La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company Reports Fourth Quarter 2002 Financial Results
SAN DIEGO, Mar 4, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company (Nasdaq: LJPC), reported a net loss for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2002 of $13.2 million or $0.31 per share (on 42.4 million weighted average shares) compared to a net loss of $6.7 million or $0.19 per share (on 35.3 million weighted average shares) for the fourth quarter of 2001. The net loss for the year ended December 31, 2002 was $43.3 million or $1.03 per share (on 42.0 million weighted average shares) compared to a net loss of $24.7 million or $0.71 per share (on 34.6 million weighted average shares) for the same period in 2001.
Research and development expenses increased to $11.3 million and $37.7 million for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2002, respectively, compared to $5.9 million and $23.2 million for the comparable periods in 2001. The increase was primarily due to expenses associated with the Phase III clinical trial of Riquent(TM), the Company's lupus drug candidate, which was initiated in September 2000 and completed in December 2002, and the on-going open-label follow-on clinical trial of Riquent(TM), which was initiated in July 2002. The increase was also due to the Phase I/II clinical trial of LJP 1082, the Company's thrombosis drug candidate, which was initiated in November 2001 and completed in October 2002.
Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments as of December 31, 2002 were $52.7 million compared to $47.0 million as of December 31, 2001. In January 2002, the Company sold 7.0 million shares of its common stock in a private placement for net proceeds of approximately $48.3 million. The Company anticipates that its existing cash, investments and interest earned thereon will be sufficient to fund the Company's operations as currently planned into the first quarter of 2004, assuming that it does not undertake significant commercialization activities for Riquent(TM).
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