March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (Nasdaq: LEXG - news), a drug discovery company of the post-genome era that uses gene knockout technology to define the functions of genes, today reported financial results for the year ended December 31, 2000.
Revenues: For the full year 2000, Lexicon's revenue increased 205% to $14.5 million, from $4.7 million in 1999. This increase is due primarily to the activity under our agreement with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, entered in September 2000, and our nine functional genomics research collaborations with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as technology license fees from the 14 sublicensees of our technology. In addition, we recognized $4.1 million in revenue from the conclusion of Lexicon's 1997 collaboration with the Merck Genome Research Institute to initially build OmniBank.
Research and Development: Research and development expenses for the year were $20.8 million, excluding stock-based compensation of $10.9 million, versus $14.6 million in 1999. This increase of 42% primarily reflects our investment in our pharmaceutical discovery program, one of the uses of proceeds from our initial public offering. We have also accelerated our work to complete OmniBank, the world's largest library of knockout mouse clones. Consequently, we increased our scientific core by 136 people in 2000.
General and Administrative: General and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2000 increased 186% to $8.3 million, excluding stock-based compensation of $10.0 million, from $2.9 million in 1999. The increase is due primarily to the addition of employees in the finance and accounting, business development and related infrastructure areas necessary to support the growth of our business at all levels. Approximately $0.8 million of general and administrative expenses relate to our patent infringement litigation against Deltagen.
Interest Income: Interest income increased to $9.9 million from $649,000, reflecting interest for three-quarters of a year on cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities from our successful IPO in April 2000.
Net Loss: Our net loss per share was $0.63 in 2000, compared to $0.53 in 1999. Excluding the non-cash stock-based compensation charges relating to stock options granted prior to the IPO, the Year 2000 pro forma net loss was $5.2 million, or $0.11 per share, down from a pro forma net loss of $12.5 million, or $0.33 per share for 1999. The net loss this year reflects our enhanced revenue position as well as the growth of our efforts to industrialize our drug discovery operations.
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Marketable Securities: As of December 31, 2000, Lexicon had approximately $202.7 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, up from $9.2 million in 1999. This is due primarily to our IPO that was completed in April 2000. In addition, this capital has given us the flexibility to achieve an off-balance sheet financing of up to $45 million to lease all of our key properties for our pharmaceutical discovery center.
``Lexicon performed exceptionally well in the year 2000 and met or exceeded all of our milestones,'' said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Lexicon. ``Our highly successful IPO provided strong momentum that has helped us gain a strategic advantage in the rapidly evolving biotechnology industry. Our strong cash position and the power of our technology, combined with our highly experienced drug discovery team, places Lexicon on a trajectory to become a leading biopharmaceutical company of the post-genome era.''
Year 2000 Company Highlights:
Successful IPO: In April 2000, Lexicon completed one of the most successful IPOs in the history of the biotechnology industry, raising gross proceeds of $220.0 million. This gave us the financial resources to build our business and attract excellent people to our organization.
LexVision Collaboration: In September 2000, we established our first LexVision collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Under the terms of this agreement, we could receive between $15 million and $25 million in access and delivery fees, in addition to milestone payments and royalties on products Bristol-Myers Squibb develops using our technology. We delivered the first installment of gene function information for new protein targets to Bristol-Myers Squibb in late 2000, triggering the first payment under that agreement.
Drug Discovery Alliances: We established key drug discovery alliances in the year 2000. In our alliance with Abgenix, Inc., we are using our patented gene knockout technologies and medical assay systems to discover potential drug targets for the creation of human therapeutic antibodies. We have delivered the first thirteen human antigens for antibody development to Abgenix. These are the first of many antigens to be delivered to Abgenix and they are selected by a steering committee comprised of scientists from both Lexicon and Abgenix. We also established a drug discovery alliance with Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc., in which we and Arena are using our respective technologies to identify chemical compounds that target an important class of genes known as G protein-coupled receptors. Our common goal is to discover new drug candidates that target GPCRs for pharmaceutical product development.
Functional Genomics Collaborations: We entered into functional genomics collaborations with American Home Products, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Pharmacia Corp. and Tularik, Inc. We also expanded our functional genomics collaboration with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and completed the first year of our collaborations with Johnson & Johnson and N.V. Organon, both of which were signed in December 1999.
OmniBank Library: We nearly doubled the size of our OmniBank library, which now contains gene knockout clones for an estimated 40% of all genes in the mammalian genome.
Patents: We obtained key patents covering our gene trapping technology and gene function discoveries. As of December 31, 2000, we hold or retain certain exclusive rights in more than 13 U.S. issued patents.
Senior Hires: We assembled an outstanding team of scientists and executives who have extensive experience in the biotechnology industry.
C. Thomas Caskey, M.D. joined us as Chairman of our Board of Directors. Before joining our board, Dr. Caskey served as Senior Vice President, Research at Merck Research Laboratories from 1995 to March 2000 and as President of the Merck Genome Research Institute from 1996 to March 2000.
Sam L. Barker, Ph.D. joined our Board of Directors. Dr. Barker served in a series of senior domestic and international management positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb until his retirement in 1998 as Executive Vice President.
Julia P. Gregory joined Lexicon as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before joining us, Ms. Gregory had a 20-year career in investment banking and had represented life science companies since 1986.
James R. Piggott, Ph.D. joined us as Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Biology. Dr. Piggott brings us extensive drug discovery experience, including a focus on large-scale functional genomics and therapeutic protein discovery. Before joining us, Dr. Piggott worked for nine years at ZymoGenetics, Inc., a subsidiary of Novo Nordisk, most recently as Senior Vice President - Research Biology.
We also have assembled our senior-level drug discovery team leading our effort to determine the function of genes encoded in the human genome for new therapies for cancer, cardiovascular disease, immune disorders, neurological disease, diabetes and obesity. |
