NEW YORK – Laboratory Corporation of America has expanded its long-term strategic relationship with AtlantiCare, the largest healthcare organization in southern New Jersey. Labcorp will acquire select assets from AtlantiCare’s clinical outreach business, which serves the AtlantiCare Physician Group and Affiliated Physicians and their patients across southern New Jersey. AtlantiCare patients will be able to access Labcorp’s full menu of tests and services, and many of AtlantiCare’s physician office and outpatient collection sites will be operated by Labcorp.
Lucid Diagnostics this week reported $189,000 in revenues for the first quarter compared to none a year ago. Lucid, a majority-owned subsidiary of Pavmed, markets the EsoGuard Esophageal DNA Test and EsoCheck Esophageal Cell Collection Device for the detection of gastroesophageal reflux disease and early detection of esophageal precancer and cancer. It went public in October 2021.
For the three months ended March 31, the firm had a net loss of $12.3 million, or $.35 per share, compared to a net loss of $3.7 million, or $.26 per share, a year ago. Adjusted loss per share for the recently completed quarter was $.23. It exited Q1 2022 with $47.9 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Seegene this week said its first quarter revenues reached ₩451.5 billion ($352.3 million), a 10 percent increase over Q4 2021. The increase was driven by PCR demand resulting from the COVID-19 Omicron surge, the Seoul, South Korea-based firm said. It installed 360 real-time PCR detection systems and 261 workstations for extraction and PCR setup for a total of 5,214 and 2,543 installations, respectively.
Babson Diagnostics this week announced the expansion of a strategic partnership with Becton Dickinson to move blood sample collection into new care settings, including enabling patients to collect blood samples at home for diagnostic testing. Since 2019, the companies have been collaborating to develop a capillary blood collection and testing system to enable small-volume collection at retail settings by people who have had no previous experience with collecting blood samples for testing. Plans under the expanded agreement include continuing research and development to enable self-collection, mobile services, and at-home collection, Babson said. The firms will also expand the types of blood tests that can be conducted through small-volume blood collection beyond primary care-oriented tests, and they plan to develop diagnostic tests for pediatric use.
Co-Diagnostics reported this week that its first quarter revenues grew 13 percent to $22.7 million from $20.0 million a year ago. The increase was driven primarily by a rise in sales of its Logix Smart COVID-19 test. For the three months ended March 31, the Salt Lake City-based molecular diagnostic firm's profit rose to $11.7 million, or $.34 per share, from $7.9 million, or $.26 per share, a year ago. Co-Diagnostics finished Q1 2022 with $97.4 million in cash and cash equivalents.
OpGen said this week that its first quarter revenues shrank 43 percent to $469,745 from $829,716 in Q1 2021. Product sales were trimmed to $366,052 from $613,918 a year ago, while laboratory services fell to $42,929 from $97,726, and collaboration revenues dropped to $60,764 from $118,072. The Rockville, Maryland-based company cut its net loss for the three months ended March 31 to $6.8 million, or $.15 per share, from $14.9 million, or $.50 per share, a year ago. It had $30.7 million in cash and cash equivalents at the end of Q1 2022. For full-year 2022, OpGen anticipates revenues from its products and services business to grow between 25 percent and 50 percent year over year.
Opko Health this week announced the acquisition of ModeX Therapeutics for $300 million in common stock. ModeX Therapeutics is focused on developing immune therapies for cancer and infectious diseases. According to Opko, the ModeX product portfolio includes cancer immunotherapies that combine four specificities into one protein to improve targeting and immune killing, as well as masking or stealth technology to improve tumor-specific killing and reduce side effects. For viral diseases, the lead targets of a broad and potent multi-specific antibody portfolio include HIV and SARS-CoV-2. A vaccine for Epstein-Barr virus is also in development, Opko said.
Dutch life sciences firm Detact Diagnostics said this week that it is establishing its US headquarter and laboratories in Keene, New Hampshire. Detact is partnering with the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship, which is providing resources for companies and entrepreneurs, and with Keene State College, which will provide space for Detact to create a CLIA-certified lab and an internship and employment program. The lab space will be used for the firm's onsite bacterial detection platforms. Detact's technology, called Visualization by Infrared Peptide Reaction (VIPER), is based on the release of a quenched near-infrared molecule from its peptide bond after contact with a specific bacteria/enzyme, which emits near-infrared light. The amount of light released determines the presence of bacteria or viruses.
Stockholm-based Devyser said this week that its revenues for the first quarter of 2022 grew 33 percent year over year to SEK 30.4 million ($3.0 million) from SEK 22.8 million in Q1 of 2021. The developer of DNA diagnostic testing kits for hereditary diseases, oncology, and transplantation reported a Q1 net loss of SEK 6.1 million, or SEK .39 per share, compared to a net loss of SEK 300,000, or SEK .03 per share, in the prior-year quarter. At the beginning of January, the firm issued 610,886 shares for a total of SEK 48.9 million before issue costs. In early February, it purchased SmartSeq, acquiring 70 percent of the firm’s outstanding shares for €835,000, of which 23 percent was paid in cash and 77 percent in newly issued Devyser shares. Devyser said the acquisition strengthens its offering in diagnostic analysis. The firm also appointed Theis Kipling as its chief commercial officer, who joined the firm from Atlas Antibodies.
Dante Labs said this week that it has been selected by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development to develop and pilot what it claims will be the first CE-IVD-marked clinical whole-genome sequencing test for Italians, to be named Dante Citizen Test. Dante said the goal is to introduce clinical whole-genome sequencing into the standard of care for hospitals and the healthcare system in Italy. The test will use Dante's Extensa software for reporting, interpretation, and analysis of whole-genome sequencing and clinical data and will be overseen by the company's recently appointed European Medical Genomics board.
Opentrons Labworks' wholly owned subsidiary Pandemic Response Lab said this week that its New York City laboratory has been accredited by the College of American Pathologists with zero deficiencies. The company's Rockville, Maryland, lab received CAP accreditation in March. PRL was launched in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and provides PCR-based testing as well as next-generation sequencing-based surveillance services.
ProPhase Labs this week reported its first quarter revenues jumped threefold to $47.5 million from $15.3 million a year ago. For the three months ended March 31, the Garden City, New York-based company posted a profit of $12.5 million, or $.68 per share, compared to $1.1 million, or $.06 per share, in Q1 2021. ProPhase had $25.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $3.5 million in marketable debt securities available for sale at the end of Q1 2022.
Danaher said this week that its board of directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $.25 per share of its common stock, payable on July 29 to holders of record on June 24. The board also approved a quarterly cash dividend of $12.50 per share of its 5 percent Series B Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock, payable on July 15 to holders of record on June 30.
Prenetics said this week that Artisan Acquisition’s shareholders approved the previously announced merger between the two firms. The business combination is expected to close on May 18, subject to customary closing conditions. The combined company’s securities will begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol PRE. Prenetics expects proceeds of at least $260 million from the merger, which it will use to support its growth.
Cytek Biosciences this week reported that its first quarter revenues grew 44 percent to $35.1 million from $24.3 million a year ago. The Fremont, California-based cell analysis technology company saw increases in both product and service revenues in the quarter, and said that it placed 116 instruments in Q1, expanding its installed base to 1,226 instruments. The company's net loss attributable to common stockholders was $2.0 million, or $.02 per share, with no year-over-year comparison as the company went public in a $200 million IPO in July 2021. Cytek adjusted its full year 2022 revenue outlook to the high end of the previously stated range of $160 million to $168 million.
HTG Molecular Diagnostics this week reported $1.2 million in revenues for the first quarter of 2022, down from $1.4 million during the same period last year. During the quarter, HTG harmonized sample prep protocols for its miRNA Whole-Transcriptome Assay and its HTG Transcriptome Panel, allowing customers to use a single tissue section and lysate method to run both panels. The company recorded a net loss of $6.5 million, or $.81 per share, in Q1 compared to a net loss of $4.8 million, or $.80 per share, for the year-ago quarter. HTG ended the quarter with $14.6 million in cash and cash equivalents and $6.9 million in short-term investments.
Applied DNA Sciences this week reported that revenues for the second quarter of its fiscal year more than doubled to $6.1 million from $2.7 million in the same quarter last year. The increase was in large part due to a $3.9 million rise in clinical laboratory service revenues from its SafeCircle COVID-19 testing platform, offset by a $557,000 decrease in product revenues, mainly from its Linea 1.0 COVID-19 Assay Kit. The Stony Brook, New York-based company booked a Q2 net loss of $1.8 million, or $.23 per share, compared to a net loss of $1.5 million, or $.21 per share, for the year-ago period. Applied DNA ended the quarter with $6.5 million in cash and cash equivalents.
The Medical College of Wisconsin said this week that it has received a $10 million gift from Linda and John Mellowes of Milwaukee and has named its genomic sciences and precision medicine center the Linda T. and John A. Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine. MCW will use the donation to establish three endowed chairs, in precision oncology, precision medicine, and bioinformatics and data analytics. In addition, the funding will go toward an endowed innovation and discovery fund to support the center's strategic research objectives.
VolitionRx said this week that it had a net loss of $7.7 million during Q1 compared to a net loss of $6.1 million in the same quarter a year ago. As of the end of March 31, the firm had $23.7 million in cash and cash equivalents.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on 360Dx.