Millennium Reports Second Quarter 1999 Financial Results
- Revenue Increase Driven by Success in Bayer Alliance -
July 20, 1999 04:31 PM
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MLNM , today reported consolidated financial results for the three and six months ended June 30, 1999.
For the second quarter ended June 30, 1999, revenue under strategic alliances increased to $47,273,000, compared to $28,236,000 during the same period in 1998. Net income for the quarter was $1,004,000 or basic net income per share of $0.03, compared to a net loss of $2,201,000 or basic net loss per share of $0.07 for the quarter ended June 30, 1998.
For the six months ended June 30, 1999, revenue under strategic alliances increased to $88,265,000, compared to $49,279,000 for the same period in 1998. The increase in revenue is primarily due to increased revenue from an alliance with Bayer AG that was not in place during the six months ended June 30, 1998. Net income for the first six months of 1999 was $3,076,000 or basic net income per share of $0.09, compared to a net loss of $6,627,000 or basic net loss per share of $0.23 for the first six months of 1998. As of June 30, 1999, Millennium had over $215 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities.
Expenditures on research and development for the second quarter of 1999 were $39,484,000 versus $28,036,000 for the second quarter of 1998. Research and development expenditures for the six months ended June 30, 1999 were $74,917,000 compared to $50,465,000 for the six months ended June 30, 1998.
"During the second quarter of 1999, we continued to aggressively move our pipeline forward on behalf of both our partners and ourselves," said Mark Levin, chief executive officer of Millennium. "In an effort to move our pipeline downstream, we have chosen two areas on which to focus most aggressively: obesity and inflammation, and we are making strides in both programs. In obesity, we believe we have the world's leading program in the discovery of the fundamental causes of obesity and we are pursuing perhaps the most comprehensive research program in the world to meet the therapeutic needs of this condition."
"We also continued successful programs with each of our partners. Specifically, in our partnership with Bayer AG, we are ahead of our internal schedule, and are actively delivering qualified targets to Bayer, resulting in the achievement of our contractual and revenue goals for the quarter," Mr. Levin added.
"We are very pleased with the success and pace of progress of our partnership with Millennium," said Wolfgang Hartwig, Ph.D., head of pharmaceutical research at Bayer AG. "Millennium has rapidly delivered qualified targets to us, which we in turn are aggressively driving into screening. Ultimately these efforts should allow us to expedite the development of important new pharmaceutical products and to significantly add to our product development pipeline."
Second Quarter Company Highlights:
Research and Discovery Milestones Achieved:
-- Millennium delivered a significant number of qualified targets to Bayer and is well positioned to meet its goal of delivering 225 drug targets during the term of the alliance.
-- Millennium has successfully concluded its five-year collaboration with Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. The productive relationship provided greater insight into the genetic basis of obesity, identified over a dozen genes involved with weight regulation, and generated a pipeline of targets for the potential treatment of obesity. Roche retains exclusive rights, in the field of obesity and type II diabetes, to melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4-r) and OB-R and uncoupling protein homolog genes, while rights to all other genes discovered in the collaboration are co-exclusive with Millennium. MC4-r has become Millennium's first target to reach preclinical development and the two companies continue to explore ways to work together on this project. Additionally, Millennium will continue to develop what we believe may be the most comprehensive obesity program in the world, either on its own or with a new corporate partner.
Technology Transfer Achievements:
-- Millennium achieved all production capacity and productivity goals for the first six months of 1999 with its corporate partner Cereon Genomics, LLC, a subsidiary of Monsanto Company, resulting in significant payments for achievement of technology transfer objectives.
-- The Whitehead Functional Genomics Consortium, comprising Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Affymetrix, Inc. and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, granted a royalty-free license to the SNP Consortium to use a key technology developed to discover single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The SNP Consortium, a collaboration of ten major pharmaceutical companies and the Wellcome Trust, is funding the creation of a map of SNPs in the human genome.
Patent Milestones:
-- Millennium was issued five new U.S. patents in the second quarter of 1999, including U.S. Patent No. 5,908,609 relating to the identification of weight-regulating therapeutics that modulate the MC4-receptor.
-- Millennium expanded its patent portfolio to include more than 700 U.S. and foreign patents and patent applications covering a diverse collection of inventions, such as disease genes, therapeutic proteins, antibodies, drug discovery methods, small molecule compounds, diagnostic methods and pharmacogenomic methods.
-- Millennium received seven new U.S. patent allowances for the second quarter of 1999. As of June 30, 1999, Millennium had received a total of 67 U.S. patent allowances from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; of the 67 U.S. allowances, 35 U.S. patents have issued.
Senior Hires:
-- Millennium appointed John "Jack" B. Douglas III to the position of general counsel, a newly created position. Douglas will also serve as an officer of the corporation. Douglas reports to Mark Levin, chief executive officer.
-- Millennium appointed Michael Falvey to the position of vice president, finance. Falvey joined Millennium from Fidelity Investments, where he was the chief financial officer for a $40 billion Fidelity division. Prior to Fidelity, Falvey held several financial and operational positions at Digital Equipment Corp., now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Compaq Computer Corp., and General Electric. Falvey brings extensive treasury, financial systems, financial planning and analysis and general management skills to the Company. Falvey reports to Kevin Starr, chief financial officer.
-- Millennium appointed Glenn Batchelder to the position of vice president, operations, a newly created position. Batchelder joined Millennium from Fluor Daniel GTI where he most recently served as vice president and general manager of a $80 million dollar operating region. During his tenure at Fluor Daniel GTI he served in a number of positions including general manager of the manufacturing division, vice president of engineering, and vice president of sales and marketing. He brings extensive experience and skills in complex project management, operations management, strategic planning, and merger and acquisition integration. Batchelder reports to Kevin Starr, chief financial officer.
Millennium, a leading drug discovery and development company, employs large scale genetics, genomics, high throughput screening and informatics in an integrated science and technology platform. This innovative drug discovery platform is applied across the entire healthcare sector, from gene identification through patient management, to accelerate and transform the discovery and development of proprietary therapeutic and diagnostic products and services. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Millennium and its affiliates currently employ more than 800 people.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward looking statements include uncertainties relating to gene identification, drug discovery and clinical development processes; changes in relationships with strategic partners and dependence upon strategic partners for the performance of critical activities under collaborative agreements; the impact of competitive products and technological changes; uncertainties relating to patent protection and regulatory approval; and uncertainties relating to the ability of Millennium and its affiliates to obtain the substantial additional funds required for progress in drug discovery and development. The factors that could affect the performance of Millennium are more fully described in filings by Millennium with the Securities and Exchange Commission including but not limited to the factors set forth under the heading ''Business - Factors That May Affect Results'' in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Millennium for the year ended December 31, 1998 as filed on March 24, 1999.
NOTE: This release is also available on Millennium's home page at: mlnm.com
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