Cardiome Pharma announces financial results for the three months ended September 30, 2009

Cardiome Pharma Corp. (NASDAQ: CRME / TSX: COM) today reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009. Amounts, unless specified otherwise, are expressed in Canadian dollars and in accordance with Canadian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (Canadian GAAP).

Results of Operations

We recorded a net loss of $0.4 million ($0.01 per common share) for the three months ended September 30, 2009 ("Q3-2009"), compared to a net loss of $11.8 million ($0.18 per common share) for the three months ended September 30, 2008 ("Q3-2008"). The decrease in net loss for the current quarter was largely due to the recognition of deferred revenue related to the upfront payment of U.S.$60 million and milestone payment of U.S.$15 million from our collaborative partner Merck & Co., partially offset by a foreign exchange loss on translation of U.S. denominated net monetary assets into Canadian dollars for reporting purposes at period end.

Revenue for Q3-2009 was $21.1 million, an increase of $20.6 million from $0.5 million in Q3-2008.

Research and development expenditures were $10.3 million for Q3-2009, compared to $8.5 million for Q3-2008. The increase is due to increased expenditures for vernakalant (iv) related to the ongoing Phase 3 European comparator study and for GED-aPC related to completing work on the Phase 1 clinical trial. This increase was partially offset by decreased expenditures for vernakalant (oral) as development efforts for this program globally are now the responsibility of Merck. General and administration expenditures for Q3-2009 were $4.7 million, compared to $4.8 million for Q2-2008. Amortization for Q3-2009 was $0.8 million compared to $0.9 million for Q3-2008. Interest and other income was $0.1 million for Q3-2009 and $0.2 million for Q3-2008. Foreign exchange loss was $5.7 million in Q3-2009 compared to a foreign exchange gain of $1.7 million in Q3-2008.

Stock-based compensation, a non-cash item included in operating expenses, increased to $1.8 million for Q3-2009, as compared to $0.5 million for Q3-2008.

Liquidity and Outstanding Share Capital

At September 30, 2009, we had cash and cash equivalents of $84.4 million. As of November 6, 2009, the Company had 60,163,911 common shares issued and outstanding, and 6,688,788 common shares issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options at a weighted-average exercise price of $7.30 per share. In October 2009, 2,272,727 Series A Preferred shares were converted to common shares on a 1-to-1 basis. No Series A Preferred shares remain outstanding. In October 2009, we announced that on expiry of a modified "Dutch auction" tender offer announced in August 2009, we purchased for cancellation 6,470,588 of our common shares at US$4.25 per share for an aggregate purchase price of U.S.$27.5 million.