Alnylam First Quarter Loss Widens – Analyst Blog

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALNY) reported a first-quarter net loss of 29 cents per share, wider than the year-ago loss of 10 cents. The Zacks Consensus Estimate indicated a loss of 30 cents per share.

 

Revenues for the reported quarter were $24.6 million as against $25.1 million in the year-ago quarter, down 2%. Revenues include $14 million related to the company’s alliance with Roche (RHHBY), $5.4 million from the company’s alliance with Takeda Pharmaceuticals and $5.2 million of expense reimbursement and amortization revenues from Novartis (NVS), the National Institutes of Health, Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (CBST) and Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) among others.

 

Research and development (R&D) costs fell 2.4% year over year to $24.7 million. The decrease was primarily on account of payment of license fees and milestone payments made a year ago pertaining to the alliance with Cubist. The decrease was partially mitigated by a rise in costs associated with the increased R&D headcount.

 

General and administrative (G&A) expenses in the reported quarter increased 45% year over year to $11.2 million. The increase in G&A spend was primarily driven by higher professional service fees for business operations, primarily legal activities.

 

Alnylam, headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, reported an interest income of $0.6 million for the first quarter of 2010, as against $2 million in the year-ago quarter. The reduction was primarily attributable to significantly lower average interest rates coupled with lower average cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities balances.

 

Alnylam exited the quarter with $419 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities compared with $435.3 million at the end of 2009. Alnylam expects to end 2010 with a cash balance of $325 million. The projection does not include the potential adoption license payment from Novartis.

 

 

Currently, we are Neutral on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Our Neutral long-term outlook on the stock indicates that it will perform in line with the overall US equity market over the next six to twelve months. We advise the investors to retain the stock over this time period.