AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Reports Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACRX), (AcelRx), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for use in medically supervised settings, today reported its second quarter 2020 financial results.

"Despite the challenges with COVID in the second quarter, we made meaningful progress towards generating long-term shareholder value and expanding the DSUVIA launch through advancements with the Department of Defense and our exclusive agreement with Zimmer Biomet for dental surgeries," said Vince Angotti, Chief Executive Officer of AcelRx. "We expect these two revenue streams, both of which require minimal AcelRx commercial investment, to be the main drivers of our near-term revenue growth. Hospital and ambulatory surgery centers remain the core focus of our commercial team, and we expect recent hospital system wins to positively impact revenues in the mid to long term. We continue to execute on our strategy while focusing on prudent cash management."

Second Quarter and Recent Highlights

    --  DSUVIA achieved Milestone C approval from the Department of Defense, a
        decision that approves DSUVIA for use in all U.S. Army sets, kits and
        outfits (SKOs). AcelRx expects that initial stocking orders beginning
        later this year for U.S. Army SKOs alone will approximate $30 million
        over the next three years, dependent on troop deployment schedules.
    --  The DoD issued a Notice of Intent, converting to a Request for Proposal
        (RFP), for the purchase of up to 12,200 boxes or 122,000 DSUVIA units,
        expected to be ordered in the third quarter of 2020, which is separate
        from expected purchases for SKOs.
    --  In July, AcelRx entered into a distribution agreement with Zimmer Biomet
        to market DSUVIA® (sufentanil sublingual tablet), 30 mcg, within the
        dental and oral surgery markets in the United States exclusively through
        Zimmer Biomet's Dental division, expanding U.S. availability of DSUVIA.
        It is estimated that the applicable market in dental surgeries is over 7
        million annual procedures.
    --  In July, AcelRx completed a $10 million common stock offering priced at
        the market with two leading life science investors.

Financial Information

    --  As previously announced:
        --  Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments balance of $43.7
            million as of June 30, 2020;
        --  Second quarter 2020 net revenues were $2.9 million, of which
            approximately $2.6 million relates to the recognition of revenue
            related to the Company's Zalviso® agreement with Grünenthal that
            was previously deferred;
        --  Combined R&D and SG&A expenses for the second quarter of 2020
            totaled $8.4 million compared to $12.5 million for the second
            quarter of 2019. Excluding stock-based compensation expense, these
            amounts were $7.3 million for the second quarter of 2020 compared to
            $11.2 million for the second quarter of 2019. R&D and SG&A expenses
            for the first half of 2020 totaled $23.1 million compared to $23.8
            million in the first half of 2019. Excluding stock-based
            compensation expense, these figures were $20.9 million for the first
            half of 2020 compared to $21.5 million for the first half of 2019.
            The decrease in combined R&D and SG&A expenses in the second quarter
            of 2020 was primarily due to a reduction of $1.9 million in
            DSUVIA-related commercialization expenses, a $1.7 million reduction
            in personnel costs, and a net benefit of $0.5 million from the
            receipt of a breakup fee from Tetraphase, net of expenses incurred
            related to the transaction in the quarter. See the "Reconciliation
            of Non-GAAP Financial Measures" table below for a reconciliation of
            the non-GAAP operating expenses described above to their related
            GAAP measures.
    --  For the second quarter of 2020, net loss was $6.6 million, or $0.08 per
        basic and diluted share, compared to $12.4 million, or $0.16 per basic
        and diluted share, for the second quarter of 2019. Net loss for the
        first half of 2020 was $22.5 million, or $0.28 basic and diluted net
        loss per share, compared to $26.1 million, or $0.33 basic and diluted
        net loss per share, for the prior year period.

Webcast and Conference Call Information
As previously announced, AcelRx will host a live webcast Monday, August 10, 2020 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (1:30 p.m. Pacific Time) to discuss these financial results and provide other corporate updates. The webcast is accessible by visiting the Investors page of AcelRx's website at www.acelrx.com and clicking on the webcast link. The webcast will be accompanied by a slide presentation. Investors who wish to participate in the conference call may do so by dialing (866) 361-2335 for domestic callers, (855) 669-9657 for Canadian callers or (412) 902-4204 for international callers. A webcast replay will be available on the AcelRx website for 90 days following the call by visiting the Investor page of AcelRx's website at www.acelrx.com.

About DSUVIA (sufentanil sublingual tablet), 30 mcg
DSUVIA®, known as DZUVEO(TM) in Europe, approved by the FDA in November 2018, is indicated for use in adults in certified medically supervised healthcare settings, such as hospitals, surgical centers, and emergency departments, for the management of acute pain severe enough to require an opioid analgesic, and for which alternative treatments are inadequate. DSUVIA was designed to provide rapid analgesia via a non-invasive route and to eliminate dosing errors associated with intravenous (IV) administration. DSUVIA is a single-strength solid dosage form administered sublingually via a single-dose applicator (SDA) by healthcare professionals. Sufentanil is an opioid analgesic previously only marketed for IV and epidural anesthesia and analgesia.( )The sufentanil pharmacokinetic profile when delivered sublingually avoids the high peak plasma levels and short duration of action observed with IV administration. The European Commission approved DZUVEO for marketing in Europe in June 2018 and AcelRx is currently in discussions with potential European marketing partners.

This release is intended for investors only. For more information, including important safety information and black box warning for DSUVIA, please visit www.DSUVIA.com.

About AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for use in medically supervised settings. AcelRx's proprietary, non-invasive sublingual formulation technology delivers sufentanil with consistent pharmacokinetic profiles. AcelRx has one approved product in the U.S., DSUVIA(®) (sufentanil sublingual tablet, 30 mcg), known as DZUVEO((TM)) in Europe, indicated for the management of acute pain severe enough to require an opioid analgesic for adult patients in certified medically supervised healthcare settings, and one product candidate, Zalviso(®) (sufentanil sublingual tablet system, SST system, 15 mcg), an investigational product in the U.S., is being developed as an innovatively designed patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system for reduction of moderate-to-severe acute pain in medically supervised settings. DZUVEO and Zalviso are both approved products in Europe.

For additional information about AcelRx, please visit www.acelrx.com.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement AcelRx's financial results and guidance presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), AcelRx uses certain non-GAAP financial measures in this press release, in particular, excluding stock-based compensation expense from its operating expenses. AcelRx believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful supplementary information to, and facilitate additional analysis by, investors and analysts. In particular, AcelRx believes that these non-GAAP financial measures, when considered together with AcelRx's financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP, can enhance investors' and analysts' ability to meaningfully compare AcelRx's results from period to period and to its forward-looking guidance. In addition, these types of non-GAAP financial measures are regularly used by investors and analysts to model and track AcelRx's financial performance. AcelRx's management also regularly uses these non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate AcelRx's business and to make operating decisions. Non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures and should be read in conjunction with AcelRx's consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures in this press release and the accompanying tables have limits in their usefulness to investors and may be calculated differently from, and therefore may not be directly comparable to, similarly titled measures used by other companies.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements related to near-term revenue drivers, the expected impact of recent hospital system wins on revenue and the timing of such impact, the timing and size of military orders and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its anticipated impacts on AcelRx's business. These and any other forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," "anticipates," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "approximately," "intends," "plans," "estimates," or the negative of these words or other comparable terminology. The discussion of financial trends, strategy, plans or intentions may also include forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied by such statements, including the risk that the military and hospital systems delay, or fail to place, orders, that AcelRx may not experience the expected benefits from the Zimmer Biomet commercial opportunity or that the impacts AcelRx is experiencing from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may be prolonged or exacerbated. Although it is not possible to predict or identify all such risks and uncertainties, they may include, but are not limited to, those described in AcelRx's annual, quarterly and current reports (i.e., Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K) as filed or furnished with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date such statements were first made. To the degree financial information is included in this press release, it is in summary form only and must be considered in the context of the full details provided in AcelRx's most recent annual, quarterly or current report as filed or furnished with the SEC. AcelRx's SEC reports are available at www.acelrx.com under the "Investors" tab. Except to the extent required by law, AcelRx undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.


                                               Media Contacts                                   Investor Contacts

    ---


       
              Evoke                                      
     Raffi Asadorian, CFO AcelRx



       Theresa Dolge / Jessica Ross                          
     
              investors@acelrx.com



       215-928-2748 / 215-928-2346                           
     Brian Korb, Solebury Trout



       
              theresa.dolge@evokegroup.com /             
     646-378-2923



       
              jessica.ross@evokegroup.com                
     
              Investors@acelrx.com


                                                             
              
                Selected Financial Data


                                                            
              (in thousands, except per share data)


                                                                         
              (unaudited)




                                                                                     Three Months Ended                                      Six Months Ended


                                                                  
              
                June 30                                            June 30

                                                                                                                                      ---

                                                                                            2020                               2019        2020                       2019

                                                                                                                                                                    ---


     
                Statement of Comprehensive Loss Data





     Revenue:



        Product sales                                                                      $303                               $768        $577                       $894


         Contract and other collaboration                                                  2,621                                173       2,733                        312



           Total revenue                                                                  2,924                                941       3,310                      1,206

                                                                                                                                                                    ---




     Operating costs and expenses:



     Cost of goods sold (1)                                                               1,370                              1,810       2,881                      3,040


      Research and development (1)                                                           813                              1,163       2,225                      2,540


      Selling, general and
       administrative (1)                                                                  7,575                             11,329      20,886                     21,305


      Total operating costs and expenses                                                   9,758                             14,302      25,992                     26,885

                                                                                                                                                                    ---


     Loss from operations                                                               (6,834)                          (13,361)   (22,682)                  (25,679)





     Other income (expense):



     Interest expense                                                                     (872)                             (500)    (1,727)                     (876)


      Interest income and other income
       (expense), net                                                                        270                                456         205                      1,083


      Non-cash interest income
       (expense) on liability related to
       sale of future royalties                                                              834                                996       1,677                      (611)

                                                                                                                                                                    ---

      Total other income (expense)                                                           232                                952         155                      (404)

                                                                                                                                                                    ---

      Provision for income taxes                                                             (4)                               (3)        (4)                       (3)

                                                                                                                                                                    ---


     Net loss                                                                          $(6,606)                         $(12,412)  $(22,531)                 $(26,086)





      Basic and diluted net loss per
       common share                                                                      $(0.08)                           $(0.16)    $(0.28)                   $(0.33)





      Shares used in computing basic and
       diluted net loss per common share                                                  80,662                             78,902      80,360                     78,846

                                                                                                                                                                    ===




     (1)   Includes the following non-cash, stock-based compensation expense:




                  Cost of goods sold                                                         $27                                $68         $73                       $129


                  Research and development                                                   184                                233         384                        457


                  Selling, general and
                   administrative                                                            879                              1,045       1,779                      1,867


                         Total                                                            $1,090                             $1,346      $2,236                     $2,453









                                                                                   June 30, 2020             
     
     December 31, 2019




     
                Selected Balance Sheet Data


      Cash, cash equivalents and
       investments                                                                       $43,686                            $66,137



     Total assets                                                                        67,400                             91,356



     Total liabilities                                                                  127,532                            132,774


      Total stockholders' (deficit)
       equity                                                                           (60,132)                          (41,418)



     
                
                  Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures



     
                
                  (Operating Expenses less associated stock-based compensation expense)




                                                                              Three Months Ended                    Six Months Ended


                                                                             June 30                        June 30

                                                                                                ---

                                                         2020                  2019                  2019    2018

                                                                                                           ---




     Operating expenses (GAAP):



     Research and development                           $813                $1,163                $2,225  $2,540


      Selling, general and administrative               7,575                11,329                20,886  21,305



     Total operating expenses                          8,388                12,492                23,111  23,845



     
                Less associated stock-based


                        compensation expense            1,063                 1,278                 2,163   2,324


                   Operating expenses (non-GAAP)       $7,325               $11,214               $20,948 $21,521

                                                                                                           ===

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SOURCE AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.