Arca Biopharma trimmed loss in 2022 as merger exploration continued

BOULDER — Arca Biopharma Inc. (Nasdaq: ABIO) cut its losses in half during 2022, a year that saw the company continue cost-cutting measures and exploration of its options for a strategic merger or sale. 

The company’s net loss in 2022 was $9.9 million, an improvement on the company’s $19.4 million loss in 2021.

Savings was achieved through employee layoffs and lower research and development spending. 

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Arca finished 2022 with cash and cash equivalents of $42.4 million, down from $53.4 million as of December 31, 2021.

The company said it “believes that its cash and cash equivalents, consisting primarily of money market funds, will be sufficient to fund its operations through the middle of 2024.”

Arca — which has two drugs in its pipeline: COVID-19 drug candidate rNAPc2 and Gencaro (bucindolol hydrochloride), a beta-blocker and mild vasodilator that could be a potential treatment for atrial fibrillation in heart-failure patients — established a committee to weigh options for maximizing shareholder value amid a 2021 that saw it double its year-over-year losses. 

“In May 2022, the company retained Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. Inc. to act as its financial adviser to explore and evaluate strategic options for maximizing stockholder value. Potential strategic alternatives that may be explored or evaluated as part of this process include the potential for an acquisition, merger, business combination or other strategic transaction involving the company,” Arca said in its annual report released in late February. “The board has not set a timetable for the conclusion of this review, nor has it made any decisions related to any further actions or potential strategic options at this time. There can be no assurance, however, that this process will result in any such transaction.”