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Print Edition StoriesThursday, March 26, 2009
Auditors worry about Epix as a ‘going concern’
By Mass High Tech Staff
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The auditing accounting firm for troubled biopharmaceutical company Epix Pharmaceuticals Inc. has made official its doubts about the company’s ability to survive much longer.
In its annual report filed last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Epix (Nasdaq: EPIX) included the “going concern” qualification from its auditor Ernst & Young LLP.
In December, Epix slashed its work force by 23 percent. And in February, the company was told by the Nasdaq that it had until May 11 to comply with listing requirements or it would be delisted. The Lexington-based company needs to have a shareholders’ equity of at least $10 million or a minimum market value of listed securities of $50 million to stay the delisting axe.
Not all is gloom at Epix, however. Also in December, Epix won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its lead product Vasovist Injection (gadofosveset trisodium). According to the FDA, this is the first contrast imaging agent approved to be used on patients undergoing MRA (magnetic resonance angiography). An MRA is a minimally invasive scan for examining blood vessels that uses MRI technology.
Earlier this month, Epix achieved a further $500,000 milestone from its collaboration with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Inc., the nonprofit affiliate of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Epix has now earned a total of $5 million under the collaboration, which is aimed at discovering potential drug therapies targeting the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (CFTR) ion channel.
In its latest annual report, Epix stated a loss of $36.6 million on revenue of $28.6 million for 2008.
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