CombinatoRx reports $41.3M total revenue for first-quarter 2010

CombinatoRx, Incorporated (NASDAQ: CRXX) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

“A Novel Small Organic Compound Attenuates Neuropathic Pain by Stabilizing the Slow Inactivated State of Sodium and Calcium Channels”

"In the last month our commercial partner Covidien launched Exalgo™ into the U.S. market, providing many patients with moderate-to-severe pain with access to this new therapy and providing us with the potential for future royalty revenue," commented Mark H.N. Corrigan, MD, President and CEO of CombinatoRx. "In addition, we published and presented data on our cell-based drug discovery platforms, further validating our capability to identify novel drug candidates."

First Quarter 2010 and Recent Accomplishments:

• Covidien launched Exalgo™ (hydromorphone HCl) extended-release tablets, (CII), the only extended-release hydromorphone treatment available in the United States. Exalgo provides opioid-tolerant patients suffering from moderate-to-severe chronic pain, relief for 24 hours per dose. CombinatoRx is eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales of Exalgo by Covidien.
• Powerful and unexpected synergistic interactions of A2A Agonist and PDE Inhibitors as potential adjunctive therapy in the treatment of multiple myeloma and other B-cell malignancies were published in BLOOD, The Journal of the American Society of Hematology, and highlighted at the American Association for Cancer Research 2010 annual meeting. These preclinical studies demonstrated that both agonists synergize with standard of care, even after chronic exposure, and highlight the Company's ability to rapidly screen large numbers of drug combinations in many cell lines to identify novel synergistic pairings, which can provide new insights into disease biology and new drug combinations that can be further evaluated as potential clinical candidates.
• CombinatoRx continued to leverage the power of its proprietary cHTS combination drug discovery platform by entering into a pilot discovery research collaboration with Amgen in which they have licensed access to our cHTS drug discovery platform for a limited period of nine months with the option of extending the term and scope of the collaboration beyond the third quarter of 2010. CombinatoRx has received a license fee for this trial period. This collaboration represents a step towards our stated 2010 goal of continuing to seek additional revenue-generating research and technology collaborations for our cHTS combination drug discovery platform.
• Preclinical progress was also made with the CombinatoRx Ion Channel drug discovery and development program, as our research team in Vancouver presented key data reinforcing our leadership position in the identification of novel ion channel blockers aimed at selected pain targets. At the Spring Pain Research Conference on April 21st in a presentation entitled "A Novel Small Organic Compound Attenuates Neuropathic Pain by Stabilizing the Slow Inactivated State of Sodium and Calcium Channels," Michael Hildebrand, Ph.D., described the successful reversal of neuropathic pain in preclinical models with a proprietary, novel ion channel blocker candidate.

First Quarter 2010 Financial Results (Unaudited):

As of March 31, 2010, CombinatoRx had cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments of $55.3 million compared to $25.9 million on December 31, 2009.

Total revenue was $41.3 million in the first quarter of 2010 compared to $2.6 million reported in the first quarter of 2009. Revenue increased from the first quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010 due to a $40.0 million milestone payment from Covidien related to the FDA approval of Exalgo on March 1, 2010.

Net loss from continuing operations for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 was $3.1 million, or ($0.05) per share, as compared to $8.5 million, or ($0.24) per share, in the first quarter of 2009. The first quarter of 2010 included a one-time, non-cash charge of $29.3 million related to the settlement of the contingent consideration issued in the Neuromed merger. Stock-based compensation expense was approximately $1.6 million in the first quarter of 2010 as compared to $1.3 million in the first quarter of 2009.

Research and development expenses totaled $7.4 million in the first quarter of 2010 compared to $7.1 million in the first quarter of 2009.

General and administrative expenses were $3.9 million in the first quarter of 2010 compared to $3.6 million in the first quarter of 2009.