SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
---------------------------
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
March 10, 1998
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported)
AVAX TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware 000-29222 13-3575874
(State or other jurisdiction (IRS Employer
of incorporation) (Commission File Number) Identification Number)
4520 Main Street
Suite 930
Kansas City, MO 64111
(Address of principal executive offices)
(816) 960-1333
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
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Item 5. Other Events
The sole purpose of this Form 8-K is to file a press release issued by
AVAX Technologies, Inc. on March 10, 1998 regarding its financial results for
the fiscal year ended December 31, 1997.
Item 7. Financial Statements, Pro Forma Financial Statements and Exhibits
(c) Exhibits:
99.6 Press Release dated March 10, 1998.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
AVAX TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Date: March 11, 1998
By: /s/ Jeffrey M. Jonas, M.D.
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Name: Jeffrey M. Jonas, M.D.
Title: President and Chief Executive
Officer
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Exhibit Index
Exhibit Number Description
- -------------- -----------
99.6 Press Release dated March 10, 1998.
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EXHIBIT 99.6
Contact Jeffery M. Jonas, MD Thomas Redington
Chief Executive Officer 203/222-7399
816/960-1333 212/926-1733
AVAX REPORTS 1997 RESULTS
KANSAS CITY, MO MAR. 10 - AVAX Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: AVXT)
reported a 1997 net loss of $4.3 million, or $1.14 a share, versus $2.7 million,
or 84 cents a share, for 1996.
Research and development expense more than tripled to $2.4 million
from $738,991 a year ago, and general and administrative expenses increased to
$2.7 million from $1.3 million.
"1997 was a very successful year for AVAX Technologies," said
Jeffrey M. Jonas, MD, president and chief executive officer of the company. "Our
increased spending is a direct result of the progress we made in readying our
vaccine technology for Phase III clinical trials for melanoma, commencing a
proof-of-concept study in ovarian cancer with the same technology, and
completing construction of a Class 10,000 `clean room' laboratory for clinical
manufacturing of the vaccine. We expanded our technology portfolio by acquiring
two additional pre-clinical cancer technologies, and moved forward with
isolating compounds from each, with the goal of starting human studies in
1998/99. We also completed registration of the shares issued in the 1996 private
placement and attained a listing on the Nasdaq Small Cup market, giving our
shareholders a more liquid market."
Other income, primarily interest income, increased to $906,858 from
$455,544 a year ago, reflecting higher average cash balances.
At Dec. 31, 1997 cash and investments totaled $15.9 million.
Weighted average shares outstanding stood at 3.8 million.
Dr. Jones added that the company is pleased with the national press
attention being accorded AVAX's immunotherapeutic vaccine technology. Among the
latest examples were the lead story on the March 2 CBS-TV Evening News with Dan
Rather and a March 6 interview on National Public Radio with David Berd, MD, the
inventor of the AVAX cancer vaccine technology and the chairman of the company's
Scientific Advisory Board. Earlier this month, the company's technology was also
featured in a CNN-TV newscast.
AVAX Technologies, Inc. is a development-stage biopharmaceutical
company that acquires rights to and is developing technologies and products for
the treatment of cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The company has
focused its initial efforts primarily on the development of immunotherapies and
chemotherapies for cancer. Immunotherapy is a rapidly developing segment of the
cancer therapeutic market.
# # #
Statements in this news release that are not strictly historical,
including statements as to plans and objectives, are "forward-looking"
statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although AVAX Technologies believes
that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are
reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations will prove to be
correct. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from AVAX
Technologies' expectations include, among others, the company's dependence on
licenses and sponsored research agreements; the ability of the company and
others to clinically develop, manufacture and market the company's
pharmaceutical products; government regulation and approval by the FDA of the
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company's products for sale in the US; the company's ability to obtain
additional financing needed for manufacturing, marketing and distribution of the
company's products; the company's access to and the market's acceptance of new
products; a limited public market for the company's stock; possibly price
volatility and illiquidity of the company's stock; as well as the risks,
uncertainties, and other factors described in the company's prospectus and other
documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company does
not undertake any obligation to publicly release any revisions to these
forward-looking statements or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
3/10/98
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