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
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported) May 19, 1998
INNOVIR LABORATORIES, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware 0-21972 13-3536290
(State or other jurisdiction (Commission (IRS Employer
of incorporation) File Number) Identification No.)
510 East 73rd Street, New York, NY 10021
- ---------------------------------- -------
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (212) 249-4703
Not Applicable
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)
<PAGE>
Item 5. Other Events.
On May 19, 1998 Innovir Laboratories, Inc. issued the press release
filed herewith as Exhibit 99.
Item 7. Financial Statements, Pro Forma Financial Information and Exhibits.
(a) Financial Statements
No financial statements are required to be filed as a part of
this report.
(b) Pro Forma Financial Information
No pro forma financial information is required to be filed as
a part of this report.
(c) Exhibits
99 Press release, dated May 19, 1998.
All other Items of this report are inapplicable.
<PAGE>
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.
INNOVIR LABORATORIES, INC.
Date: May 22, 1998 By:/s/ FRANCIS M. O'CONNELL
------------------------
Name: Francis M. O'Connell
Title: Chief Financial Officer
<PAGE>
EXHIBIT INDEX
99 Press release, dated May 19, 1998.
<PAGE>
EXHIBIT 99
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Laura A. Mastrangelo
VIMRX Pharmaceuticals
302-998-1734/Pager 800-916-8038
Investor Contact: Dian Griesel, Ph.D.
The Investor Relations Group
212-664-8489
INNOVIR TO REFOCUS OLIGOZYME DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM
Company Further Reduces Overall Operating Expenses
NEW YORK, NY, MAY 19, 1998 - Innovir Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq
SmallCap: INVR), a subsidiary of VIMRX Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: VMRX),
today announced a strategic refocusing of its oligozyme development program in
an effort to increase scientific productivity in those areas with the most
commercial potential, while reducing overall operational expenses in order to
better conserve its limited capital resources.
Innovir will focus efforts on the recently discovered FRS (Functional
Ribozyme Selection) and related technologies which depend on the lead EGS
(External Guide Sequence) technology licensed from Yale University and further
developed by Innovir scientists.
Innovir plans to restructure the research and development of its
ribozyme-based technology, now being developed primarily in its European
operations in Goettingen, Germany, and Cambridge, England. Innovir will seek
partners or investors in the ribozyme-based technology. If new investors are not
found, management intends to close the two sites and consolidate research into
the New York operations.
Through this strategic refocusing, Innovir estimates that it will be
able to further reduce its annualized expenses by approximately 50%, resulting
in an approximately 70% reduction from its 1997 spend rate by 4Q, 1998, while
still enabling progress to occur in the further development and commercial
exploitation of the FRS and related technologies.
"In spite of the demonstrated promise of the ribozyme-based technology,
Innovir's limited resources make it impossible for our scientific team to do an
adequate job of developing both it and the EGS-based FRS technology," said Dr.
Thomas R. Sharpe, president and CEO of Innovir. "The business opportunities
presented by the FRS technology, which gives us the ability to solve one of the
important problems impeding progress in the oligonucleotide field - how to
quickly identify the optimum cleavage site in an RNA molecule -- require us to
focus our resources on that opportunity."
<PAGE>
Innovir Laboratories, Inc.
Innovir Laboratories, Inc. is a biotechnology company that is
developing technologies based on catalytically interactive oligomers
(oligozymes) for pharmaceutical and genomic research. As a research tool,
oligozymes can help determine the functions of genes and validate molecular
targets for new drug therapies. The Company's technologies will utilize External
Guide Sequences (EGS) oligozymes - which inactivate targeted messenger RNA
(mRNA). To complement its drug target validation programs, Innovir has developed
FRS (Functional Ribozyme Selection) for identifying the optimal cleavage sites
in bacterial cells.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe
harbor" for certain forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements
contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Actual
results could differ materially from current expectations. Among the factors
which could affect the Company's actual results and could cause results to
differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements contained herein
are: the timely commencement and success of the Company's research endeavors,
delays in receiving FDA or other regulatory approvals, the development of
competing therapies and/or technologies, the terms of any future strategic
alliances, the possible need for additional capital, and any additional factors
described from time to time in the Company's periodic reports on Form 10-K and
10-Q, and any prospectus describing the Company's securities.
# # #
NOTE TO INVESTORS AND EDITORS: Innovir's press releases are available
on the Internet through www.vimrx.com and through BusinessWire's web site at
http://www.businesswire.com. The releases also are available at no charge
through BusinessWire's fax-on-demand service at 800-411-8792.
