Feb 9 2010
Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) today reported financial results for the
fourth quarter and year ending December 31, 2009.
Dr. Anat Cohen-Dayag, president and co-CEO, stated, “During 2009 we saw
major accomplishments in each of the areas key to our long-term success.
Most important was the in vivo validation of various Compugen in
silico predicted product candidates by independent leading experts
in major therapeutic areas. These included novel therapeutic molecules
or drug targets for epithelial tumors, inhibition of angiogenesis,
inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease and pulmonary
fibrosis, as well as biomarkers for preeclampsia, type 2 diabetes,
ovarian cancer, and pre-clinical kidney toxicity. In addition we
continued strengthening and broadening our underlying capabilities and
entered into additional collaborations with leading companies, including
the yearend signing with Pfizer of an agreement based on our unique
“discovery on demand” capabilities. Also at yearend, we successfully
obtained - without excessive dilution - the capital that we believe will
be sufficient to fully implement our business model.”
Dr. Cohen-Dayag continued, “With the growing recognition by both
potential corporate partners and the investment community of our
extensive predictive discovery capabilities, all of us at Compugen
enthusiastically look forward to 2010 and the next few years as we
continue to demonstrate the power, continuous improvement, and almost
unlimited applicability of these capabilities in the pharmaceutical and
diagnostic industries.”
As previously projected, current revenues continue to be insignificant.
The net loss for the most recent quarter was $2.0 million (including a
non-cash expense of $440,000 related to stock based compensation), or
$0.07 per share, compared with a net loss of $3.8 million (including a
non-cash expense of $477,000 related to stock based compensation), or
$0.13 per share, for the corresponding quarter of 2008. The net loss for
calendar 2009 was $3.8 million (including a non-cash expense of $1.5
million related to stock based compensation), or $0.13 per share,
compared with a net loss of $12.5 million (including a non-cash expense
of $1.7 million related to stock based compensation), or $0.44 per
share, for 2008.
The significant reduction in net loss for calendar year 2009 reflects
the sale by Compugen during the second quarter of 2009 of a portion of
its holdings of Evogene Ltd. shares resulting in a gain of $3.7 million,
which is included in Other Income. At December 31, 2009, the market
value of Compugen’s remaining 1.15 million Evogene shares was $3.9
million, compared with a market value of $3.9 million for the 2.15
million Evogene shares owned as of December 31, 2008 prior to the sale.
Research and development expenses for the fourth quarter of 2009 were
$1.6 million, compared with $2.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2008
and remained the Company’s largest expense. Research and development
expenses for calendar 2009 were $6.0 million compared with $9.3 million
for 2008. These amounts are before the deduction of governmental and
other grants, which totaled for the fourth quarter of 2009, $247,000,
compared with $51,000 for the corresponding quarter in 2008, and
$944,000 for calendar 2009, compared with $544,000 for 2008.
As of December 31, 2009, with the inclusion of the remaining receivables
from the equity offering completed in late December 2009, cash and cash
related accounts totaled $23.4 million, compared with $7.2 million at
December 31, 2008. These amounts do not include the market value of
Compugen’s holdings of Evogene shares at each such yearend as discussed
above. The Company anticipates maximum gross cash usage of $8.5 million
for 2010, which would be reduced by any revenues or other cash sources,
in calculating 2010 net cash usage. As previously stated, a short-term
financial target for Compugen is to achieve cash flow breakeven by
yearend 2011, based largely on research revenues under milestone and
revenue sharing collaboration agreements. Achieving this target is of
course subject to success in entering into additional collaborations
during the next two years.
SOURCE Compugen
Breakthrough combo therapy lowers death risk in recurrent prostate cancer