us or only available on terms that substantially dilute our existing stockholders. A lack of needed financing could force us to reduce the scope of or terminate our operations or to seek a merger with or be acquired by another company. 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.
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 in the first quarter of 2004 and 81%, 94% and 94% of our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2003, 2002 and 2001, respectively. We have already licensed most of 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 & Co. (Merck) and Vical Incorporated (Vical) may be required to make further milestone payments to us under their licenses based on their future development of products using TranzFect. However, Merck is at an early stage of clinical trials of
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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 October 2003, we entered into an agreement to license 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, and entered into a strategic alliance with that company. Although we intend to internally fund or carry out, through our obesity and type 2 diabetes subsidiary, 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 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 enter into these 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 will 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.
Our Current Financial Resources May Limit Our Ability to Execute Certain Strategic Initiatives
On March 31, 2004 we had approximately $10,005,000 in cash and cash equivalents and approximately $9,246,000 in working capital. Our significantly improved working capital position is due primarily to our completing a $5,440,000 private equity financing in May 2003 and an $8,695,000 private equity financing in September 2003, although we have used approximately $7,000,000 of the net proceeds of the September 2003
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In October 2003, we entered into an agreement to license FLOCOR to SynthRx, which will be responsible for developing potential product applications for FLOCOR. As a result of the agreement, we may be entitled to receive future milestone payments and royalties. Although we are not doing any further development work on TranzFect, should our two principal licensees for this technology successfully meet the defined milestones, we could receive future milestone payments and, should either 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 may require us to make significant expenditures to fund research at the institution relating to the development of therapeutic products based on the UMMS proprietary technology that we have licensed. We estimate that the aggregate amount of these sponsored research expenditures under our current commitments will be approximately $1,400,000 for 2004, approximately $1,500,000 for 2005 and approximately $800,000 for 2006. We have also agreed to fund approximately $487,000 of sponsored research at Massachusetts General Hospital over the next two years. 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 $16,055,000. Those 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 NIH grant will be sufficient to fund substantially all of the costs of the currently planned Phase I trial of the HIV vaccine candidate using the technology we licensed from UMMS and Advanced BioScience Laboratories (ABL), we could be required to fund expenses of the trial not covered by the grant, which expenses could be significant. Under our license for this technology, following the completion of the currently planned 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. We do not have any NIH or other governmental funding for these future trials, 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 the UMMS and ABL, together with the operating capital requirements of our obesity and type 2 diabetes subsidiary and our planned sponsored research funding for Massachusetts General Hospital, substantially exceed our current financial resources. Those required expenditures could require us to raise additional capital or to secure a licensee or strategic partner to fulfill our obligations to UMMS and to develop any products based on the technologies that we have licensed from UMMS, or to continue the operations of our obesity and type 2 diabetes subsidiary at the currently contemplated level. 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 subsidiary.
Our New Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes Subsidiary May Not Be Able to Develop Products |
In order to develop new obesity and type 2 diabetes products, our new subsidiary will first need to identify appropriate drug targets and pathways. We will be 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. We currently plan to seek a strategic alliance with a major pharmaceutical company at a relatively
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We Will Be Reliant Upon SynthRx to Develop and Commercialize FLOCOR |
In October 2003, we entered into an agreement under which we will license FLOCOR and our other co-polymer technologies to SynthRx and acquire 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. SynthRx does not have 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 year 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. To generate sufficient data to seek FDA approval for FLOCOR will require additional clinical studies, which 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.
If Our Products Are Not Successfully Developed and Approved by the FDA, We May Be Forced to Reduce or Terminate Our Operations |
Each of our products is in the development stage 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 currently anticipate due to numerous factors such as:
| 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 FDA s requirements for our testing during the course of that testing | |
| inability to generate statistically significant data confirming the efficacy of the product being tested |
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 conducted by third parties involving similar technologies. 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.
In connection with the currently planned Phase I clinical trial being conducted by UMMS and ABL, we do not have a commercial relationship with a company that is providing an adjuvant for the HIV vaccine
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Our TranzFect technology is currently in Phase I clinical trials that are being conducted by our licensee, Merck, as a component of a vaccine to prevent AIDS. Since TranzFect is to be used as a component in vaccines, we do not need to seek FDA approval, but the 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. Although the formulation of this tested vaccine was generally safe and 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.
We Are Unlikely to Recover Any Amounts from Global Genomics Portfolio Companies |
Due to its inability to raise needed capital, Blizzard Genomics, Inc. (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 fulltime 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 May Be Involved in Legal Proceedings That Could Affect Our Business Operations or Financial Condition |
The Company may be involved, from time to time, in investigations and proceedings by governmental and self-regulatory agencies, certain of which could result in adverse judgments, fines, or other sanctions. We have recently been notified by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission (Massachusetts Commission) that it has initiated a Preliminary Inquiry into whether our previous retention of a consultant who introduced us to UMass constituted an improper conflict of interest under Massachusetts ethics laws. Since the inquiry is at a very preliminary stage, it is inherently difficult to predict whether the Massachusetts Commission will decide to initiate any formal proceedings, whether these proceedings will be directed at us or whether we will be found in any such proceedings to have violated any Massachusetts ethics laws. We also cannot estimate what our legal costs will be in connection with this proceeding, although these expenses could be substantial if a formal proceeding is initiated. Moreover, if the Massachusetts Commission were to determine that our conduct was unlawful, the Commission could impose a number of different penalties or sanctions upon us which under certain circumstances would have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
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.
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As a result, these competitors may:
| Succeed in developing competitive products earlier than we or our strategic partners or licensees | |
| Obtain approvals for such products from the FDA or other regulatory agencies more rapidly than we or our strategic partners or licensees do | |
| Obtain patents that block or otherwise inhibit the development and commercialization of our product candidates | |
| Develop treatments or cures that are safer or more effective than those we propose for 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 make the continued development of our product candidates uneconomical | |
| Withstand price competition more successfully than our strategic partners or licensees can | |
| More effectively negotiate third-party strategic alliances or licensing arrangements | |
| Take advantage of other opportunities more readily than we can |
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., Ribopharma A.G., Alnylam, Inc., Benitec, 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., Glucophage by Bristol Myers Squibb Co., and Starlix by Novartis and the obesity drugs Xenical by F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. and Meridia by Abbott Laboratories. Many major pharmaceutical companies are also seeking to develop new therapies for these disease indications. At least one company, Alnylam, is seeking to develop a therapeutic product for obesity and type II diabetes based on an RNAi technology. Companies developing HIV vaccines that could compete with our HIV vaccine technology include Merck, VaxGen, Inc., Epimmune, Inc., AlphaVax, Inc. and Immunitor Corporation.
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 (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 Decitabine, 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-21 marketed by Antigenics, Inc. and adjuvants marketed by Corixa Corp. Blizzard Genomics 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. Accordingly, we 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 do not have manufacturing supply arrangements for our products, including any of the licensed RNAi technology or, with the exception of the clinical supplies for the currently planned Phase I trial, the HIV vaccine product that
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We May Be Unable to Protect Our Intellectual Property Rights, Which Could Adversely Affect the Value of Our Assets |
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 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. We have a nonexclusive license to a patent owned by UMMS and the Carnegie Institution of Washington that covers the general field of gene silencing. The specific medical applications of the gene silencing technology and the other technologies that we have licensed from the UMMS are covered by a number of pending patent applications, but there can be no assurance that any of these patents will be issued. Moreover, other organizations and researchers have been active in the field of gene silencing, 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. At least one of our competitors is seeking broad patent coverage in the RNAi field that could restrict the ability of others 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 could be costly and have a material adverse effect on our operating results or financial 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 that arise from that research and we may enter into additional research agreements with those institutions, or others, in the future. There can be no assurance, however, that we will be able to acquire those licenses under satisfactory terms or at all.
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 use of our products in human clinical trials or the commercial marketing of these products but 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 the insurance coverage of our licensees or their other financial resources are inadequate to cover a successful claim, such successful claim may exceed our financial resources and 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.
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Possible Delisting From The Nasdaq Small Cap Market |
On April 19, 2004, we received a Nasdaq Staff Determination letter informing us that our common stock is subject to delisting from The Nasdaq Small Cap Market as a result of our failure to file our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, as required by Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14). On May 13, 2004, we participated in a telephonic hearing before the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel that was to consider our delisting. On May 14, 2004, we filed the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003. The Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel is expected to rule on our possible delisting by the end of May 2004. Notwithstanding our filing of our delinquent report, the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel could, nevertheless, determine that we are otherwise in non-compliance with certain Nasdaq listing criteria and could, therefore, rule that our common stock be delisted from the Nasdaq Small Cap Market. If our common stock is delisted from the Nasdaq Small Cap Market, an active trading market for our common stock may cease to exist and the delisting could materially and adversely impact the market value of our common stock.
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 March 31, 2004, there were outstanding stock options and warrants to purchase approximately 11,281,000 shares of our common stock at exercise prices ranging from $0.01 to $7.75 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
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In August 2003, we registered 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 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 we issued or that are issuable upon exercise of the warrants that we issued to the investors in connection with our $8,695,000 private equity financing 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 having exercise prices ranging from $2.00 to $3.05 per share that we issued to certain other third parties. 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.
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 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 March 31, 2004, we held no investments other than amounts invested in money market accounts. 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 adequate and effective to reasonably ensure that material information relating to us can be gathered, analyzed and disclosed on a timely basis in the reports that we file under the Securities Exchange Act. There were no significant changes made during our most recently completed fiscal 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 1 Legal Proceedings
We have recently been notified by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission (Massachusetts Commission) that it has initiated a Preliminary Inquiry into whether our previous retention of a consultant who introduced us to UMMS constituted an improper conflict of interest under Massachusetts ethics laws. Since the inquiry is at a very preliminary stage, it is inherently difficult to predict whether the Massachusetts Commission will decide to initiate any formal proceedings, whether these proceedings will be directed at us or whether we will be found in any such proceedings to have violated any Massachusetts ethics laws. We also cannot estimate what our legal costs will be in connection with this matter, although these expenses could be substantial if a formal proceeding is initiated. Moreover, if the Massachusetts Commission were to determine that our conduct was unlawful, the Commission could impose a number of different penalties or sanctions upon us which, under certain circumstances, would have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
On April 5, 2004, we were served with a complaint for breach of contract, filed by Madison & Wall Worldwide, Inc. (M&W), in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange on April 1, 2004. M&W, a former independent contractor to us, engaged to provide investor relations services, was seeking damages in excess of $700,000 in that lawsuit. On May 11, 2004, we reached an agreement in principle with M&W to settle this lawsuit by issuing the 200,000 shares of our common stock that were to have been earned and received by M&W upon our entering into the investor relations services contract with them and by our making an additional payment of $50,000 to M&W. We are in the process, with M&W, of preparing the documentation for this settlement.
Item 2 Changes in Securities and Use of Proceeds
During the three-month period ended March 31, 2004, we granted ten-year options to purchase a total of 1,895,000 shares of our common stock to four employees and two members of our Scientific Advisory Board. The option exercise prices ranged from $1.85 to $2.16 per share.
In January 2004, we issued 125,000 shares of our common stock to Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc. as a milestone payment under our license agreement with that company. The shares of common stock were issued in reliance upon an exemption from registration under section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933.
In February 2004, we sold to Troy & Gould Professional Corporation 100,000 shares of our common stock at $1.84 per share. The shares of common stock were issued in reliance upon an exemption from registration under section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933.
In February 2004, we issued 100,000 shares of our common stock to The Investor Relations Group, Inc. for certain investor relation services to be rendered by that firm under a consulting agreement with that firm. The shares of common stock were issued in reliance upon an exemption from registration under section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933.
In March 2004, we issued 150,000 shares of our common stock to Gunn Allen Financial, Inc. for certain services to be rendered by that firm under an investment banking agreement with that firm. The shares of common stock were issued in reliance upon an exemption from registration under section 4(2) of the Securities Act of 1933.
Item 6. Exhibits and Reports on Form 8-K
(a) 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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(b) Reports on Form 8-K |
On January 20, 2004, we filed a Current Report on Form 8-K (Item 5. Other Events and Regulation FD Disclosure) attaching a press release announcing our plans to cease funding of our existing investments in genomics companies and to record write-off of our investments in the genomics companies.
On January 27, 2004, we filed a Current Report on Form 8-K (Item 4. Changes in Registrants Certifying Accountant) announcing the dismissal of Ernst & Young LLP as our independent auditors effective as of January 20, 2004.
On January 30, 2004, we filed a Current Report on Form 8-K (Item 4. Changes in Registrants Certifying Accountant) announcing that we had engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as our independent auditors.
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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) | |
By: /s/ STEVEN A. KRIEGSMAN | |
|
|
Steven A. Kriegsman | |
Chief Executive Officer |
Date: May 17, 2004
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INDEX TO EXHIBITS
Exhibit | ||||
Number | Description | |||
10.1 | Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of January 29, 2004, by and between CytRx Corporation and Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc. | |||
10.2 | Consulting Agreement, dated as of February 9, 2004, between CytRx Corporation and The Investor Relations Group, Inc. | |||
10.3 | Investment Banking Agreement, dated as of February , 2004, between CytRx Corporation and Gunn Allen Financial, Inc. | |||
10.4 | Scientific Advisory Board Agreement, effective as of March 3, 2004, by Tariq M. Rana, Ph.D., CytRx Corporation and Araios, Inc. | |||
10.5 | Scientific Advisory Board Agreement, effective as of March 3, 2004, by Craig Mello, Ph.D., CytRx Corporation and Araios, Inc. | |||
31 | Certifications Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. Section 7241, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 | |||
32 | Certifications Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 |
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