Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

TDLP Files for Bankruptcy

[A couple of years ago, this was one of the most pumped biotech companies on iHub: e.g. #msg-42212620. The company’s phase-3 trial failed, but TDLP called it a big success (#msg-42212740); in my experience, this is a pretty good prognostic indicator that a company will eventually go bust.]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/27/transdel-files-bankruptcy-agrees-sell-lead-drug-ca/

›By Keith Darcé
June 27, 2011 3:19 p.m.

Plagued by executive turnover and a failure to raise enough money to move its lead experimental drug into a final clinical trial, Transdel Pharmaceuticals filed for bankruptcy protection Monday and agreed to sell most of its assets to Cardium Therapeutics for $4 million in stock.

Both companies are publicly owned and based in San Diego.

Cardium will add Transdel's experimental topical pain medication Ketotransdel to its pipeline if the deal is approved by federal bankruptcy court.

"The proposed purchase of the business assets of Transdel further broadens our technology and late-stage product platform, and provides additional opportunities for potential commercialization, partnering and other monetization," said Christopher Reinhard, Cardium's chairman and chief financial officer.

Shares of Cardium rose 1 cent, or 5 percent, Monday to 28 cents, while shares of Transdel also rose a penny, or 7 percent, to close at 15 cents.

The bankruptcy filing by Transdel, which was founded in 1998, came six weeks after Chief Executive John Bonfiglio resigned. Bonfiglio had held the position for seven months after replacing John Lomoro, the company's chief financial officer who had become acting CEO when Juliet Singh left Transdel in February 2010.

On April 14, National Football League Hall of Famer and network sports analyst Lynn Swann resigned as a Transdel director. The company also was unable to file its 2010 annual report on time because it didn't have enough money to pay for an audit, according to a securities filing.

The company had $467,278 in cash on Sept. 30, the last time it reported quarterly financial results.

Transdel received a $244,000 grant from the federal government in November as part of the $1 billion Therapeutic Discovery Project included in the healthcare reform law approved by Congress.

The money was used to pay off the company's final bill for a Phase 3 clinical trial of Ketotransdel, which showed that the topical medication performed significantly better than a placebo in treating musculoskeletal pain.

The drug combines ketoprofen, a Food and Drug Administration-approved non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, with a special skin-penetrating cream created by Transdel.

The company needed to perform a second Phase 3 trial to meet FDA testing requirements but didn't have the money to pay for the additional study. In February, Transdel launched an unsuccessful bid to find a partner willing to foot the bill.

Along with Ketotransdel, Cardium will acquire Transdel's cosmetic pharmaceutical program, which includes experimental anti-cellulite, hyperpigmentation and anti-aging products. [These programs are worth about as much as FCSC’s laViv, LOL.]‹