NEW YORK, Feb. 24 - Nuvelo -- the new entity formed by the recent merger of Hyseq and Variagenics -- reported a drop in revenues for the fourth quarter of 2002 today, along with a decrease in R&D spending and widening net loss.
Revenues for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2002, were $3.5 million, approximately half the $7.1 million reported for the year-ago period.
R&D spending fell from $15 million to $9.3 million year-over-year.
Nuvelo posted a net loss of $16.5 million for the quarter, or $0.72 per share, compared to a net loss of $11.4 million, or $0.61 per share, for the same period in 2001.
The company said it had approximately $2.2 million in "unrestricted" cash as of December 31, 2002, down from approximately $12.3 million at the end of 2001. Nuvelo also said that as of the close of the fourth quarter, it had $10.0 million available through a line of credit from George Rathmann, chairman of Nuvelo's board of directors.
Additional cash from the merger with Variagenics brought Nuvelo's cash holdings up to $53.2 million as of January 31, the date at which the merger closed.
The company also said that after the "careful review" of all assets and programs at Hyseq and Variagenics following the merger, the combined entity plans to tighten its focus on biopharmaceutical discovery and development, and "monetize non-core assets" - including its microarray business, pharmacogenomics technology, and molecular diagnostics programs - to further support its development programs.
Further information is available here.