Narrower Q4 Loss for Alnylam - Analyst Blog

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALNY) reported a fourth-quarter net loss of 19 cents per share, better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of a loss of 30 cents and the year-ago loss of 23 cents.

Quarterly Results

Revenues for the reported quarter were $26.6 million as against $24.4 million in the year-ago quarter, up 9%. Revenues were inclusive of $15.2 million related to the company’s alliance with Roche, $5.5 million from the company’s alliance with Takeda Pharmaceuticals and $5.9 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 13.3% year-over-year to $21.6 million. The decrease was primarily because of license fees incurred in the prior year quarter related to various intellectual property assets, partially offset by a rise in clinical trial and manufacturing expenses.

General and administrative expenses in the reported quarter increased 79% to $13.1 million. The increase in general and administrative spend was primarily driven by higher professional service fees for business activities, primarily legal activities.

Alnylam exited the quarter with $435.3 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities compared to $512.7 million at the end of 2008. Alnylam expects to end 2010 with a cash balance in excess of $325 million. The projection does not include the potential adoption license payment from Novartis.

Yearly Results

For full year 2009, Alnylam suffered a loss of $1.14 per share, much higher than the year-ago loss of 64 cents. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2009 was a loss of $1.26. The wider loss in 2009 was attributable to higher operating expenses in 2009, which more than offset the increase in revenue. Revenue for 2009 came in at $100.5 million as against $96.2 million in 2008, up 4.5%.

Operating expenses climbed 19.9% year-over-year to $148.6 million. Research and development costs increased 12.2% year-over-year to $108.7 million primarily because of increased costs for clinical and pre-clinical programs coupled with increased R&D headcount to support Alnylam’s alliances and development programs.

General and administrative expenses increased 47.2% to $39.9 million. The increase in general and administrative spend was primarily driven by higher professional service fees for business activities, primarily legal activities, coupled with increased stock-based compensation expenses.

Currently we are Neutral on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.