NEW YORK (360Dx) – Accelerate Diagnostics reported after the market closed on Thursday that its first quarter revenues rose 125 percent year over year, driven primarily by an increase in the sale of consumable test kits.
For the three months ended March 31, 2019, the company's revenues were $1.8 million, compared to $801,000 in Q1 2018. It missed the analysts' average estimate of $2.1 million.
In the quarter, the company reported it added 75 commercially contracted instruments, compared to 11 in the first quarter of 2018.
"We are pleased with our continued momentum in the first quarter as we achieved strong consumable test kit revenue growth, along with a sixfold increase in commercial placements compared to the first quarter of 2018," Lawrence Mehren, president and CEO of Accelerate Diagnostics, said in a statement.
In a call to discuss the financial results, Mehren noted that the increase in the commercially contracted instruments – which now totals 355 placements – puts the firm "on track to achieve meaningful consumable revenue growth in the back half of the year." The 75 instruments placed in the quarter included 57 in the US and 18 in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Mehren said.
Mehren also said the placements span academic medical centers, US Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, regional and community medical centers, and "several large integrated health networks," including "key influencer sites."
During the quarter, the Tucson, Arizona-based firm also began preclinical testing for a severe bacterial pneumonia assay, and reached principle alignment on trial design with the Chinese regulatory agency, "bringing us one step closer to commercialization in this important geography," Mehren said.
Accelerate's R&D expenses rose approximately 1 percent year over year to $6.9 million from $6.8 million in Q1 2018. The firm's SG&A costs meanwhile declined 11 percent to $12.7 million from $14.4 million in the first quarter of 2018.
Accelerate recorded a net loss in the recently completed quarter of $21.7 million or $.40 per share, compared to a net loss of $20.8 million, or $.37 per share, the year before. The consensus Wall Street estimate was for a loss of $0.41 per share.
Accelerate ended the quarter with $75.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and $75.6 million in investments.