NEW YORK – BioMérieux announced Wednesday that its revenues grew approximately 8 percent year over year in the third quarter, with organic sales increasing 11 percent at constant exchange rates. The Marcy l’Étoile, France-based company attributed the increase in part to double-digit sales growth in its BioFire business.
"Double-digit growth in microbiology, non-respiratory BioFire panels, and industrial applications quarterly sales, together with the deployment of our point-of-care solution SpotFire, demonstrate that we have identified the right drivers to pursue the development of BioMérieux," CEO Pierre Boulud said in a statement.
"These positive achievements make us very confident in achieving our 2024 full-year targets, that were recently revised upward," Boulud added, noting that the firm is also on track to meet its 2028 strategic plan targets.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, BioMérieux reported revenues of €968.7 million ($1.05 billion) compared to €898.4 million a year ago. The firm also reported that changes in exchange rates had a negative €76 million impact on sales through the first nine months of 2024.
Sales in the molecular biology business rose approximately 16 percent as reported to €379.4 million from €327.9 million, or an increase of approximately 18 percent at constant exchange rates.
The increase was driven by 16 percent growth in sales of non-respiratory BioFire molecular diagnostic panels and a 14 percent increase in respiratory panel sales. In the recently completed quarter, the BioFire installed base grew by 150 units compared to the end of Q2 2024, to a total of 26,250 instruments.
BioMérieux also reported €20 million in quarterly sales of its SpotFire point-of-care molecular diagnostic instrument. Initially launched in 2023, the total SpotFire installed base reached 2,100 instruments, the firm said, with 600 instruments installed in Q3 marking a "significant acceleration" compared to 250 installations in Q2.
In microbiology, sales increased 7 percent, or nearly 10 percent at constant exchange rates, to €342.4 million from €321.6 million. The increase was related to 12 percent growth in reagent sales driven by increases in Vitek automated ID/AST and blood culture BACT/Alert reagents as well as price increases. Instruments were "back to growth," the firm said, driven by BACT/Alert equipment sales in the US and China as well as continued uptake of the Vitek MS Prime system.
Sales in the immunoassay business declined approximately 8 percent as reported, or approximately 5 percent at constant currency, to €86.3 million from €94.2 million. These results were attributed to flat sales of Vidas instruments and routine reagents coupled with continued decreases in Vidas procalcitonin test sales.
Other lines in clinical application sales, which include BioFire Defense and R&D-related revenues arising on clinical application, decreased 26 percent, or 11 percent at constant exchange rates, to €12.7 million from €17.1 million.
Sales in the firm's industrial application business, meanwhile, increased approximately 8 percent, or 12 percent at constant exchange rates, to €147.9 million from €137.5 million, with "balanced growth between the food and pharma segments," BioMérieux said. Growth was driven by a 14 percent increase in reagent sales attributed to prices and volume increases, as well equipment sales. Within its food testing business, BioMérieux opened a 32,000-square-foot molecular innovation center in Philadelphia in May of last year, and earlier this year partnered with the US Food and Drug Administration to develop new molecular tools for food-borne pathogens.
Sales in North America increased 13 percent as reported and at constant exchange rates to €426.9 million from €379.6 million. In Latin America, sales increased 6 percent, or 34 percent at constant exchange rates, to €63.6 million from €60.2 million.
Sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa increased 6 percent, or 8 percent at constant exchange rates, to €309.5 million from €293.1 million, while sales in Asia-Pacific increased 2 percent, or 3 percent at constant exchange rates, to €168.8 million from €165.5 million.
In the quarter, BioMérieux began providing a research-use-only qPCR detection kit called Monkeypox R-Gene following the World Health Organization's declaration of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on Aug. 14.
The firm also identified shortcomings in its US operations' internal controls and compliance and has run additional verifications resulting in nonmaterial financial impacts. BioMérieux said it continues to pursue its internal investigations and is reinforcing its internal control in the US.
After the completion of the quarter, the firm obtained CE marking for a vitamin B12 assay on the Vidas system. It also signed an exclusive worldwide distribution agreement with Oxford Nanopore Technologies for the AmPore-TB research-use-only Mycobacterium tuberculosis assay, ONT's first in-house-developed diagnostic test. BioMérieux expects to distribute the test initially through a few partners with expertise in tuberculosis, with a worldwide launch of the RUO product in mid-2025.
BioMérieux confirmed its prior full-year 2024 guidance for organic sales growth of between 8 percent and 10 percent at constant exchange rates. It revised down its estimate of currency impact and now expects a negative impact on the 2024 annual contributive operating income before nonrecurring items in the range of around €60 million versus previous guidance of a negative impact of €70 million.