NEW YORK – The 360Dx Top 30 continued its upward climb in March after a 1 percent rise in February, increasing nearly 3 percent month over month.
The Top 30 reflected broader market trends as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq climbed 2 percent last month, while the Nasdaq Biotech Index was essentially flat month over month.
The Top 30's largest gainers were Castle Biosciences (+23 percent), Exact Sciences (+20 percent), and Opko Health (+20 percent). The decliners were led by DermTech (-45 percent), MDxHealth (-29 percent), and Adaptive Biotechnologies (-22 percent).
Castle Biosciences' share price was buoyed last month by newly published validation data for its DecisionDx-SCC test that showed the assay provides clinically actionable stratification of squamous cell carcinoma patients' risk of metastasis and improves the predictive accuracy of clinical risk classification systems, which could potentially help guide treatment. A consensus recommendation paper also published last month found that Castle's test may have particular utility in certain settings.
Exact Sciences also saw benefits from newly published data last month. A New England Journal of Medicine study investigated a next-generation sequencing-based screening strategy for colorectal cancer being developed by the company that is based on multitarget profiling of stool-based DNA. The researchers found that the technique successfully detected nearly 94 percent of colorectal cancer cases with nearly 91 percent specificity for advanced neoplasias. Sensitivity dropped to 43 percent for advanced precancerous lesions.
Canaccord Genuity analyst Kyle Mikson wrote in a note to investors that the new test could expand Exact's addressable market and noted that the study results represent "an important milestone that may impact decisions made by the [US Food and Drug Administration], guideline entities, and payors."
Opko Health, meantime, saw its share price lift at the end of the month thanks to the announcement that Laboratory Corporation of America would purchase select assets from Opko subsidiary BioReference Health. Labcorp will acquire BioReference's laboratory testing businesses focused on clinical diagnostics and reproductive and women's health across the US outside of New York and New Jersey for $237.5 million.
DermTech, the Top 30's largest decliner, was impacted at the beginning of the month by the reporting of its Q4 and full-year 2023 financial results. Q4 revenues grew 30 percent to $3.9 million while full-year 2023 revenues climbed 6 percent to $15.3 million. BTIG analyst Mark Massaro noted that the shares were trading down after the results, likely due to a declining cash balance, lack of a large new national commercial payor win, and lack of a 2024 revenue guide.
Like DermTech, fellow decliner MDxHealth's only news in March was the announcement of its Q4 and full-year 2023 financial results. Fourth quarter revenues rose 50 percent year over year to $19.4 million, beating Wall Street analysts' average estimate of $18.1 million. Full-year 2023 revenues increased 89 percent to $70.2 million, also besting the Wall Street consensus estimate of $69.3 million.
Adaptive Biotechnologies did not have any significant news last month, and there was no apparent catalyst for its share price decline. The firm has scheduled a conference call for Tuesday to provide an update on its business. At the end of Q3 last year, Adaptive initiated a strategic review with Goldman Sachs to reevaluate the company's MRD and immune medicine businesses, signaling an intent to separate the two businesses.
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360Dx Top 30
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*Becton Dickinson paid a dividend of $.95 per share on March 7.
**Danaher paid a dividend of $.27 per share on March 27.
***Thermo Fisher Scientific paid a dividend of $.39 per share on March 14.