Compugen Reports Third Quarter 2009 Financial Results

October 27, 2009 7:00 AM EDT

TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Compugen Ltd. (NASDAQ: CGEN) today reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009.

Martin Gerstel, Compugen's co-CEO stated, "The industry interest and collaboration opportunities that we are now seeing for our company exist solely due to the broadly applicable drug and biomarker discovery capability that has been created at Compugen during the past decade. As we increase our focus on these commercialization opportunities, we will also continue to widen and deepen our leadership position in predictive discovery, which we are confident, will become increasingly important in drug and diagnostic research industry-wide. A reflection of this commitment is the fact that during 2009, and in our budget for 2010, almost half of our R&D efforts are allocated to further extending our capabilities and modifying or creating additional discovery platforms."

As previously projected, current revenues continue to be insignificant with no revenues reported for the third quarter of 2009 compared with $6,000 for the third quarter of 2008. Revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2009, were $225,000, compared with $327,000 for the same period in 2008.

The net loss for the most recent quarter was $1.9 million (including a non-cash expense of $460,000 related to stock based compensation), or $0.06 per share, compared with a net loss of $3.3 million (including a non-cash expense of $484,000 related to stock based compensation), or $0.12 per share, for the corresponding quarter of 2008. The net loss for the first nine months of 2009 was $1.8 million (including a non-cash expense of $1.1 million related to stock based compensation), or $0.06 per share, compared with a net loss of $8.7 million (including a non-cash expense of $1.2 million related to stock based compensation), or $0.31 per share, for the same period in 2008.

The significant reduction in net loss for the first nine months of 2009 reflects the sale by Compugen during the second quarter of 2009 of a portion of its holdings of Evogene Ltd. shares for approximately $3.6 million, which is included in Other Income for the first nine months of 2009. At September 30, 2009, the market value of Compugen's remaining 1.15 million Evogene shares was $4.0 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. These amounts, and the proceeds received from the Evogene shares sale in the second quarter of 2009, reflect the substantial increase in the market price of the Evogene shares during 2009.

Research and development expenses for the third quarter of 2009 were $1.4 million compared with $2.3 million for the third quarter of 2008 and remained the Company's largest expense. Research and development expenses for the first nine months of 2009 were $4.4 million compared with $6.6 million for the comparable period in 2008. These amounts are before the deduction of governmental and other grants, which totaled for the third quarter ended September 30, 2009, $180,000 compared with $158,000 for the corresponding quarter in 2008, and $697,000 for the first nine months of 2009, compared with $493,000 for the comparable period in 2008.

As of September 30, 2009, Compugen had $5.7 million in cash and cash equivalents, not including its holding of 1.15 million Evogene shares as discussed above. With the inclusion of the current market value for these Evogene shares, the Company would have sufficient resources to meet its expected cash requirements through early 2011, assuming no significant milestones, upfront fees, or additional funds from any other source were obtained prior to such time. The Company previously projected that its total net cash usage for calendar year 2010 would be less than $8 million.

Conference Call and Web Cast Information

Compugen will hold a conference call to discuss its third quarter results and other recent announcements on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. EDT. To access the conference call, please dial 1-888-668-9141 from the US or +972-3-918-0609 internationally. The call will also be available via live webcast through Compugen's Website, located at the following link.

A replay of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the completion of the live conference call. To access the replay, please dial 1-877-332-1104 from the US or +972-3-925-5901 internationally. The replay will be available until 12 noon EDT on October 30, 2009.

(Tables to follow)

About Compugen

Compugen is a leading drug and diagnostic product candidate discovery company. Unlike traditional high throughput trial and error experimental based discovery, Compugen's discovery efforts are based on in-silico (by computer) prediction and selection utilizing a growing number of field focused proprietary discovery platforms accurately modeling biological processes at the molecular level. The resulting product candidates are then validated through in vitro and in vivo experimental studies and out-licensed for further development and commercialization under various forms of revenue sharing agreements. Compugen's collaborations include Bayer Schering Pharma, Biosite, Medarex, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., Merck Serono, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics (a Johnson & Johnson company), Roche, Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics, Inc., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. In 2002, Compugen established an affiliate, Evogene Ltd. www.evogene.com (TASE: EVGN.TA), to utilize certain of the Company's in-silico predictive discovery capabilities in agricultural biotechnology. For additional information, please visit Compugen's corporate Web site at www.cgen.com.

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include words such as "may", "expects", "anticipates", "believes", and "intends", and describe opinions about future events. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Compugen to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Some of these risks are: acceptance of its business model by major pharmaceutical companies; possible inability to become profitable; inability to raise capital to sustain its operations; inability to enter into favorable arrangements with collaborators; inability of collaborators to successfully develop drugs based on our candidates; changes in relationships with collaborators; the impact of competitive products and technological changes; risks relating to the development of new products; and the ability to implement technological improvements. These and other factors are identified and more fully explained under the heading "Risk Factors" in Compugen's annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.


COMPUGEN LTD.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(U.S. dollars in thousands, except for share and per-share amounts)

                                  Three Months Ended      Nine Months Ended

                                  September 30,           September 30,

                                  2009        2008        2009        2008

                                  Unaudited   Unaudited   Unaudited   Unaudited

Revenues                          -           6           225         327

Cost of revenues                  -           -           -           7

Research and development          1,447       2,286       4,370       6,595
expenses

Less: governmental and other      (180)       (158)       (697)       (493)
grants

Research and development          1,267       2,128       3,673       6,102
expenses, net

Sales and marketing expenses      175         339         660         1,002

General and administrative        582         915         1,570       2,429
expenses

Total operating expenses *        2,024       3,382       5,903       9,533

Operating loss                    (2,024)     (3,376)     (5,678)     (9,213)

Financing income, net             181         77          217         438

Other income (loss)               (24)        12          3,657       39

Net loss from continuing          (1,867)     (3,287)     (1,804)     (8,736)
operations

Income (loss) from discontinued   14          (1)         14          (14)
operations

Net loss                          (1,853)     (3,288)     (1,790)     (8,750)

Basic and diluted loss per
ordinary share from continuing    (0.06)      (0.12)      (0.06)      (0.31)
operations

Basic and diluted loss per
ordinary share from discontinued  -           -           -           -
operations

Basic and diluted net loss per    (0.06)      (0.12)      (0.06)      (0.31)
ordinary share

Weighted average number of        28,552,927  28,480,592  28,526,084  28,408,597
ordinary shares outstanding

* Includes stock based
compensation




COMPUGEN LTD.

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS DATA

(U.S. dollars, in thousands)

                                                            September  December
                                                            30,        31,
                                                            2009       2008
                                                            Unaudited  Audited

ASSETS

Current assets

Cash, cash equivalents, short term deposits and marketable  5,656      7,248
securities

Cash held in favor of other consortium partners             50         233

Investment in Evogene                                       3,991      3,858

Receivables and prepaid expenses                            408        768

Total current assets                                        10,105     12,107

Long-term investments

Other assets                                                25         41

Severance pay fund                                          1,174      1,038

Total long-term investments                                 1,199      1,079

Property and equipment, net                                 721        1,058

Total assets                                                12,025     14,244

LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY

Current liabilities

Accounts payable and accrued expenses                       1,231      2,881

Deferred revenues                                           62         100

Liabilities related to discontinued operations              -          12

Total current liabilities                                   1,293      2,993

Long-term liabilities

Accrued severance pay                                       1,340      1,248

Total shareholders' equity                                  9,392      10,003

Total liabilities and shareholders' equity                  12,025     14,244




    Source: Compugen Ltd.


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