Merrimack Pharmaceuticals – MACK – Financial Results for Third Quarter 2012

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:MACK), announced its third quarter 2012 financial results.

• Five Novel Therapeutic Candidates Progressing Through Clinical Development, Including One Phase 3 Trial in Second Line Pancreatic Cancer and Four Phase 2 Trials in Multiple Cancer Indications
• Proprietary Network Biology Platform Driving Discovery and Development of Each Candidate and Its Companion Diagnostic

“This past quarter we hit a key milestone of presenting initial clinical data on MM-121 and MM-111 in the combination setting showing that ErbB3 is a promising target,” said Robert Mulroy, President and CEO of Merrimack. “As we look to the year ahead, we are excited to continue moving both of these molecules as well as the rest of our novel pipeline forward in clinical development and to present the first Phase 2 data on MM-121, the most advanced of our Network Biology-derived therapeutics.”

MACK – Third Quarter 2012 Financial Results and Financial Outlook

Merrimack reported a net loss of $23.3 million for the third quarter of 2012, compared to $18.7 million for the third quarter of 2011. Net loss per share available to common stockholders for the third quarter of 2012, both basic and diluted, was $0.25 per share, compared to a loss of $1.81 per share for the third quarter of 2011. This decrease in net loss per share available to common stockholders was primarily attributable to an increase in the number of weighted-average common shares used in computing net loss per share available to common stockholders as a result of Merrimack’s April 2012 initial public offering in which all outstanding shares of Merrimack’s convertible preferred stock were converted into 66,255,529 shares of common stock and in which Merrimack issued 15,042,459 new shares of common stock.

Collaboration revenues for the third quarter of 2012 were $11.3 million, compared to $8.6 million for the third quarter of 2011, an increase of $2.7 million, or 31%. This increase was a result of increases in development, milestone and manufacturing revenues recognized under the 2009 license and collaboration agreement with Sanofi for the development and commercialization of MM-121.

Research and development expenses for the third quarter of 2012 were $30.9 million, compared to $23.9 million for the third quarter of 2011, an increase of $7.0 million, or 29%. This increase was primarily attributable to $3.9 million of increased overall spending on the MM-398 program related to Merrimack’s ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial coupled with $2.8 million of increased spending on preclinical programs, general research and discovery due to an increase in the number of preclinical programs in the pipeline, and increased costs associated with each preclinical program as they approach clinical development, including increased costs of $0.8 million due to IND-enabling activities related to MM-141.

General and administrative expenses for the third quarter of 2012 were $4.3 million, compared to $3.3 million for the third quarter of 2011, an increase of $1.0 million, or 30%. This increase was primarily attributable to an increase in labor and labor-related costs, including increased stock compensation expense of $0.3 million, and increased rent, insurance and pre-commercialization costs.

About Merrimack – MACK

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (MACK) is a biopharmaceutical company discovering, developing and preparing to commercialize innovative medicines paired with companion diagnostics for the treatment of serious diseases, with an initial focus on cancer. MACK applies Network Biology, its proprietary systems biology-based approach to biomedical research, throughout the research and development process. MACK currently has five targeted therapeutic oncology candidates in clinical development.

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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.