VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 05/07/13 -- Sirona Biochem Corp. (TSX VENTURE: SBM)(OTCQX: SRBCF)(FRANKFURT: ZSB) today provided a business update.
I'd like to take this opportunity to summarize Sirona Biochem's business and strategic growth over the past 7 months.
Financial:
In October 2012, Sirona's share price hit a low of 4 cents and our market cap was $3 million CDN. We made the decision to raise money using a debt instrument to avoid a punitive equity financing. We raised $600,000 in debt which gave us the financial runway to grow the value of the company to a high of 14 cents per share and a market cap of more than $11 million on January 18th 2013. February 22, 2013 we announced an equity financing target of $2.7 million and we closed the second tranche of this financing on April 30, 2013 having raised $2.4 million. Our monthly net burn rate is approximately $160,000.
Moving forward, in the public marketplace we intend to fully maximize the value of QX listing by engaging in a professionally designed and executed effort to present the Company to retail and institutional investors and capital raising sources in most major cities in the United States.
Strategy:
The decision was made in November that we would de-risk our business model and simplify our operations. Sirona Biochem committed to a business strategy of: science, patent, partner. The benefit of this model is the following:
-- We focus on what we do best, and nothing else.-- We don't risk our treasury or future by trying to develop a compound beyond a new patent -- Our expertise lies in the science and patenting process. We recognize that we do not have the finances, human resources or expertise to take a pharmaceutical compound through clinical studies and regulatory approval.-- In the future, drug development will only be considered with pre- partnered technology where the major economic burden is assumed by the partnering entity.
With this level of strategic focus, we maximize our ability to create and patent innovative compounds which will be licensed and partnered. We also diversify our risk across multiple projects, increase our portfolio size more quickly and continue to build our credibility and reputation as experts in fluorination chemistry.
Operations:
In November we restructured the company and downsized our corporate head office by one position. In our laboratory in France we assessed every project in development and made the decision to focus our resources on two projects to ensure each would be completed and available for transaction within 6 months. All other projects were assigned a timeline for re-insertion into the development pipeline contingent on the successful completion of our two prioritized projects.
On November 5th we approached the French government to propose a second grant/partnership opportunity, building on the research and development grant we received for the skin lightening program.
On December 6th we approached a second arm of the French government to propose an expansion of our laboratory facilities in the Cosmetic Valley of France. Our business growth relies on creating and patenting new innovative compounds. We will be expanding our scientific team in order to grow the number of projects under way and plan to do so by expanding our facility in the Cosmetic Valley in France.
