CuraGen's 1st-qtr net loss narrows to $6.8M

US drug developer CuraGen's first-quarter 2008 net loss totaled $6.8 million, or $0.12 per share, versus a loss of $17.0 million, or $0.31 per share, for the same period last year, despite incurring $1.5 million in costs for milestones related to the advancement of CR011-vcMMAE into Phase II clinical development.

Last month (Marketletter April 28), Danish drugmaker TopoTarget bought the full rights to the Phase I/II-stage histone deacetylase inhibitor belinostat from CuraGen for $39.0 million upfront in cash and stock. Company chief executive Timothy Shannon said that, "during the first quarter, we continued to make progress strengthening our balance sheet and working to enhance shareholder value. We believe that our increased cash position and reduced anticipated cash burn for 2008 provides us with ample resources to advance CR011-vcMMAE through Phase II and the ability to act on promising development initiatives,"