| CuraGen Reports Second Quarter 2006 Financial Results
BRANFORD, Conn., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CuraGen Corporation CRGN today reported its consolidated financial results for the second quarter 2006. For the quarter ended June 30, 2006, CuraGen's consolidated net loss was $14.3 million, or $0.26 per share, compared to a net loss of $15.7 million, or $0.31 per share, for the same period in 2005. As of June 30, 2006, CuraGen had available cash and investments of $193.6 million, as compared to $211.3 million at March 31, 2006, and had outstanding 6% convertible debt of $66.2 million, due February 2007, and 4% convertible debt of $110 million, due February 2011. CuraGen also announced today it has formally engaged Goldman Sachs to examine strategic options for CuraGen's investment in 454 Life Sciences. In the second quarter of 2006, 454 Life Sciences, CuraGen's majority-owned subsidiary, recognized a total of $9.8 million in revenue, a 188% increase compared to the same period in 2005.
NZ asbestos victims face new setback
The fight to force Australian asbestos manufacturers to compensate thousands of sick and dying New Zealanders who inhaled the killer fibres has suffered a serious knock-back.
This month, the Court of Appeal in Australia overturned a landmark $320,000 payout to former Kiwi Bernard Frost, 61, from company Amaca, a subsidiary of Australian building products giant James Hardie. Frost was exposed to the killer fibres while installing insulation products in Cambridge in 1963-66 but was diagnosed with asbestos-related lung diseases in 2000, four years after he moved to Queensland. Frost's Australian lawyer Graeme Little said he will seek special leave to appeal the decision in the High Court in Australia because it was a case of great public importance.
Mapping asbestos the cause of Mesothelioma
Following in the footsteps of other counties, the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District released a map for eastern Sacramento County that shows areas more likely to contain naturally occurring asbestos, including parts of Folsom.Looking at geologic rock formations where naturally occurring asbestos is more likely to be found, the map is an updated and expanded version of an August 2005 map by the California Geological Survey. Air district officials say they have been addressing health concerns about NOA for several years, primarily in Folsom."Sacramento County and the air district at times were not aware of any naturally occurring asbestos in our county," said AQMD division manager Dave Grose. "We were well aware that El Dorado County had some."That changed during a routine site inspection of the Lago Vista High School campus in 2004, in which the Department of Toxic Substances Control discovered levels of NOA.
Jury Awards Shipyard Worker's Widow $10M
A jury awarded $10.4 million to the widow of a former shipyard worker who died of lung cancer after four years of working with materials that contained asbestos. The Newport News Circuit Court verdict in Wanda Jones' wrongful death lawsuit against three companies that manufactured the materials was handed down Wednesday, the first anniversary of the death of 60-year-old Buddy Jones. "It's a mixed day," Wanda Jones said. "At least there's been some justice and recognition for what he went through, certainly through no fault of his own. He just went to work and did what he was trained to do on the job." Her attorney, Robert Hatten, called the verdict a landmark because one-third of the judgment will come from John Crane Inc., which has refused to settle other asbestos cases.
Union leader represents more than labor in state
BIRDS LANDING - With a cigar between his lips and a shotgun slung over his shoulder, state labor leader and Contra Costa native Jim Kellogg is the very picture of a man's man. In the testosterone-charged morning, Kellogg joined 90 shooters blasting away at fist-sized clay discs whirring over the grassy landscape in this Central Valley hunting preserve. "After we're done shooting, I'll have a beer and then I'll be a real man," joked Kellogg, a tall and well-built 62-year-old wearing blue jeans and a state Fish and Game T-shirt and cap. The scene, like Kellogg, is deceptively simple. "People have a tendency to underestimate Jim," said longtime friend and Contra Costa Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier. "He doesn't say much and he doesn't have a formal education.
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