Article – BusinessDesk

July 29 (BusinessDesk) – Pacific Edge Ltd., the biotech start-up that has embarked on global sales of its cancer tests, is tapping investors for more funds after burning through half of the $4.88 million it raised selling shares last year.

Pacific Edge taps investors for more cash as it rolls out cancer tests

July 29 (BusinessDesk) – Pacific Edge Ltd., the biotech start-up that has embarked on global sales of its cancer tests, is tapping investors for more funds after burning through half of the $4.88 million it raised selling shares last year.

The company, whose flagship product is the Cxbladder diagnostic test for bladder cancer, had cash and cash equivalents of $2.49 million at March 31, mainly in a Bank of New Zealand call account. It had $604,346 of liabilities coming due within three months.

Total expenses in its latest 12 months were $3.45 million, while operating revenue was $305,000, which included $201,116 of grants. The 2011 accounts don’t reflect any revenue from the Cxbladder.

Accumulated losses were $24.4 million.

“So that we can be sure of having enough liquidity for our medium-term and long-term operations, we need to strengthen our financial position,” chief executive David Darling said in the annual report.

Shares of Pacific Edge were halted from trading today, pending a placement to institutional and habitual investors. Darling is to give details of the capital raising on a conference call scheduled for 12:30 p.m. today.

The shares were last at 24 cents on the NZX and have gained by about a third this year.

Cxbladder is “a non-invasive, accurate test that enables the early detection of bladder cancer from a small volume of urine,” the company says. The test reduces the medical profession’s reliance on invasive tests such as cystoscopy, it said.

(BusinessDesk)

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