Rexahn Pharmaceuticals (RNN) Worth the Wait

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: RNN) may not have any marketable drugs right now, but it's got a pipeline that's far more loaded than the average biotech company's pipelines And, it's closer to getting a revenue-bearing product on the market than most may realize. Potential RNN investors - or doubters - may want to invest a little time to really see what this outfit's all about, and more important, where it is.

The company is self-described as a "clinical stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, and commercialization of treatments for cancer, central nervous system (CNS) disorders, sexual dysfunction, and other unmet medical needs in the United States." More specifically, Rexahn Pharmaceuticals has three promising drugs being tested on a total of four conditions...erectile dysfunction, pancreatic cancer, Parkinson's, and depression. And just for the record, the company isn't solely focusing on the U.S. market. In fact, it recently won approval for the   European Patent Office for one of its neuropathic compounds that's the foundation for most if its drugs in development.

At the heart of all its research is the so-called 'discovery platform'... the underlying science that makes RNN unique in comparison to other drug developers. It's building everything on a combination of (1) small molecule inhibitors of multi-expression signals, (2) predicative molecular [ligand] modeling, and (3) nanoscale drug delivery. In English, these just mean that Rexahn Pharmaceuticals can (1) target specific cancers while minimizing the side effects of treatments, (2) predict how a particular drug molecule will behave under certain conditions, and (3) can control the time and location [in the body] of a drug's release once applied.

To fully appreciate Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. though, you do have to fully understand the breadth and depth of its pipeline. It consists of the following:

• Serdaxin, for the treatment of depression, currently in Phase II.
• Serdaxin, for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, currently in Phase II.
• Zoraxel, for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, currently in Phase II.
• Archexin, for the treatment of pancreatic cancer, currently in Phase II.

Though not being tested yet, Serdaxin may also be a treatment for Alzheimers, while Rexahn Pharmaceuticals believes Archexin may also be an effective treatment of ovarian cancer... and perhaps other types of tumors.

It's the rest of the R&D that makes RNN such a compelling - and granted, long-term - prospect. Six more drugs are undergoing pre-clinical tests right now, all of them as cancer treatments. Given the strength and efficacy of what the company's done so far, a pipeline that deep will likely yield at least one or two approvable drugs.

Time is of the essence, however, as Rexahn is burning more and more money without bringing any in, and getting from Phase II to the end of Phase III can still be a multi-year process. And, it won't be bringing any money in for the foreseeable future.

It needs about $10 million per year to continue its work (which isn't that much for what this $88 million company's got going on), but with only $22 million in the warchest, a fund-raising is likely on the horizon.... or brining on a partner. This is a case where more putting in more money may not be hard to justify. In fact, in some regards it may be preferable to a partner. Rexahn Pharmaceuticals has shown prudence with its spending, and certainly has a pipeline with a lot of potential.