Champions Oncology operating revenues increase to $7.1M for the year ended April 30, 2012

Champions Oncology, Inc. (OTC: CSBR), formerly Champions Biotechnology, Inc., engages in the development of advanced technology solutions and services to personalize the development and use of oncology drugs, announced today its financial results for the year ended April 30, 2012.

Joel Ackerman, the CEO of Champions Oncology, stated, "Fiscal 2012 was a year of great progress for the company.  We demonstrated our ability to drive significant volume growth in both sides of our business.  We continue to evolve our strategic direction to better align the strength of our technology platform with the needs of the market.  Within this new approach, we made significant progress in expanding our customer base and building a solid operational foundation for the future."

Operating revenues were $7.1 million and $6.9 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Total operating expenses were $16.2 million and $12.1 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Champions reported a net loss of $8.7 million, or ($0.19) per share and $3.8 million, or ($0.11) per share for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

Excluding stock based compensation of $3.3 million, Champions recognized a net loss of $5.3 million, or ($0.11) per share, and excluding stock based compensation of $3.1 million, a net loss of $0.7 million, or ($0.02), per share for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.

During fiscal 2012, we modified our POS business strategy to focus on growing our core technology products, which includes TumorGraft implants and drug studies.  As part of this strategy, we significantly reduced the price of our core technology products to make the products affordable to a broader patient base and to accelerate the growth of our Tumorbank.  In addition, we have increased spending on sales and marketing efforts to support this strategy.  We will continue to offer related personalized oncology services to our customers; however, we expect future POS revenues to be driven by our core products.    

During the second half of fiscal 2012, we transitioned the laboratory activities that support the POS and TOS businesses from a third-party contract research organization ("CRO") to our facility in Baltimore, Maryland.  We believe that bringing these activities in-house will significantly reduce the future cost of providing our services and allow us to implement and maintain a more competitive pricing strategy.  To facilitate this strategy and support the increase in current and expected volume, we have invested in the infrastructure and increased our laboratory staff.

Furthermore, as part of our modified strategy, we plan to use TumorGrafting as a platform technology to drive multiple synergistic revenue streams.  We continue to build this platform with investments in research and development, as well as contributions from both the POS and TOS businesses.  The platform is then used to deliver products that serve both the POS and TOS customers in synergistic ways.  The result is well-differentiated products for patients, physicians, and drug development companies.  In addition, we are looking for additional opportunities to utilize the data we are gathering to develop proprietary biomarkers and signatures of response that can predict the resistance or sensitivity of individual tumors to oncology drugs.

Operating Results

TOS revenues were $4.8 million and $3.5 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, an increase of $1.3 million or 38%.  The increases in TOS revenues were due primarily to increased sales efforts and investments in growing our Tumorbank.

Cost of TOS was $2.5 million and $1.8 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, an increase of $0.7 million, or 38%.  The increase in costs was due to the increased volume of the TOS business.  Gross margin for TOS was 47% for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011.

POS revenues were $2.3 million and $3.4 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, a decrease of $1.1 million, or 31%.  Panel revenue, a component of POS revenue, decreased $1.2 million from the prior year, which is primarily attributable to a decrease in pricing per panel.  Excluding panel revenue, POS revenue was $1.8 million and $1.7 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, an increase of $0.1 million.  During fiscal 2012, the Company experienced significantly higher volumes of implants and drug studies compared to fiscal 2011.  For the year ended April 30, 2012, the Company performed 97 TumorGraft implants, compared to 12 in the prior year.  For the year ended April 30, 2012, the Company completed 19 drug studies, compared to 5 in the prior year.  The increase in volume was offset by decreased pricing for both the TumorGraft implants and drug studies, as part of our strategic decision to accelerate the growth of our Tumorbank.

Cost of POS was $2.4 million and $1.7 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, an increase of $0.7 million, or 42%.  Gross margin for POS was -1% and 51% for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.  Gross margins declined due to the strategic decision to decrease prices to drive increased volumes.  Additionally, during the second half of fiscal 2012, the Company transitioned its laboratory work in-house from a third-party CRO.  While this has resulted in increased costs during the transition, it is expected to yield future savings.  Finally, costs related to POS studies are expensed as incurred, so expenses include ongoing costs related to 11 drug studies in progress at April 30, 2012.

Research and development expense was $2.9 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011.  Our research and development efforts are focused on growing our Tumorbank, increasing our understanding of our TumorGraft models, their clinical predictability, improving growth and tumor take rates, and other biological and molecular characteristics of the models.  In fiscal 2012, we increased these efforts, but this was offset by decreased expenses incurred on testing in-licensed compounds.

Sales and marketing expense was $2.9 million and $1.1 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, an increase of $1.8 million, or 170%.  The increase for fiscal 2012 is primarily related to employee costs associated with increases in our sales force and marketing expenses incurred in connection with growing our POS and TOS businesses in the United States and in our overseas operations.

General and administrative expense was $5.5 million and $4.6 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively, an increase of $0.9 million, or 18%.  Stock-based compensation expense relating to general and administrative expense was $3.0 million and $2.9 million for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011, respectively.  Excluding stock-based compensation, general and administrative expense increased $0.8 million, which primarily relates to the expansion of our infrastructure, the addition of our corporate offices in New Jersey, and other costs associated with the Company's growth strategy.