PharmaPrint Keeps Its Nasdaq Listing

PharmaPrint Inc., the struggling Irvine herbal supplement maker, said Monday that its stock will continue to be traded on the Nasdaq, though on the small-cap market rather than the larger national market system.

PharmaPrint, devastated after its only major customer said last fall that it would sever ties with the money-losing company, has cut jobs, reduced overhead and refocused its operations.

Nasdaq, however, gave the company notice that its shares would be removed from the national market system, and the company sought hearings to persuade the exchange to keep the stock listed.

At one point in November, PharmaPrint’s stock price had fallen to 88 cents a share, its lowest in 52 weeks. It gained 3 cents a share Monday to close at $1.75.

The stock price picked up in February after the company announced a contract to sell and, eventually, manufacture its herbal-based health products in Asia.

The tiny company has been supplying American Home Products Inc. with ingredients for American Home’s Centrum brand. But the Madison, N.J., giant cut orders during PharmaPrint’s fiscal second quarter, which ended in September, and gave one-year formal notice in October that it will terminate the contract.

The two companies have lawsuits pending against each other. PharmaPrint also faces a shareholder lawsuit over alleged false and misleading statements about its financial condition.

The loss of American Home had an immediate impact on the maker of dietary supplements. PharmaPrint lost $7.4 million on revenue of $493,476 for its fiscal third quarter, which ended Dec. 31. By contrast, it had earned $2.7 million on revenue of $11.9 million for the year-earlier three-month period.