La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co (LJPC)

[Camaro1093]

La Jolla Pharma axes plan to dissolve company

La Jolla says it could not get shareholder support for dissolution, and will find alternatives

* On 4:56 pm EST, Wednesday November 25, 2009
o La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co.

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- La Jolla Pharmaceutical Co. said Wednesday its shareholders did not support a proposal to dissolve the company, and it will consider other options.

La Jolla said it is evaluating its options and will announce future plans after it determines the best way to obtain value for its shareholders.

The company proposed its dissolution in October, but has been unable to get a majority of shareholders to support the idea. It convened several shareholder meetings in November to try to gather the votes, but said 92 percent of shareholders still had not voted.

In February, La Jolla and its partner BioMarin Pharmaceutical stopped a trial of a lupus drug called Riquent, which La Jolla had developed. Reviewers determined the drug was not working. La Jolla was not testing any other products and had no approved drugs on the market. Last month, the company said it had completely written off the value of its Riquent assets and would not maintain the patents or any other spending related to Riquent.

La Jolla said it owed $4.4 million as of Aug. 31, and it had no other drugs in development or products on the market.

La Jolla shares closed at about 7.7 cents on Wednesday.