WEST BRIDGEWATER, Mass., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston Biomedica, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBII) today announced preliminary results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 1998. These results do not include the accounting for BBI's investment in and subsequent acquisition of BioSeq, Inc. completed as of September 30, 1998. The Company said it needs more time to comply with the recent Securities and Exchange Commission guidelines regarding the write-off of in-process research and development, and to finish the valuation which will be the basis for the purchase price allocation.
For the third quarter, the Company's revenue was $6,180,959 compared with revenue of $6,139,782 for the same period in 1997. Income for the third quarter on a fully-taxed basis, but before accounting for the BioSeq, Inc. acquisition, amounted to $4,019 versus income of $246,147 in the prior year period. As stated in its October 14 news release, the total cost of purchasing BioSeq was approximately $4,000,000. Management believes that a significant portion of this total cost may be expensed as in-process research and development in the third quarter upon completion of the asset valuation, which will likely result in a loss for the quarter.
"Unfortunately, the Company's Quality Control Panel product sales fell short of expectations as many diagnostic test kit manufacturers have put development programs on hold as a result of consolidations taking place in the industry," said Richard T. Schumacher, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Boston Biomedica. "We are disappointed by this development," continued Schumacher, "and are working very hard to replace this lost revenue with additional products and services. However, Accurun(R) sales, an important part of our core QC business, continued very strong in the third quarter with sales more than double those of the prior year period. And we are very pleased about the most significant accomplishment of the quarter, the acquisition of BioSeq."
On September 30, 1998 BBI acquired all the remaining outstanding capital stock of BioSeq Inc., a privately-held development stage company with 16 patent applications covering the precise, repeatable, and instantaneous control of molecular interactions based on Pressure Cycling Technology, or PCT.
For the nine months ended September 30, 1998 the Company reported revenue of $18,836,885 compared to revenue of $14,997,785 for the same period in 1997. Loss for the nine months ended September 30, 1998 on a fully-taxed basis, but before accounting for the BioSeq acquisition, amounted to $(506,621) versus income in the previous year of $569,596 on a comparable basis. The nine-month loss includes a charge in the first quarter for acquired in-process research and development of $527,000 after taxes.
"We are very excited about the BioSeq acquisition and the potential applications of its technology," said Schumacher. "We have already made progress in planning for the development of Pressure Cycling Technology (PCT) in two primary areas of biomolecular analysis: blood safety and nucleic acid purification for molecular diagnostics."
Boston Biomedica, Inc. is a worldwide manufacturer and provider of proprietary quality control products for use with IVD test kits for the detection, analysis and monitoring of infectious diseases, including AIDS, Hepatitis, Lyme Disease and ToRCH. These products are used by clinical and research laboratories, blood banks, and IVD manufacturers to help ensure the accuracy of infectious disease test results through the routine monitoring of test performance. The Company also manufactures diagnostic test kit components and laboratory instrumentation, and provides specialty laboratory testing and contract research services.
Statements contained in this news release that state the Company's or management's intentions, hopes, beliefs, expectations or predictions of the future are "forward-looking" statements. It is important to note that the Company's actual results could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that any of the purchase price of BioSeq will be expensed in the third quarter's final results as in-process research and development. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward- looking statements is contained from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Company's report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 1998. Copies of this document may be obtained by contacting the Company or the SEC.
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CONTACT: Richard T. Schumacher, Pres./CEO, or Kevin W. Quinlan, CFO, of Boston Biomedica, Inc., 508-580-1900, or Maribel Lopez or Jon Siegal of Ronald Trahan Associates, Inc., 617-332-0101