NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Accelr8 said today that it has begun a private sale of equity to qualified investors. The company first announced the equity offer following its annual shareholders' meeting on Dec. 16.
Accler8 also provided updates on several recent corporate events, including that of a "going concern" statement by its auditors attributed to recurring losses.
The going concern statement was originally disclosed in Accelr8's annual report, released in November. According to the report, auditors of the company, taking into account Accelr8's July 31, 2009, financial statements, had expressed "substantial doubt about the company's ability to continue as a going concern."
The statement added that "there can be no assurance that the company will be able to generate sufficient positive cash flow from operations to address all of its cash flow needs, and to continue as a going concern."
Accler8 noted at the time that it planned to fund future operations through joint ventures, additional financing, and additional commercial production.
Today, the company said that it is addressing the financing issue through the private equity sale. However, the firm has not disclosed how much it intends to raise through the sale or how many shares it intends to place in the offering.
In its 10-Q filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in December, Accelr8 said that it would require additional capital of around $1.2 million for the following 12 months.
In addition, in a statement, Accelr8 President David Howson said that a pilot clinical study begun last summer with the Denver Health Medical Center had thus far generated positive results. Specifically, the accuracy and speed of the company's BACcel assay system in monitoring patients at risk for ventilator-associated pneumonia has compared favorable to standard laboratory culturing, Howson said.
In Tuesday afternoon trade on the American Stock Exchange, shares of Accelr8 were up 2 percent at $.78.
The firm's stock has yet to recover from the hit it took in September after Becton Dickinson declined an option to license the BACcel system, causing the shares to plummet around 30 percent.