Alteon Announces Year-End and Fourth Quarter Results PARSIPPANY,
N.J., March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alteon Inc. (AMEX: ALT)
announced today a net loss of $13,958,646 for the year ended
December 31, 2004. This compared to a net loss of $14,452,418 for
the same period in 2003. The net loss applicable to common
stockholders, which included a non-cash charge for a preferred
stock dividend, was $18,093,791, or $0.41 per basic/diluted share,
for the year ended December 31, 2004, as compared to $18,243,265,
or $0.50 per basic/diluted share, for the same period in 2003.
Research and development expenses increased to $10,147,298 for the
year ended December 31, 2004, from $9,929,704 for the same period
in 2003, primarily due to increased clinical study costs and
manufacturing expenses related to SPECTRA, offset by lower facility
costs. General and administrative expenses decreased to $4,531,953
for the year ended December 31, 2004, from $5,046,357 for the same
period in 2003. The decrease included reduced facility expenses in
2004 associated with the Company's relocation to Parsippany and
higher patent expenses in 2003. For the three months ended December
31, 2004, Alteon had a net loss of $3,711,756, which compared to a
net loss of $2,460,622 for the same period in 2003. The net loss
applicable to common stockholders, which included a non- cash
charge for a preferred stock dividend, was $4,784,171, or $0.10 per
basic/diluted share, as compared to $3,446,300, or $0.09 per
basic/diluted share, for the same period in 2003. This increase in
net loss applicable to common stockholders in the three months
ended December 31, 2004 is related to SPECTRA, as compared to lower
clinical study expense for the three months ended December 31,
2003, due to the completion of the Phase 2b SAPPHIRE/SILVER trial
in July 2003. Investment income increased in the year ended
December 31, 2004, due to an increase in short-term interest rates,
partially offset by lower investment balances. In 2004, other
income included $51,821 derived from the sale of fully depreciated
laboratory equipment and supplies and a reimbursement of $100,000
for improvements made to our former Ramsey facility. Cash and cash
equivalents at December 31, 2004 totaled $11,175,762. In January
2005, Alteon completed a public offering of 9,523,813 shares of
common stock at $1.05 per share, which provided net proceeds of
approximately $9,545,000. In connection with this offering, Alteon
issued a five-year warrant to its placement agent to purchase
312,381 shares of common stock at $1.37 per share. As noted in Item
9A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year
ended December 31, 2004, as filed today with the Securities and
Exchange Commission, J.H. Cohn LLP, Alteon's independent registered
public accounting firm, has noted that, based on its preliminary
review of the Company's internal controls as required by Section
404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Alteon has certain weaknesses,
which, in J.H. Cohn's opinion, have the potential to be deemed to
be material weaknesses in its internal controls relating to
information technology controls and process controls with respect
to processing of outgoing checks. Alteon is working with J.H. Cohn
to be able to determine definitively the classification of these
control deficiencies. Alteon intends to file its management's
report on internal controls and J.H. Cohn's related attestation
report as part of an amendment to its Annual Report on Form 10-K no
later than May 2, 2005. Alteon will include its conclusions with
respect to the issues referred to above in the Form 10-K amendment.
About Alteon Alteon is developing several new classes of drugs that
have shown the potential to reverse or slow down diseases of aging
and complications of diabetes. These compounds appear to have an
impact on a fundamental pathological process caused by the
progressive formation of protein-glucose complexes called Advanced
Glycation End-products (A.G.E.s). The formation and crosslinking of
A.G.E.s lead to a loss of flexibility and function in body tissues
and organs and have been shown to be a causative factor in many
age- related diseases and diabetic complications. Alteon has
created a library of novel classes of compounds targeting the
A.G.E. pathway. Alteon's lead compound alagebrium chloride
(formerly ALT-711), the only A.G.E. Crosslink Breaker in advanced
human testing, has demonstrated safety and efficacy in several
Phase 2 trials and is being developed for systolic hypertension,
heart failure and erectile dysfunction. Approximately 1,300
patients have been involved in alagebrium's human clinical trials
to date, of whom approximately 1,000 have received active compound.
Clinical studies of alagebrium include the Phase 2b systolic
hypertension trial, SPECTRA (Systolic Pressure Efficacy and Safety
Trial of Alagebrium), the Phase 2a heart failure study, PEDESTAL
(Patients with Impaired Ejection Fraction and Diastolic
Dysfunction: Efficacy and Safety Trial of ALagebrium), the Phase 2a
EMERALD study (Evaluation of Alagebrium in Erectile Dysfunction in
Diabetic Males on PDE5 Inhibitors), as well as a fourth study
exploring mechanism of action in endothelial dysfunction. In
February 2005, Alteon voluntarily and temporarily suspended
enrollment of new patients into the Company's ongoing alagebrium
clinical studies pending receipt of additional pre-clinical data,
which are expected by mid-year 2005. The Company expects that
decisions regarding resumption of enrollment will be made at that
time. For more detailed information about alagebrium, please visit
the scientific publications section of the Alteon website,
http://www.alteon.com/. Any statements contained in this press
release that relate to future plans, events or performance are
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties
including, but not limited to, those relating to technology and
product development (including the possibility that early clinical
trial results may not be predictive of results that will be
obtained in large-scale testing or that any clinical trials will
not demonstrate sufficient safety and efficacy to obtain requisite
approvals or will not result in marketable products), regulatory
approval processes, intellectual property rights and litigation,
competitive products, ability to obtain financing, and other risks
identified in Alteon's filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The information contained in this press release is
accurate as of the date indicated. Actual results, events or
performance may differ materially. Alteon undertakes no obligation
to publicly release the result of any revision to these
forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events. Alteon Inc. Statements of Operations
(Unaudited) Year Ended Three Months Ended December 31, December 31,
2004 2003 2004 2003 Income: Investment income $182,574 $179,006
$60,959 $39,484 Other income 151,821 --- --- --- Total income
334,395 179,006 60,959 39,484 Expenses: Research and development
(which includes non-cash variable stock compensation
expense/(benefit) for the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003,
of $0 and $20,019, respectively) 10,147,298 9,929,704 2,885,721
1,599,584 General and administrative (which includes non-cash
variable stock compensation expense/(benefit) for the years ended
December 31, 2004 and 2003, of $0 and $0, respectively) 4,531,953
5,046,357 1,273,204 1,245,159 Total expenses 14,679,251 14,976,061
4,158,925 2,844,743 Loss before income tax benefit (14,344,856)
(14,797,055) (4,097,966) (2,805,259) Income tax benefit 386,210
344,637 386,210 344,637 Net loss (13,958,646) (14,452,418)
(3,711,756) (2,460,622) Preferred stock dividends 4,135,145
3,790,847 1,072,415 985,678 Net loss applicable to common
stockholders $(18,093,791) $(18,243,265) $(4,784,171) $(3,446,300)
Basic/diluted net loss per share applicable to common stockholders
$(0.41) $(0.50) $(0.10) $(0.09) Weighted average common shares used
in computing basic/diluted net loss per share applicable to common
stockholders 44,349,015 36,189,655 48,472,898 39,203,773 Selected
Balance Sheet Data (Unaudited) December 31, December 31, 2004 2003
Cash and cash equivalents $ 11,175,762 $ 16,678,582 Total assets
11,642,395 17,254,985 Accumulated deficit (205,712,650)
(187,618,859) Total stockholders' equity 9,046,920 15,384,432
DATASOURCE: Alteon Inc. CONTACT: Susan M. Pietropaolo, Director,
Corporate Communications & Investor Relations of Alteon Inc.,
+1-201-818-5537, Web site: http://www.alteon.com/
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