NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Pressure BioSciences disclosed in its annual earnings report today that it has enough cash to last until only April.
In its Form 10-K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the South Easton, Mass.-based sample preparation firm said that as of Feb. 15, it had about $430,000 in available cash "which based on current projections, will be sufficient to fund operations until April 2012," and would need "substantial additional capital" to keep its operations going beyond that.
The company said it has developed a plan to keep its doors open, which includes further reductions in expenses and obtaining equity or debt financing. Most recently, Pressure Bio closed on $800,000 in a private placement earlier this month, and in December filed with SEC to raise up to $8 million.
In a statement announcing the company's fourth-quarter earnings results today, Richard Schumacher, president and CEO of Pressure Bio, said that the company has developed an "aggressive marketing and commercialization plan with new promotional themes, offerings, and incentives for launch in the second quarter."
Nate Lawrence, vice president of marketing, added that Pressure Bio plans to expand its sales team to 12 from three; its marketing team to four from one; and its international distributor base to 20 from four.
The company plans to initiate at least two major partnerships in the next year, he added. Additional capital will be needed and "[w]e believe that if we are able to raise this capital, we will be positioned to aggressively commercialize both existing and new PCT instruments and consumables into the large and growing sample preparation markets for the detection of DNA, RNA, lipids, and proteins," he said.
The company will focus on the areas of biomarker discovery, forensics and histology. "We further believe that if we are able to successfully implement our aggressive commercialization plan, our results of operations and shareholder value will improve significantly," Lawrence said.
However, the company also said in its Form 10-K that in its audited financial statements for full-year 2011, its accounting firm Marcum has expressed "substantial doubt in our ability to continue as a going concern due to the risk that we may not have sufficient cash and liquid assets at Dec. 31, 2011 to cover our operating and capital requirements for the next twelve-month period; and if sufficient cash cannot be obtained, we would have to substantially alter, or possible even discontinue, operations."
As of the end of 2011, Pressure Bio "did not have adequate working capital resources to satisfy our current liabilities," it said. The company ended 2011 with $222,775 in cash and cash equivalents.
Also today, the company said today that fourth-quarter revenues rose 22 percent to $335,978 from $275,012 a year ago. Revenues in the quarter comprised of $178,702 in revenues derived from pressure cycling technology products, services, and other revenues, and $157,276 in grant revenues.
Pressure Bio lowered its R&D spending 5 percent in the quarter to $238,511 from $252,228 a year ago. SG&A costs increased 10 percent to $873,870 from $793,699 a year ago.
Net loss during the quarter spiked to $2 million, or $.30 per share, from a net loss of $881,562, or $.33 per share, a year ago. During Q4 2011 the company used more than 6.7 million shares in determining the net loss per share figure, compared to about 2.7 million shares a year ago.
For full-year 2011, Pressure Bio had $987,729 in total revenues, down 32 percent from $1.3 million in 2010. The most recent figure includes $767,765 in PCT products, services, and other revenues, as well as $219,964 in grant revenues.
R&D spending was reduced to $969,473, down 24 percent from $1.2 million a year ago. SG&A costs decreased to $3 million from $3.1 million a year ago.
The company said it had a net loss of $5.1 million, or $.77 per share, in 2011, compared to a net loss of $3.6 million, or $1.35 per share, in 2010.
Pressure Bio said last week that Nasdaq has notified the company that it has not achieved compliance with a requirement that its stock have a minimum $1 bid price. The company has submitted a revised plan of compliance for review by the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel and has requested a further extension beyond its original Feb. 13 deadline to meet requirements.
The company also fails to meet another listing requirement calling for at least $2.5 million in stockholders equity, and has until Feb. 29 to regain compliance on that requirement.