Pharmasset Reports First Fiscal Quarter 2008 Financi...( PRINCETON N.J. Feb. 14 /- Pharmas...),Health

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pharmasset, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRUS), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing and commercializing novel drugs to treat viral infections, reported unaudited financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 ended December 31, 2007. Pharmasset reported a net loss attributable to common stockholders of $12.2 million, or ($0.57) per share for the first fiscal quarter of 2008, as compared to net income attributable to common stockholders of $3.6 million, or $0.33 per diluted share for the same period in fiscal 2007.

Revenues were $0.5 million during the first fiscal quarter of 2008, which consisted of the amortization of payments received from Roche from the hepatitis C virus (HCV) collaboration agreement that were previously recorded as deferred revenue. Revenues for the same period in fiscal 2007 were $8.1 million, which included a $7.5 million milestone payment received from Roche. Investment income was $0.9 million during the first fiscal quarter of 2008 compared to $0.4 million during the same period in 2007. The $0.5 million increase in the first fiscal quarter of 2008 was due to higher average invested cash balances.

Total costs and expenses for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 were $13.2 million as compared to $4.6 million for the same period in fiscal 2007. The $8.6 million increase in operating expenses for the first fiscal quarter of 2008 was primarily due to a $7.0 million increase in Phase 3 registration clinical trial expenses for clevudine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, as well as approximately $1.6 million in drug discovery, compensation, insurance, audit and non-cash stock compensation expenses
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