Champions Oncology operating revenues increase to $3.6M for six months ended October 31, 2012

Champions Oncology, Inc. (OTC: CSBR), engaged 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 fiscal quarter ended October 31, 2012.

Joel Ackerman, Champions Oncology CEO, stated, "We continue to make progress in increasing the number of TumorGrafts initiated and the size of our Tumorbank.  We expect these to drive increased value of our technology platform over the long term."

Operating revenues were $1.5 million, as compared to $1.8 million for the three months ended October 31, 2011. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, operating revenues were $3.6 million and $3.4 million, respectively.

Total operating expenses were $3.4 million, as compared to $4.3 million for the three months ended October 31, 2011. Operating expenses were $7.1 million, as compared to $8.0 million for the six months ended October 31, 2011.

Champions reported a net loss of $2.0 million, or ($0.04) per share, as compared to a net loss of $2.3 million, or ($0.05) per share, for the three months ended October 31, 2011. For the six months ended October 31, 2012, Champions reported a net loss of $3.3 million, or ($0.07) per share, as compared to a net loss of $4.4 million, or ($0.09) per share, for the 2011 period.

Excluding stock-based compensation of $0.6 million and $0.9 million for the three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, Champions recognized a net loss of $1.4 million, or ($0.03) per share and a net loss of $1.5 million, or ($0.03) per share for three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, excluding stock-based compensation of $1.4 million and $1.9 million, Champions recognized a net loss of $1.9 million, or ($0.04) per share and a net loss of $2.5 million, or ($0.05) per share, respectively.

Operating Results

Personalized Oncology Solutions (POS) revenues were $0.5 million and $0.6 million for the three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, a decrease of $0.1 million, or 17%. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, POS revenues were $1.4 million and $1.2 million, respectively, an increase of $0.2 million, or 17%. The increase in POS revenues was driven by an increased number of drug studies completed during the six months ended October 31, 2012 compared to the same period in the previous year. During the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, the Company completed 22 and 5 drug studies, respectively.  These increases are the result of the steady increase in the number of TumorGrafts performed which have moved onto drug studies.

POS cost of sales was $0.6 million and $0.5 million for the three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, an increase of $0.1 million, or 20%. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, POS cost of sales was $1.4 million and $0.9 million, respectively, an increase of $0.5 million, or 56%. For the three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, gross margins for POS were -20% and 17%, respectively. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, gross margins for POS were 0% and 25%, respectively.  The increases in cost of sales and the declines in gross margins can be attributed to increased volumes of implants and drug studies performed, in line with management's strategy to obtain more tumors to increase our tumor model offerings to our TOS sponsors and increase the number of models in our Tumorbank 

Translational Oncology Solutions (TOS) revenues were $1.0 million and $1.2 million for the three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, a decrease of $0.2 million, or 17%. The decrease in TOS revenues was due primarily to decreased contract bookings in the previous quarters. TOS revenues were $2.2 million for each of the six month periods ended October 31, 2012 and 2011.

TOS cost of sales was $0.5 million and $0.6 million for the three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, a decrease of $0.1 million, or 17%. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, TOS cost of sales was $1.2 million and $1.1 million, respectively, increase of $0.1 million, or 9%. For the three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, gross margins for TOS were 50%. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, gross margins for TOS were 46% and 50%, respectively. The decline in gross margin for the six month period can be attributed to additional costs associated with transitioning laboratory activities in-house from a third-party contract research organization. Specifically, we made additional investments in our infrastructure and our laboratory staff to increase productivity and to support current and expected volumes, which is expected to significantly reduce the future cost of providing our services and allow us to maintain a more competitive pricing strategy.

Research and development expense was $0.4 million and $1.0 million for three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, a decrease of $0.6 million, or 60%.  For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, research and development expense was $0.8 million and $1.6 million, respectively, a decrease of $0.8 million, or 50%. This decrease is primarily related to decreased laboratory maintenance costs associated with research and development efforts, in line with our strategy to focus on our POS and TOS lines of business. Additionally, the decrease can be attributed to decreased tumor procurement costs, resulting from our strategy to source models from our POS business.

Sales and marketing expense was $0.7 million for each of the three month periods ended October 31, 2012 and 2011. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, sales and marketing expense was $1.4 million and $1.3 million, respectively, an increase of $0.1 million, or 8%.

General and administrative expense was $1.2 million and $1.5 million for the three months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, respectively, a decrease of $0.3 million, or 20%. For the six months ended October 31, 2012 and 2011, general and administrative expense was $2.3 million and $3.1 million, respectively, a decrease of $0.8 million, or 26%. This decrease can be attributed to reductions in stock-based compensation expenses and consultant costs.  The decrease in stock-based compensation expense is primarily due to large prior period stock option grants that contain performance conditions and were, and continue to be, accounted for using the accelerated attribution method.

SOURCE Champions Oncology, Inc.