NEW YORK — Exagen on Wednesday reported a 6 percent year-over-year increase in fourth quarter revenues as the company benefitted from its copromotion alliance with Janssen Biotech.
For the three-month period ended Dec. 31, 2019, Exagen's revenues rose to $10.2 million from $9.6 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenues from its autoimmune disease testing portfolio, including its flagship Avise CTD lupus assessment test, were flat year over year at $9.6 million as higher testing volume was offset by lower average selling prices.
In December 2018, Exagen signed an agreement to copromote Janssen's Simponi (golimumab), a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and certain other rheumatic diseases, in the US. Fourth quarter revenues from that deal were approximately $600,000.
Exagen posted a fourth quarter net loss of $3.4 million, or $.27 per share, versus a net loss of $1.3 million, or $66.23 per share, in the year-ago quarter. The number of shares used to determine Exagen's loss per share were substantially greater in Q4 2019 due to the company's initial public offering in September.
Its fourth quarter R&D spending ticked up slightly to $566,000 from $533,000, while SG&A costs jumped nearly 50 percent year over year to $7.9 million from $5.3 million, in part due to a salesforce expansion supporting the Janssen arrangement.
Exagen's full-year 2019 revenues increased 25 percent year over year to $40.4 million from $32.4 million, driven by a 20 percent year-over-year increase in testing revenue to $38.9 million, as well as $1.5 million in Simponi copromotion revenue.
The San Diego, California-based company reported a full-year 2019 net loss of $12.0 million, or $8.46 per share, compared with a net loss of $8.0 million, or $293.34 per share, the year before.
R&D expenses for 2019 were up about 4 percent year over year to $2.2 million from $2.1 million, as SG&A costs rose 46 percent to $28.7 million from $19.7 million.
At the end of 2019, Exagen had cash and cash equivalents totaling $72.1 million.