Novavax, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, has reported a net loss of $8.35m, or $0.12 per share, for the first quarter of 2009 compared to a net loss of $7.75m, or $0.13 per share, for the first quarter of 2008.
Revenue from operations for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009 was $0.02m compared to $0.5m for the same period in 2008, a net decrease of $0.4m due to the completion of a government contract in the first quarter of 2009.
The company has recorded net interest and other expense of $1.2m for the first quarter of 2009 compared to net interest and other income of $0.1m for the first quarter of 2008. The decrease in net interest and other income resulted from an additional impairment in the amount of $0.9m to the company’s auction rate securities due primarily to their continued illiquidity and a $0.4m decrease in interest income, due to a decrease in cash and short-term investments during the quarter.
Rahul Singhvi, Novavax’s president and CEO, said: We have made substantial progress in advancing our virus-like-particle (VLP) based influenza vaccines over the past three years. The recent emergence of the novel influenza A (H1N1) virus highlights the potential value of our recombinant VLP technology as we can produce a genetically matched vaccine to the outbreak strain in about half the time of traditional vaccine technologies.
We are in communication with governments and health authorities around the world and will help in any way possible. With the improvement in our financial position, we are in a much stronger position to continue development of our vaccine pipeline and pursue partnerships.