Exact Sciences announces financial results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009

Exact Sciences Corp. (Nasdaq: EXAS) today announced its financial results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009.

Exact reported total revenues of $1.3 million for the third quarter of 2009, compared to total revenues of ($663,000) during the same period of 2008. Total revenues increased due to the quarterly non-cash allocation that resulted from the company’s January 2009 intellectual property transaction. Total revenues for the first nine months of 2009 were $3.5 million, compared to total revenues of ($758,000) for the same period of 2008.

Exact reported a net loss of ($1.0) million, or ($0.03) a share, for the third quarter of 2009. The company had a net loss of ($3.0) million, or ($0.11) a share, for the same period of 2008. Exact’s net loss for the nine-month period ended Sept. 30, 2009, was ($7.3) million, or ($0.23) a share, compared to ($7.6) million, or ($0.28) a share, for the same period of 2008.

Operating expenses for the third quarter of 2009 were $2.3 million, compared to $2.4 million for the same period of 2008. Operating expenses for the first nine months of 2009 were $10.9 million, compared to $7.1 million for the same period of 2008. Operating expenses for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2009, were higher primarily due to increased research and development expense associated with the company’s collaboration with Mayo Clinic, new research and development hires, stock compensation expense and expense related to the company’s January 2009 intellectual property transaction.

Exact ended the third quarter of 2009 with cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $26.9 million, compared to $4.9 million at Dec. 31, 2008.

“Exact Sciences continued to make great strides during the third quarter,” said Kevin T. Conroy, the company’s president and chief executive. “We have rebuilt the company’s research and development team and it is continuing to expand. We have refined and simplified our target sDNA-based screening assay and have a strong product development plan in place. We secured a worldwide license to Third Wave’s Invader real-time detection chemistry and intend to couple it with digital PCR. All of these efforts are focused on bringing a patient-friendly sDNA-based colorectal cancer screening test to clinical trial, the planning for which is well underway.”