InVivo Therapeutics ends 2011 with $34.7M net loss

InVivo Therapeutics Holdings Corp. (OTCBB: NVIV), which develops technologies for treatment of spinal cord injuries, reported a net loss of $34.7 million, or $0.67 per diluted share, for the year ending Dec. 31, 2011.

Cambridge-based InVivos loss is up significantly from $7.9 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, for 2010. The company said that the net loss for 2011 included a non-cash derivative loss of $26 million, reflecting an increase in the fair value of the derivative warrant liability, and a pro forma net loss of $8.6 million.

Total operating expenses for 2011 were $8.7 million compared with $3.4 million for 2010, and research and development costs in 2011 were $4.1 million, up from $1.7 in 2010. General and administrative expense rose to $4.6 million from $1.7 million in 2010, which the company said was due to investments to expand infrastructure and added costs associated with public company practices.

Still, Frank Reynolds, InVivos CEO, said 2011 was a landmark year for the company in a written statement, and that it performed under budget for the sixth consecutive year.

We made significant progress advancing the commercialization of our first product for SCI and expanding our product pipeline to the rest of the nervous system. We also laid the groundwork to have three product applications under review by FDA by the end of 2012, Reynolds said. He also said that so far in 2012, the company closed an oversubscribed $20 million public offering and added key leadership to its senior management team.

InVivo has pioneered a new treatment that uses a biocompatible polymer-based scaffold to provide structural support to a damaged spinal cord in order to spare tissue from scarring while improving recovering and prognosis after a traumatic spinal cord injury. Today, there is no effective treatment for the spinal cord for paralysis caused by spinal cord injuries, and the market potential is estimated to be more than $10 billion.

In December, the company signed a six-year lease for a new 21,000-square-foot corporate headquarters, with manufacturing and research facilities, at One Kendall Square in Cambridge. The new facility will support upcoming human trials on potential treatments for spinal cord injuries, which are currently awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The company was founded in 2005 on the basis of technology co-invented by MIT professor Robert Langer, and Dr. Joseph P. Vacanti, who is affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital.

See more here:
InVivo Therapeutics ends 2011 with $34.7M net loss