Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Acusphere gets Nasdaq delisting warning

By Mass High Tech Staff

Acusphere Inc. reports it has been warned by Nasdaq that its shareholder equity has fallen under the minimum $10 million, and its stock could be delisted.

The Watertown-based pharmaceutical company received the letter on August 12. Acusphere’s Form 10-Q for the quarter ending June 30 indicated the shareholder equity had dipped below the minimum $10 million. Acusphere (Nasdaq: ACUS) can make a case for itself before the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel in the first half of September to avoid delisting. The company said it would ask the panel to be listed on the Nasdaq Global Market or the Nasdaq Capital Market based on its plan to demonstrate compliance.

The panel can give the company 180 days from the date of the letter before delisting. If the shareholder value does not rise above $10 million, the stock may be eligible for listing on the bulletin board, the company said.

In July, Acusphere reduced its staff by 24 employees, almost a quarter of its staff. The cuts were made in the company’s manufacturing group responsible for making Imagify, its investigational injectable imaging drug developed to detect coronary artery disease using ultrasound.

Also in July, the company received another notice of potential Nasdaq delisting, this one for failing to maintain a bid price of at least $1 per share.

In March, the company licensed its drug-delivery technology for the treatment of cancer to biopharmaceutical company Cephalon Inc. for $10 million cash.

Acusphere reported a 2007 loss of $53.7 million on revenue of $2.7 million.