SEQUENOM Reports Fourth Quarter and Year-End Financial Results
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SEQUENOM(TM), Inc. (Nasdaq: SQNM - news) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2001. Revenue for the quarter increased to $9.3 million, compared to $3.7 million for the fourth quarter in 2000. Revenue for the year ended December 31, 2001 increased to $30.7 million, compared to $10.0 million for fiscal year 2000. The growth in revenue during the fiscal year 2001 was predominately attributed to the strong demand for MassARRAY(TM) systems and consumables and an increase in collaborative services performed.
SEQUENOM's total costs and expenses for the quarter were $23.5 million compared to $13.8 million in total costs and expenses for the fourth quarter of 2000. For the fiscal year 2001, total costs and expenses, excluding the non-recurring $24.9 million non-cash In-Process Research and Development (IPR&D) charge associated with the Gemini Genomics merger, were $75.1 million, compared to $47.2 million for the fiscal year 2000. The increase in costs and expenses during the quarter and the year, excluding the $24.9 million IPR&D charge, were primarily driven by expansion of the Company's disease gene discovery efforts, expansion of the Company's LIMS database tracking system and the operation of Gemini facilities in the U.K., Canada and Sweden. On December 31, 2001, the Company held cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $143.1 million.
The net loss for the quarter was $12.5 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $7.5 million, or $0.31 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2000. The net loss for the fiscal year 2001 was $62.6 million, or $2.25 per diluted share. Excluding the IPR&D charge, the net loss for the year ended December 31, 2001 was $37.7 million, or $1.36 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $32.9 million, or $1.39 per diluted share for 2000.
``In 2001 we successfully positioned SEQUENOM as a leading discovery genetics company,'' said Toni Schuh, Ph.D., SEQUENOM's President and CEO. ``Our MassARRAY product line has captured a top position in the high performance genotyping marketplace and the business is growing at a record pace. Internally, we have integrated all of the components required for systematic and large-scale identification of high impact candidate disease genes.
``The components of our success include the largest working SNP assay portfolio available in the industry and one of the most complete and diverse collections of DNA samples for population genetics and association studies. Also, a powerful dual compression strategy enables us to assess a SNP and its respective gene quickly with regard to its impact on overall human health using our population-based DNA bank and efficiently assess the potential value of a SNP in specific association studies by measuring SNP allele frequencies in sample pools. This strategy allows us to exclude most candidate SNPs from individual genotyping efforts. And last but not least, our MassARRAY-based high-throughput facility has, to our knowledge, the largest SNP analysis capacity in the industry in terms of sample and assay throughput. This powerful integration of components has already resulted in one of the leading candidate gene portfolios in the world, and we continue to move forward with full steam.''
``SEQUENOM's revenues for the fourth quarter represent a 150 percent increase over the previous fourth quarter, while revenues for the year represent a 206 percent increase over 2000,'' said Steve Zaniboni, SEQUENOM's Chief Financial Officer. ``We expect continued strong growth in SEQUENOM's Genetic Systems business unit through increased demand for MassARRAY systems and consumables and collaborative services. This growth will be enhanced by the Genetic Systems unit's launch of three new products in 2002: first, RealSNP.com(TM), an e-commerce platform designed to make our industry-leading single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay portfolio widely available across a broader customer base; second, an allelotyping consumable and software product offering which will allow customers to analyze SNP allele distributions in pools of DNA samples; and third, a MassARRAY-based product line for DNA re-sequencing that may be used in applications such as diagnostic sequencing, SNP discovery and microbial identification. We also anticipate that revenues will begin to come from the Pharmaceuticals business unit through discovery services and licensing arrangements. By the end of 2002 we plan to initiate a development program for the top 40 drug targets and top 40 diagnostic markers that we identify.''
Highlights from the year 2001 included:
-- Expansion of candidate disease gene portfolio. SEQUENOM has
discovered more than 120 high-impact disease gene candidates, most of
which indicate an impact on the health of more than 8 million
individuals in the United States alone. Initial candidate gene
portfolios are under investigation in various disease areas including
diabetes, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease,
anxiety and depression. SEQUENOM owns 11 patents and more than
50 pending patent applications based on these associations. The
Company expects to complete screening of virtually all genes in the
human genome and identify additional high-impact candidate genes,
which the currently available data suggest may total up to
approximately 400, by the middle of 2002.
-- Acquisition of Gemini Genomics. Through its acquisition of Gemini
Genomics plc, SEQUENOM obtained valuable disease specific and
clinically well-characterized DNA banks. In total, Gemini Genomics
secured access to about 100,000 samples that are complemented by more
than 20 million clinical data points. These resources enhance the
Company's capabilities to further characterize its disease gene
candidates and perform disease gene association studies in
large market disease areas.
-- The organization of SEQUENOM into two business units. The two
business units, SEQUENOM Genetic Systems and SEQUENOM Pharmaceuticals,
capitalize on the Company's MassARRAY technology platform, its SNP
assay portfolio, its disease gene discovery programs and the Company's
extensive DNA sample repository. The Genetic Systems unit is
dedicated to the management and support of the Company's MassARRAY
hardware, consumable and software product offerings and the provision
of genetic services to customers. The Pharmaceuticals unit focuses on
disease gene discovery, target identification, validation and
diagnostic and therapeutic product development.
-- MassARRAY Product Sales Growth. In 2001, product sales demonstrated
the growing market acceptance and endorsement of the MassARRAY
platform as the leading large-scale, high-throughput genotyping
technology. The installed customer base of MassARRAY systems grew
from 22 systems through the year 2000 to 55 systems through 2001.
Driven by the growth in the installed base of MassARRAY systems, sales
of the SpectroCHIP(TM) chip consumable increased 1400% over the
previous year.
-- Collaborations for assay development and SNP validation. SEQUENOM
established collaborations with a number of world-renowned
institutions and global pharmaceutical companies during 2001,
including GlaxoSmithKline, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis
Research Foundation and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The
collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline and ongoing work with Incyte
Genomics represent the largest assay-design projects of their kind in
the industry.
-- Completion of ultra-high throughput genotyping facility. SEQUENOM
completed the expansion of its ultra-high throughput facility in San
Diego. The facility is capable of 1 million individual SNP analyses
and 25,000 SNP analyses in sample pools per day. Based on an average
sample pool size of 300 individuals, the capacity installed for pooled
analysis can deliver allele frequency results at a rate that would
otherwise require 7.5 million individual SNP analyses per day. This
represents a new level of performance, speed and cost-efficiency to
the SNP analysis market.
Recent Stock Transactions
The Company wishes to confirm that several transactions in shares of SEQUENOM common stock in the fourth quarter of 2001 and the first quarter of 2002 that have been attributed to the Company's Chairman Dr. Helmut Schuhsler on Yahoo! Finance and other Web sources are in fact transactions by certain funds of TVM Techno Venture Management that are in their liquidation phase. TVM is a German-U.S. venture capital firm that was the first venture firm to invest in SEQUENOM. Dr. Schuhsler is a general partner of TVM and under the rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission deemed to be the beneficial owner of securities held by TVM.
Web Cast of Conference Call
SEQUENOM's management will hold a conference call today at 10:00 am Eastern Time to discuss the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2001 results and milestones and guidance for fiscal year 2002. A live web cast is available at videonewswire.com and through a link that is posted on SEQUENOM's website at www.sequenom.com . A telephone replay of the conference call also will be available for 48 hours at (800) 642-1687 or (706) 645-9291, reservation number 3123886. The web cast will be available on SEQUENOM's website through March 15, 2002.
About SEQUENOM
SEQUENOM is a leading discovery genetics company that has integrated a leading technology platform, sample repository, SNP assay portfolio and innovative strategies for determining the medical impact of genes and genetic variations. Utilizing a novel population genetics approach, SEQUENOM is systematically identifying potential disease-related genes that affect significant portions of the overall population. This approach is possible due to the pinpoint accuracy and unique specificity of the Company's MassARRAY system. By focusing on disease genes with a broad population impact, SEQUENOM expects to play an important role in bringing new therapeutic products to the market while maximizing the return on drug development. SEQUENOM is headquartered in San Diego, with additional offices in Boston; Hamburg, Germany; Cambridge, UK; Newfoundland, Canada; Uppsala, Sweden and Queensland, Australia.
SEQUENOM(TM), MassARRAY(TM), RealSNP.com(TM), and SpectroCHIP(TM) are trademarks of SEQUENOM.
Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements include statements concerning SEQUENOM's expectations of continued growth and increased demand for MassARRAY systems and consumables and collaborative services; statements concerning the launch of RealSNP.com, an allelotyping consumable and software product offering and a MassARRAY-based DNA re-sequencing product offering; statements concerning anticipated revenues from SEQUENOM's Pharmaceuticals business unit; statements concerning the identification of 40 drug targets and 40 diagnostic markers and initiation of a development program by the end of 2002; the indicated health impact and disease associations of disease gene candidates; statements concerning patent pending applications; statements concerning the completion of gene content screening and the identification of additional genes; statements concerning the impact of the acquisition of Gemini Genomics plc; and statements concerning SEQUENOM's expectations regarding genetic studies. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including the risks and uncertainties inherent in drug discovery, development and commercialization efforts, the risks and uncertainties associated with SEQUENOM's technologies and approaches to drug discovery, development and commercialization and those of its collaborative partners and competitors, customer and sales growth, and other risks detailed from time to time in SEQUENOM's SEC reports, including SEQUENOM's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Gemini Genomics' Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended March 31, 2001 and quarterly report on Form 6-K filed with the SEC on August 14, 2001. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. SEQUENOM disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
SEQUENOM, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
(in thousands, except per share data)
Consolidated Summary of Operations
Quarters Ended Years Ended
December 31, December 31,
2001 2000 2001 2000
(Unaudited)
Revenues:
Product related $6,568 $2,711 $21,524 $8,253
Services 2,675 947 8,942 1,447
Research 86 80 269 337
Total revenues 9,329 3,738 30,735 10,037
Costs and expenses:
Cost of product &
service revenue 5,221 2,790 19,780 6,574
Research and development
expenses 8,685 6,083 29,327 18,433
Selling, general and
administrative expenses 8,490 4,555 24,167 18,492
In-process research
and development -- -- 24,920 --
Amortization of acquired
intangibles 936 -- 936 --
Amortization of deferred
compensation 184 343 939 3,741
Total costs and
expenses 23,516 13,771 100,069 47,240
Operating loss (14,187) (10,033) (69,334) (37,203)
Interest income 1,645 2,516 6,797 8,925
Interest expense (156) (53) (343) (4,683)
Other income (expense), net 220 52 248 75
Net loss ($12,478) ($7,518) ($62,632) ($32,886)
Net loss per share,
basic and diluted (1) ($0.33) ($0.31) ($2.25) ($1.39)
Weighted average shares
outstanding, basic
and diluted 37,360,318 24,368,387 27,816,470 23,711,179
(1) The net loss per share for the year ended December 31, 2000 was
calculated as if our convertible preferred stock and 4.0 million
German deutsche mark convertible long-term debt, both of which
converted into common stock upon the closing of our initial public
offering in February 2000, were converted into shares of our common
stock on the date of their issuance.
Consolidated Balance Sheet Information December 31,
2001 2000
Assets
Cash, cash equivalents, short-term
investments and restricted cash $143,135 $138,424
Other current assets 22,181 11,049
Equipment and leasehold
improvements, net 25,099 8,117
Other assets 173,473 8,671
Total assets $363,888 $166,261
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity
Deferred revenue 8,425 10,580
Other liabilities 33,133 10,742
Stockholders' equity 322,330 144,939
Total liabilities and
stockholders' equity $363,888 $166,261
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