Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Announces Corporate Restructuring; Plans To Cut 70% Of Work Force
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA --Feb 8, 2007 -- Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd. today announced that it has undertaken a corporate restructuring, following its announcement on the results of the Phase 2b CAPSICS study on January 29, 2007. The results demonstrated a surprisingly large placebo response in the asthma trial which obscured any potential effects of the drug.
The restructuring, which takes effect immediately, will reduce the Company's expenditures and improve its cash position. This will allow the Company time to select the best strategic option to maximize value for shareholders. The restructuring involves a reduction of approximately 70% of the Company's staff. The costs associated with the restructuring are estimated to be C$600,000.
We expect that following the implementation of the restructuring and finalization of the costs associated with the CAPSICS study, the Company will have reduced its burn to approximately C$400,000 per month with sufficient cash to take the Company into the second half of 2007.
Apart from the asthma product, Inflazyme has other LSAIDs(TM) for respiratory and inflammatory disorders, a PDE4 inhibitor product partnered with Helicon Therapeutics under a limited license agreement, and other PDE4 inhibitors at pre-clinical stage.
"We are very disappointed to be letting go our employees, most of whom have been with Inflazyme for several years and all of whom have made significant contributions to our Company, our technology and programs. We greatly appreciate our staff for their dedication, commitment and hard work. This is a necessary action in light of the disappointing results from the Phase 2b asthma trial, our lead program," said Dr. Kevin Mullane, President and CEO of Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals.
The Company is still on track to report the outcome of the validation process that was instituted to investigate the results of the Phase 2b study. As previously announced, the Company expects to report on the results of the Phase 2a study with IPL455,903 in Age Associated Memory Impairment this quarter.
About Inflazyme
Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company pioneering medical breakthroughs to transform the lives of patients with respiratory and inflammatory diseases worldwide. Further information on the Company may be obtained from its website at www.inflazyme.com.
This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" which may include but is not limited to statements in respect of our future financial position or operations. Words like "believe", "intend", "may", "expect", "anticipate", "plan", "should" and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous factors, assumptions and estimates, some but not all of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in our forward-looking statements include among others: risks associated with the completion of clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approval to market our products, market acceptance of our technologies and products; our ability to obtain financing; our financial and technical resources relative to those of our competitors; our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect our proprietary technologies; the ability to obtain and develop partnership opportunities; and other risk factors identified from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings. For a further description of the principal risks affecting the Company, see our regulatory filings. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements.
Contact: Contacts: Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Julie Rezler Sr. Director, Corporate Development (604) 279-8511 or 1-800-315-3660 (604) 279-8711 (FAX) Email: [email protected] Website: http://www.inflazyme.com