Amarillo Biosciences Inc. (OTCBB: AMAR) had a busy first quarter focusing on its goal of completing Phase II clinical trials for low-dose oral interferon-alpha treatment of Behcet’s disease and oral warts in HIV positive patients by the end of 2007 or early 2008.
The company has obtained U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Orphan Disease Designation for these diseases and believes this is a faster, less expensive way to obtain FDA approval of low-dose oral interferon-alpha.
Amarillo also has three more clinical sites that have agreed to join the six clinical sites currently approved to enroll patients in a study of HIV+ patients suffering from oral warts. This placebo-controlled Phase II study is a follow-up to two successful studies that have already been completed. In the most recent study, 57 percent of HIV patients given the optimum dose of oral interferon experienced a complete or almost complete clearance of their oral warts. No products are currently approved by the FDA for this condition, so treatment of oral warts represents a unique market for the company.
As with all biotech companies developing new pharmaceuticals, somebody has to pay the bills of all the Phase II expenses so, in the first quarter, Amarillo completed private equity financing by selling restricted stock at a discount to 18 investors. The net proceeds to the company were $442,350.
Addressing Amarillo’s liquidity needs, on March 31, 2007, the company had available cash of approximately $156,304, and had a working capital deficit of approximately $2,576,045.
Shares of Amarillo were trading down 8 cents (10 percent) to 69 cents per share on volume of 61,785.
