Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Announces Planned Expense Reduction
24 June 2004 - 5:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Announces Planned Expense Reduction
Conference Call Scheduled for 8:30 a.m. EDT KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.,
June 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
(Nasdaq: MICU; Nuovo Mercato), today announced details of its plan
to reduce operating expenses in light of the delay in the launch of
its lead antifungal product anidulafungin. The company will
decrease 2004 operating expenses by over $25 million and reduce
operating expenses by an additional $25 million in 2005 through a
combination of operational and headcount related measures. "We have
begun ongoing discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration to determine what is required to obtain approval for
anidulafungin," said George F. Horner III, Vicuron's president and
chief executive officer. "In the meantime, we believe the measures
we have outlined allow Vicuron to conserve cash and to focus on
driving both anidulafungin and dalbavancin toward market." 2004 and
2005 Financial Guidance For the 2004 fiscal year, Vicuron now
anticipates a net loss of $87 - $92 million. For the 2005 fiscal
year, Vicuron expects to report a net loss of $65 - $70 million.
Conference Call Information Vicuron will host a conference call
today, June 24, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. To access the
live call or the 14-day archive via the Internet, log on to
http://www.vicuron.com/. Please connect to Vicuron's website at
least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to ensure adequate
time for any software download that may be needed to access the
webcast. Alternatively, please call 1-800-915-4836 (U.S.) or
1-973-317-5319 (international) to listen to the call. Telephone
replay will be available beginning approximately one hour after the
call through June 25, 2004. To access the replay, please call
1-800-428-6051 (U.S.) or 1-973-709-2089 (international). The
conference ID number is 362132. About Vicuron Vicuron
Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on
discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing vital
medicine for seriously ill patients in North America and major
countries in Europe. The company's lead product, anidulafungin is
under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The
company's other lead product, dalbavancin, a novel intravenous
antibiotic for the treatment of serious Gram-positive infections,
is in Phase III clinical trials. The company's versatile research
engine integrates industry-leading expertise in functional
genomics, natural products discovery, mechanism-based drug design
and combinatorial and medicinal chemistry. These approaches are
yielding promising novel and next-generation compounds, many of
which are in the later stages of preclinical development. In
addition, the company has research and development collaborations
with leading pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer and Novartis.
Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains
forward-looking statements that predict or describe future events
or trends. The matters described in these forward- looking
statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other unpredictable factors, many of which are beyond Vicuron's
control. Vicuron faces many risks that could cause its actual
performance to differ materially from the results predicted by its
forward-looking statements, including the possibilities that
clinical trials and the results thereof might be delayed, that the
timing of the filing of any new drug application might be delayed,
that subsequent clinical trials might indicate that a product
candidate is unsafe or ineffective, that any filed new drug
application may not be approved, that ongoing proprietary and
collaborative research might not occur or yield useful results,
that a third party may not be willing to license our product
candidates on terms acceptable to us or at all, that competitors
might develop superior substitutes for their products or market
them more effectively, that a sales force may not be developed as
contemplated, that one or more of its product candidates may not be
commercialized successfully, that operating may be able to be
reduced by the amounts described or at all and that the net loss
for a particular period may be greater than expected. The reports
that Vicuron files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
contain a fuller description of these and many other risks to which
Vicuron is subject. Because of those risks, Vicuron's actual
results, performance or achievements may differ materially from the
results, performance or achievements contemplated by its forward-
looking statement. The information set forth in this news release
represents management's current expectations and intentions.
Vicuron assumes no responsibility to issue updates to the
forward-looking matters discussed in this news release. DATASOURCE:
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. CONTACT: Dov A. Goldstein, M.D. of
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc., +1-610-205-2312, or ; or Hala Bashir
of WeissCom Partners, +1-212-204-2080, or ; or Aline Schimmel of
Burns McClellan, +1-212-213-0006, or , both for Vicuron
Pharmaceuticals Inc. Web site: http://www.vicuron.com/
Copyright