CytRx 2008 net loss widens to $27.05m

CytRx, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has reported a net loss of $27.05m, or $0.30 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2008, compared to a net loss of $21.89m, or $0.26 per share, for the year ended December 31, 2007.

For the 12 months ended December 31, 2008, the company reported total revenues of $6.27m, compared to $7.46m for the 12 months ended December 31, 2007.

Steven Kriegsman, CytRx’s president and CEO, said: We took major steps during the past year to build an oncology franchise. We added very promising oncology assets including acquiring the US rights to tamibarotene, a third-line treatment for acute promyelocytic leukemia that is currently in a Phase II US registration clinical trial.

With over $25m of cash on our balance sheet as of December 31, 2008, and our 45% ownership position in RXi Pharmaceuticals with a market value of approximately $22.2m as of March 10, 2009, we are well-positioned to focus on our development pipeline and consider in-licensing and acquisition opportunities that the current economic environment may present.

CytRx Corporation is a biopharmaceutical research and development company engaged in the development of human therapeutics. The CytRx drug development pipeline includes programs in clinical development for cancer indications, including tamibarotene in a registration study for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). CytRx is developing two drug candidates based on its molecular chaperone technology.