WALTHAM, Mass.-- Arbios Systems, Inc. announced that the Company is focusing its day-to-day operations exclusively on obtaining financing or consummating a strategic transaction. In order to preserve the Company's remaining cash resources, the Company's employees were released from employment, except for Shawn Cain, the Company's President and CEO, and Scott Hayashi, the Company's CFO, who will continue to provide services as part-time consultants on a month-to-month basis while they seek funding and strategic alternatives. The Company does not expect to publicly disclose any developments with respect to any financing transactions or strategic alternatives unless and until its Board of Directors has approved a transaction. There can be no assurances that the Company will be able to obtain financing and/or enter into a strategic transaction, or as to the timing or terms of any such transaction.

As previously disclosed, the Company needs to either raise additional funds or enter into a strategic relationship in order to fund the completion of clinical trials for its SEPET(TM) Liver Assist Device, the preparation and submission of applications to the FDA and other competent authorities for marketing in Europe, and the maintenance of its intellectual property portfolio. If a financing or strategic transaction is not consummated, or near consummation, by August 31, 2008 the Company will then need to consider other options, including liquidation of the Company.

"We have spent the past several months seeking financing and strategic opportunities to maintain the momentum we have achieved towards the clinical validation and market approval of SEPET(TM). SEPET(TM) is our extracorporeal (outside the body) liver assist device for blood purification of patients suffering from cirrhosis due to chronic liver disease and who are hospitalized with acute complications due to worsening liver dysfunction and portal hypertension," commented Shawn Cain. "Unfortunately, despite our recent accomplishments, in the current financial environment, we have not been able to obtain any funding."

These accomplishments include:

-- Completing and reporting positive safety results from our Phase 1 clinical study. In addition, signs of clinical efficacy were observed with 79% of the patients meeting the primary endpoint of a two-grade improvement in hepatic encephalopathy, with an average of only two treatments.

-- Establishing exclusive manufacturing agreements with recognized and well-respected manufacturers of medical products, allowing commercial scale production and economics.

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