QLT announces initial steps for restructuring the company

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The QLT board of directors has implemented several new initiatives intended to increase the company's value to its shareholders, including the sale of QLT USA, the sale of property owned by the company's corporate headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, and by terminating 115 current employees, with future employment reductions planned "as assets are divested," according to a press release from the company.

The company's directors plan to retain sufficient proceeds from the distribution of assets to settle outstanding convertible debt in September.

QLT plans to focus its ongoing business on its Visudyne (verteporfin, Novartis) franchise, its clinical development programs for its punctal plug drug delivery technology for treating glaucoma and its photodynamic therapy technology for dermatologic applications, according to the release.

QLT also announced that fourth quarter 2007 global revenues for Visudyne totaled $45.5 million, a 40.5% decrease compared with revenues from the same quarter in 2006, according to a separate release from the company.

Fourth quarter Visudyne sales in the United States reached approximately $10 million, representing 22% of total sales for the quarter.

Full-year revenues for Visudyne totaled $214.9 million, a 39.3% decline from full-year 2006 sales, the release said.