SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France, May 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NicOx S.A. (Eurolist: COX) today reported financial results for the first three months of 2008. On March 31, 2008, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and financial instruments of euro 153.7 million, compared to euro 201.2 million on March 31, 2007. Revenues were euro 1.4 million in the first quarter of 2008, compared to euro 8.7 million for the corresponding period of 2007. The higher revenues achieved in Q1 2007 were principally due to two milestone payments from Merck & Co., Inc. and Pfizer Inc which were fully recognized during that period. Operating expenses were euro 17.5 million in the first quarter of 2008, compared to euro 10.1 million in the first quarter of 2007. This increase in operating expenses was mainly due to the ongoing phase 3 clinical studies for naproxcinod, NicOx' lead investigational drug and the first compound in the CINOD class, for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis. In the first quarter of 2008, NicOx recorded a net loss of euro 13 million. This compares to a net profit of euro 1.8 million for the first quarter of 2007. Key operational highlights - first quarter 2008 -- NicOx initiated two large Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) studies for naproxcinod in hypertensive patients with osteoarthritis. These two large clinical pharmacology studies in the United States will assess the blood pressure profile of naproxcinod in comparison to ibuprofen and naproxen, using the Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) technique. These two trials are 12 and 16 weeks in duration and together are expected to recruit around 420 osteoarthritis patients with controlled hypertension. Results of both studies are projected in the fourth quarter of 2008 -- Pfizer Inc signed an extension of its March 2006 ophthalmology research agreement with NicOx. This agreement grants Pfizer the exclusive right to apply NicOx' proprietary nitric oxide-donating technology to drug discovery research across the field of ophthalmology. The most advanced project under this agreement is focused on nitric oxide-donating prostaglandin analogs for the treatment of glaucoma and has produced encouraging results for various compounds in a validated in vivo model of abnormally high intraocular pressure (IOP), compared to a commonly used reference drug -- The Company continued to take the necessary steps to ensure the successful commercialization of naproxcinod and signed an agreement for the commercial manufacture of naproxcinod drug substance with the fine chemical company Archimica. The aim of this agreement is to ensure that commercial supplies of an appropriate scale will be available to ensure the successful launch of naproxcinod -- In January, NicOx announced that Pfizer initiated phase 2 clinical development for PF-03187207 in Japan. PF-03187207 is an investigational nitric oxide-donating prostaglandin analog for the treatment of glaucoma. This dose ranging phase 2 study will recruit 120 patients and is expected to report results in the third quarter of 2008 -- In May, following the end of the first quarter, NicOx announced the results of a U.S. phase 2 trial for PF-03187207. This dose ranging study conducted by Pfizer Inc, compared the safety and efficacy of PF-03187207 to Xalatan(R) (latanoprost) in patients with primary open angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension. On the primary endpoint, PF-03187207 showed a 12% improvement over Xalatan(R) 0.005%, which did not reach statistical significance, although a statistically significant advantage over Xalatan(R) 0.005% was observed on a number of secondary endpoints (p