Arbios Raises $4.8 Million To Advance Its SEPET(TM) Liver Assist Device Into Pivotal Clinical Trials
April 23 2007 - 9:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
WALTHAM, Mass., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Arbios Systems,
Inc. (OTC:ABOS) (BULLETIN BOARD: ABOS) , a biomedical device and
cell therapy company developing proprietary liver assist products
for the treatment of liver failure, today announced that the
Company has closed a private placement of units, consisting of its
common stock and warrants to purchase its common stock, for gross
proceeds of $4.8 million. MicroCapital Funds led the financing
round. "Arbios represents an exceptionally high quality
development-stage opportunity that has not been widely appreciated
by the investment industry," said Ian Ellis, President and
Portfolio Manager of MicroCapital, LLC. "It is unusual to find a
company in the microcap market that is potentially this close to
commercializing a product (SEPET(TM)) that could serve such a
large, unmet medical need. We have sufficient confidence in the
Arbios opportunity that we have not sought seniority over existing
investors, thereby facilitating future investment. The financing
terms also provide the possibility of up to nearly $9 million in
further funding for Arbios through the future exercise of callable
warrants." "We anticipate that these funds will enable us to move
forward aggressively with our plans for product registration of our
SEPET(TM) liver assist device in Europe under the medical device CE
Mark as well as for initiation of a pivotal clinical trial of
SEPET(TM) in support of future commercialization of the product in
the United States," stated Walter Ogier, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Arbios. "I want to extend our appreciation,
both to our current investors, as well as to our new investors, for
their support of our mission to help the millions of patients
worldwide who experience liver failure." Financing Terms The units
were sold at a price of $1.30 per unit. Each unit consists of i)
two shares of Arbios common stock, ii) one warrant to purchase one
share of Arbios common stock exercisable for a period of 2.5 years
at an exercise price of $1.00 and iii) one warrant to purchase one
share of Arbios common stock exercisable for a period of 5 years at
an exercise price of $1.40, comprising a total of 7,478,462 shares
of Arbios common stock and warrants to purchase 7,478,462 shares of
Arbios common stock. The warrants have no provision for cashless
exercise and, subject to certain requirements, may be called by the
Company provided that the common stock of the Company trades
consistently above $1.50 for the first tranche of warrants and
above $2.80 for the second tranche of warrants. Participating in
the financing were several new investors, including funds managed
by MicroCapital, LLC, as well as several current investors
including Bristol Investment Fund, Ltd. Musket Research Associates,
an investment banking firm focused on emerging healthcare
companies, served as placement agent. The shares of common stock
and warrants offered and sold by the Company in this private
placement have not been registered under the Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or state securities laws,
and may not be offered or sold in the United States without
registration under or exemption from the Securities Act, or any
applicable state securities laws. The Company has agreed to file a
registration statement with the SEC for the resale of the shares of
common stock and the shares of common stock underlying the warrants
sold in the private placement. This news release shall not
constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy,
nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in
which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to
the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any
such state. Arbios Systems, Inc. is a biomedical device and cell
therapy company that is engaged in the discovery, acquisition and
development of proprietary liver assist devices and new
technologies useful in the diagnosis and treatment of liver
failure. Arbios' products in development include the SEPET(TM)
Liver Assist Device, a novel blood purification therapy, and the
HepatAssist(TM) Bioartificial Liver System, combining liver cell
therapy and blood detoxification. For further information on the
Company, access our website at http://www.arbios.com/. This press
release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to the
safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the
events or results described in the forward-looking statements,
including risks or uncertainties related to obtaining clinical site
approvals, the timing of clinical trials, manufacturing SEPET(TM)
cartridges, enrolling patients, compliance with regulatory
requirements, the results of the clinical tests to be conducted by
Arbios, the need for subsequent substantial additional financing to
complete clinical development of its products, and Arbios' ability
to successfully market its products and technologies. These
statements represent the judgment of Arbios' management as of this
date and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could
materially affect the Company. Arbios cautions investors that there
can be no assurance that actual results or business conditions will
not differ materially from those projected or suggested in such
forward-looking statements. Please refer to our Annual Report on
Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006 for a
description of risks that may affect our results or business
conditions. The Company does not undertake any obligation to
publicly release the result of any revisions to such
forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events except as required by law. SEPET(TM) and
HepatAssist(TM) are trademarks of Arbios Systems, Inc. DATASOURCE:
Arbios Systems, Inc. CONTACT: INVESTOR RELATIONS CONTACT - Doug
MacDougall, MacDougall Biomedical Communications, Inc.,
+1-508-647-0209, ; or ARBIOS CONTACT - Walter Ogier, President
& CEO, Arbios Systems, Inc., +1-781-839-7293, Web site:
http://www.arbios.com/
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