Cambridge Heart Inc. (NSDQ:CAMH) sold eight of its cardiac monitors during the three months ended March 31, en route to a $1.4 million net loss on $658,000 in total revenues for the period.
The Tewksbury, Mass.-based company reported $805,000 in revenues during the year-ago quarter. Company officials blamed the 18-percent sales decline on continued weakness in the medical-equipment market and uncertain prospects for ongoing government and insurance-company reimbursements. The firm also cited its own limited distribution network for curtailing potential sales.
Despite the falloff in sales, Cambridge Heart managed to trim its net loss by $700,000 from the comparable period following job cuts in 2009 and through additional cost-cutting moves in more recent months, including a 10-percent reduction in senior management salaries and replacing bonuses with non-cash stock options. It also reduced board retainers and eliminated per-meeting fees.
In more positive news, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last month gave Cambridge Heart the go-ahead to market its Microvolt T-Wave Alternans (MTWA) monitor, designed to measure small changes in heart rhythms, with devices made by Cardiac Science Corp. (NSDQ:CSCX) The company also announced its intend to call in warrants issued in a recent financing, adding nearly $1 million in cash to the $2.2 million it had on hand at the end of the latest quarter.
“The FDA clearance of our MTWA module brings us one step closer to launching that device,” Cambridge Heart CEO Ali Haghighi-Mood said in prepared remarks. “In the meantime, we are hopeful that legislation will be enacted in the near term to resolve some of the uncertainty surrounding reimbursement that has negatively impacted the sales of our MTWA systems.”