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This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We have identified certain important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. See our Registration Statement, as filed on Form F-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on October 26, 2000, (the "Registration Statement") and the section of the Registration Statement entitled "Risk Factors."
Leiden, The Netherlands, December 22, 2000- Crucell N.V. (Nasdaq CRXL; EAX Amsterdam: CRXL) today announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2000. Total net revenues were EUR 0.8 million (US$ 0.7 million), compared to EUR 1.4 million (US$ 1.2 million) in the third quarter of 1999. In line with expectations, this reflects the development stage of the company.
Crucell's net loss in the third quarter amounts to EUR 20.7 million (US$ 17.4 million), compared to EUR 0.7 million (US$ 0.6 million) in the same quarter last year. Of this total, EUR 2.6 million (US$ 2.2 million), is for goodwill amortization, relating to the merger of IntroGene B.V. and U-BiSys B.V. to form Crucell. The second exceptional item is a non-cash write-off of EUR 15.7 million (US$ 13.2 million) for deferred stock option compensation expenses related to the introduction of a new stock option plan at the date of the IPO (October 27, 2000). Crucell accounts for its stock option plans under US GAAP FASB 123.
Excluding these non-cash expenses, the company's net loss on its core activities amounts to EUR 2.4 million (US$ 2.0 million), which reflects the expected increase in research and development activities.
Crucell's President and CEO, Dinko Valerio commented: "In the third quarter of 2000 we have been able to successfully integrate both IntroGene and U-BiSys into our company Crucell. This has been achieved both in terms of integrating culture and technology to fully exploit the common opportunities we have with our platform technologies PER.C6 and MAbstract. Based on our on-going commercial activities, we feel comfortable that the revenue targets for this year will be met.
In the fourth quarter we have already made good progress on all fronts. We signed an exclusive agreement with Merck & Co., Inc., granting them a license for the PER.C6 platform technology to develop vaccines for the prevention and treatment of one disease. Merck has the option to extend this exclusivity to cover three additional diseases in the future. With the addition of Eurogene, we have increased the number of PER.C6 licenses to 14. These deals are structured to include up front payments, milestone payments and royalty fees, which strengthen our short, medium and long-term revenue stream.
Of course we continued our preparations for the IPO, which took place on October 27 on both Nasdaq and Euronext Amsterdam, to raise capital to further grow our company. We also moved into our new facilities in Leiden, The Netherlands."
Crucell issued 8 million primary shares on October 27 at a price of EUR 18 (US$ 14.89), and the company's stock is now traded on Euronext Amsterdam and Nasdaq National Market under ticker symbol CRXL. The company raised gross proceeds of EUR 144 million (US$ 119 million). Currently, the total number of shares outstanding is 35 million.
Crucell was formed through the merger of IntroGene B.V. and U-BiSys B.V., both from The Netherlands. Crucell combines IntroGene's human cell line platform, PER.C6, with U-BiSys' subtractive phage antibody-display selection technology, called MAbstract, providing a powerful and effective means to discover, develop and produce a variety of biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of human diseases. Crucell's technologies are fully human and, as such, enable biopharmaceuticals to be developed and produced that do not have the limitations inherent in many biopharmaceuticals currently available. Crucell has licensed its PER.C6 technology to Merck & Co. Inc., GlaxoWellcome, Novartis (through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Systemix), Aventis Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Schering AG, Genzyme Corporation, Pfizer/Warner-Lambert, Oxford BioMedica (UK) Ltd., Bioheart Inc., Cobra Therapeutics Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of ML Laboratories), DirectGene Inc. and Eurogene Ltd..
Crucell currently employs 115 people in its facilities in Leiden, Utrecht and Leuven (Belgium).
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