360Dx Top 30 Slides 2 Percent in June

NEW YORK – After a 3 percent increase in May, the 360Dx Top 30 declined 2 percent month over month in June.

The Top 30 contrasted broader market trends as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1 percent and the Nasdaq grew 6 percent last month, while the Nasdaq Biotech Index increased 3 percent month over month. 

The Top 30's largest gainers were GeneDx (+33 percent), CareDx (+19 percent), and Myriad Genetics (+7 percent). The decliners were led by DermTech (-66 percent), Sera Prognostics (-34 percent), and QuidelOrtho (-25 percent).

The only key news from GeneDx last month was its announcement that it would collaborate with electronic health record software firm Epic Systems to integrate its rapid whole-genome sequencing results with Epic's Aura specialty diagnostics suite. The firm will connect directly with health systems using Epic's software to receive orders and send results.

GeneDx also said last month that it has started a patient access program to improve access to exome sequencing for pediatric epilepsy patients.

CareDx's stock price increase, meantime, was possibly the result of the publication of a large study that demonstrated the utility of its AlloSure assay for kidney transplant patients and the artificial intelligence-based AllowView rejection risk prediction model. The multicenter study found that donor-derived cell-free DNA is strongly correlated with the presence, activity, and severity of all types of kidney allograft rejection and demonstrated the high predictive value to detect subclinical rejection in stable patients. The firm's stock rose more than 5 percent in the two days after the study came out. 

Myriad Genetics' main news in June was the announcement of its collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline on a program to boost access to homologous recombination deficiency testing for high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients in nine countries. GSK will provide financial support for the testing program, which will include Myriad's MyChoice HRD Plus and MyChoice CDx Plus tests.

Among the decliners, DermTech's stock price tanked after it filed for bankruptcy and laid off 20 percent of its workforce last month. The company intends to continue its laboratory operations and is processing orders for its DermTech Melanoma test while simultaneously attempting to sell substantially all of its assets. As a result of the filing, the firm received notice from the Nasdaq that its stock would be delisted. DermTech said it does not plan to appeal the decision.

Sera Prognostics, in contrast, had no key news explaining its share price decline last month.

QuidelOrtho's stock price decline in June was likely impacted by its initiation of a Class III device recall for a component associated with its Vitros B12 immunodiagnostic assay. Results generated from one of the lots may cause range verification failure but there is no impact to the test's performance. Class III device recalls are the least serious of the US Food and Drug Administration's three types of recalls.

*Becton Dickinson paid a dividend of $.95 per share on June 10.

**Danaher paid a dividend of $.27 per share on June 28.

***Thermo Fisher Scientific paid a dividend of $.39 per share on June 14.