SemBioSys Genetics Inc. (TSX:SBS), a biotechnology company developing a broad pipeline of protein-based pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical products, today announced its 2005 first quarter operational and financial results.
 
First Quarter Highlights

• Confirmed efficacy of proprietary transgenic safflower produced ImmunoSphere(TM) Feed Additive against viral shrimp disease in a dose dependent manner from tank trials.
• Completed initial public offering for total gross proceeds of $20,125,000 with the exercise of the over-allotment option of $2,625,000 in January 2005.

"We continued to execute against our operational objectives in the first quarter with progress on both the pharmaceutical products, insulin and Apo AI, and on the non-pharmaceutical product ImmunoSphere(TM) Feed Additive," said Andrew Baum, President and CEO, SemBioSys. "Our work to achieve commercial levels of insulin and Apo AI expression in safflower in parallel with the efficacy results from our ImmunoSphere(TM) Feed Additive tank trials, demonstrate our ability to develop multiple products from our flexible oilbody/oleosin technology."
 
Financial Highlights

• Total contract research and license fee revenues for the first quarter were $486,000 compared with $166,000 for the same period last year.
• Total expenditures for the first quarter were $1,992,000 compared with $1,679,000 for the corresponding period last year. Research and development expenses for the first quarter were $877,000 compared with $856,000 for the same period last year.
• General and administrative expenses for the first quarter were $840,000 compared with $626,000 for the corresponding period last year. The three-month variance is due mainly to costs associated with being a publicly listed company including listing fees, investor relations, and corporate governance.
• Intellectual property costs were $209,000 for first quarter compared with $192,000 for the same period last year.
• Net loss for the 2005 first quarter was $1,396,000 or ($0.11) per share, compared to a net loss of $1,540,000 or ($0.28) per share for the same period last year.
• As at March 31, 2005 the Company had cash and cash equivalents totaling $19,000,000, this included $2,438,000 in net proceeds from the exercise of the over-allotment option, compared with $18,836,000 cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2004.
• These unaudited financial statements are prepared in accordance with Canadian generally accepted accounting principles.

Outlook
 
The Company's current priorities are to achieve commercial levels of expression of its pharmaceutical products, insulin and Apo AI, in safflower and to advance the development of its non-pharmaceutical ImmunoSphere(TM) and DHA rich safflower oil programs. The upcoming milestone events include:

• First royalties from sales of DermaSphere(TM)
• Milestone payment for delivery of Arabidopsis produced material for proof-of-concept vaccine testing in animals to Dow AgroSciences
• Apo AI animal data results
• Milestone payment for delivery of GLA pre-commercial safflower lines to Arcadia Biosciences
• Achievement of commercial levels of insulin expression in safflower
• Achievement of commercial levels of Apo AI expression in safflower

Calgary, Alberta-based SemBioSys Genetics Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the development, commercialization and production of protein-based pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical products based on its plant genetic engineering skills and proprietary oilbody-oleosin technology platform - the Stratosome(TM) Biologics System. Its two lead pharmaceutical products are insulin and a developmental cardiovascular drug called Apo AI. It also has a series of non-pharmaceutical products addressing animal health, industrial and human topical markets. SemBioSys currently has five major funded partnership agreements with Syngenta Participations AG, Martek Biosciences Corporation, Lonza, Inc., Dow AgroSciences LLC and Arcadia Biosciences, Inc.