360Dx Top 30 Falls 10 Percent in September

NEW YORK – The 360Dx Top 30 declined 10 percent year over year in September, continuing its decline from August.

The drop was wider than the loss in the broader market. Last month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Biotech Index fell 4 percent compared to August, while the Nasdaq fell 6 percent.

The Top 30's smallest decliners were Laboratory Corporation of America (-3 percent), Revvity (-5 percent), and Abbott (-6 percent). The largest decliners were led by DermTech (-37 percent), Invitae (-34 percent), and LumiraDx (-29 percent).

Neither Labcorp nor Revvity had significant news last month, although both companies have higher share prices that may insulate them from fluctuations in the market.

Abbott's key news last month was the announcement of its acquisition of Bigfoot Biomedical, a developer of insulin management systems for people with diabetes.

DermTech's only news in September, meantime, was the announcement that it has signed agreements with Highmark that will enhance access to its noninvasive melanoma test. Highmark and its Blue-branded affiliates provide health insurance to approximately 7 million members in Pennsylvania, West Virgina, Delaware, and New York, and DermTech's total of covered lives in the US is about 133 million.

In contrast, Invitae had a particularly key piece of news last month as it announced that it received a notice of noncompliance from the New York Stock Exchange due to its stock price closing below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive days. The firm told the NYSE that it intends to return to listing standards compliance within the required cure period and said in a statement that the notification would not affect its business operations. The noncompliance notice also does not conflict with any of Invitae's material debt or other agreements or cause or accelerate any default event under those agreements.

After the close of the last trading day in September, the firm also announced the US Food and Drug Administration granted de novo marketing authorization for Invitae's Common Hereditary Cancers Panel, which identifies variants in 47 genes associated with an elevated risk of various cancer types.

Like the lowest decliners, LumiraDx had no significant news to explain its steep decline in share price, although its low starting stock price makes it particularly susceptible to minor fluctuations in the broader markets.

*Becton Dickinson paid a dividend of $.91 per share on Sept. 7.

**Thermo Fisher Scientific paid a dividend of $.35 per share on Sept. 14.