Senesco Technologies announces financial results for quarter ended December 31, 2009

Feb 17 2010

Senesco Technologies, Inc. ("Senesco" or the "Company") (NYSE Amex: SNT) today reported financial results for the three months ended December 31, 2009.  

Net loss for the three month period ended December 31, 2009 was $1,703,665 or $0.06 per share, compared with a net loss of $1,624,341, or $0.09 per share, for the three month period ended December 31, 2008.  This increase in net loss was primarily the result of an increase in non-cash expenses associated with the outstanding convertible notes, which was mostly offset by a decrease in operating expenses, an increase in revenue and an increase in non-cash income related to the change in fair value of a warrant liability.  

Quarterly and Recent Highlights

• Senesco appointed life sciences industry veteran Jack Van Hulst to serve as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer
• Harlan W. Waksal, M.D., Senesco's Chairman of the Board, delivered the Company's corporate presentation at the Annual OneMedPlace Finance Forum
• Senesco presented pre-clinical stability and biological activity data on multiple myeloma drug candidate SNS-01 at the 2009 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)-National Cancer Institute (NCI)-European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Conference
• Certain Senesco insiders entered into definitive stock purchase agreements to purchase all of the convertible debentures, warrants and common stock which are held by Stanford Venture Capital Holdings, Inc. and/or Stanford International Bank, Ltd.

"Senesco's top priorities in 2010 are to attract sufficient financing and file an IND for SNS-01, our multiple myeloma drug candidate," said Jack Van Hulst, President and Chief Executive Officer of Senesco.  "We remain confident in our ability to accomplish both of these goals."

Total revenues of $140,000 for the three month period ended December 31, 2009 consisted of a milestone payment in connection with an agricultural license agreement. There was no revenue for the three month period ended December 31, 2008.  

Research and development expenses during the three month period ended December 31, 2009 were $467,544, compared with $579,286 during the three month period ended December 31, 2008, a decrease of 19.2%.  The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in the costs incurred in connection with our development of SNS-01 for multiple myeloma due to the timing of certain aspects of the development and the cost of the research performed at the University of Waterloo as a result of a decrease in the annual budget that began on September 1, 2009.  

General and administrative expenses were $685,409 for the three month period ended December 31, 2009, compared with $649,056 during the three month period ended December 31, 2008, an increase of 5.5%.  This increase was due primarily to a $58,000 increase in payroll and benefits, primarily the result of the severance agreement with the Company's former President and CEO, and a $17,000 increase in share-based compensation. These increases were partially offset by a $64,000 decrease in investor relations costs; primarily the result of the Company having not incurred the costs of holding its annual meeting for the current year during this period, as it did in the corresponding period of 2008.

At December 31, 2009, Senesco's cash balance totalled $751,787, with working capital of $881,652, which the Company estimates will cover its expenses for approximately the next two to three months from December 31, 2009.