Corcept Therapeutics Inc.’s (CORT) fiscal 2009 fourth-quarter net loss per share came in at 9 cents, narrower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate for a 11-cents loss. The year-ago loss was 13 cents. The year-over-year decline in loss for the reported quarter was attributable to lower operating costs.
Quarterly Results
The company recorded no revenue for the reported quarter as against $143,000 in the year-ago quarter. Collaboration revenue accounts for the entire revenues for the company. Collaboration revenue relates to Corcept’s agreement with Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) signed in October 2005.
Total operating expenses in the reported quarter came in at $5.2 million as against approximately $6.2 million in the year-ago quarter, down approximately 16.1%. Research and development expenses in the reported quarter fell to $3.8 million from $4.7 million in the year-ago quarter. General and administrative expenses for the reported quarter came in flat at $1.4 million.
This decrease in the research and development spend in the fourth quarter of 2009 was primarily attributable to the scaling back of the number of sites for the late-stage study of Corcept’s candidate CORLUX for the treatment of psychotic depression.
The reduced spending for this study was partially offset by increased costs associated with studies for CORLUX for treating Cushing’s Syndrome, the conduct of drug-drug interaction studies for CORLUX in addition to Corcept’s selective GR-II antagonist program, including work associated with the filing of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for CORT 108297 with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2009. Last month, Corcept initiated an early-stage study with this candidate.
Corcept expects to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) to the US FDA for CORLUX for the Cushing’s Syndrome indication in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Yearly Results
For the full-year 2009, Corcept suffered a loss of 38 cents as against a loss of 43 cents recorded in 2008. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2009 was for a loss of 41 cents.
Collaboration revenue in 2009 declined to $29,000 from $209,000 in 2008. Under the agreement with Lily, the company agreed to support Corcept’s proof of concept clinical study evaluating the ability of CORLUX, a GR-II antagonist, to reduce weight gain associated with of atypical antipsychotic therapies. The sharp reduction in 2009 collaboration revenue was because majority of the activities under the agreement were completed by Dec 31, 2008.
Total operating expenses climbed 2% year-over-year to $20.3 million in 2009. Research and development expenses increased marginally to $14.4 million in 2009 from $14.2 million in 2008. General and administrative expenses climbed 3.5% year-over-year to $5.9 million in 2009.
Corcept ended 2009 with cash and cash equivalents of $23.9 million.
Read the full analyst report on “CORT”
Read the full analyst report on “LLY”
Zacks Investment Research
