Biopure Announces 2008 First Quarter Financi...( CAMBRIDGE Mass. Feb. 21 /- Biopur...)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Biopure Corporation (Nasdaq: BPUR) today announced its financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended January 31, 2008. For the quarter, the company reported a net loss of $5.8 million, or $0.17 per common share, compared with a net loss of $6.9 million, or $0.53 per common share, for the corresponding period in 2007. Class A common shares outstanding on January 31, 2008 and 2007 were 34,971,087 and 15,543,025, respectively.

Revenues

Total revenues for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 were $573,000, including $419,000 from sales of the Company's veterinary product Oxyglobin(R), $58,000 from sales of Hemopure(R) in South Africa and $96,000 in research and development expense reimbursements from the U.S. government. Total revenues for the same period in fiscal 2007 were $594,000, including $444,000 from Oxyglobin sales, $16,000 from sales of Hemopure and $134,000 from government reimbursement. Payments from the government reimburse Biopure for trauma development expenses for Hemopure and vary with the amount of reimbursable activity for the government.

Oxyglobin revenues decreased during the first fiscal quarter of 2008 compared to 2007 because of a change in the arrangement between the Company and its European distributor. During the first quarter of fiscal 2007, the Company accounted for European sales on a consignment basis. Now the distributor buys product for its inventory upon shipment by the Company. The distributor did not purchase any inventory during the first fiscal quarter of 2008. This decrease was nearly offset by higher U.S. sales of Oxyglobin due to higher average selling prices. Hemopure sales increased during the first fiscal quarter of 2008 due
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