NEW YORK – Accelerate Diagnostics reported after the close of the market Thursday that its second quarter revenues were up 17 percent year over year.
The Tucson, Arizona-based maker of test systems for antibiotic resistance and sepsis reported total revenues of $2.1 million versus $1.8 million for the second quarter of 2019, and short of analysts' average expectation for sales of $2.5 million.
The company added six new commercially contracted Pheno instruments in the quarter and brought six live, including four in the US, it said.
Jack Phillips, president and CEO of Accelerate Diagnostics, said in a statement that the progress of new contracts and go-lives continued to be slowed by the effects of the pandemic, but utilization within the firm's existing base of live Pheno instruments continued to prove durable during the second quarter.
"Despite these external disruptions, our internal R&D teams have made considerable progress, enabling today's announcement of several new products as part of our enhanced portfolio strategy," Phillips said.
These new products include an AST-only test kit and a new workflow instrument, the PhenoPrep, the first application of which is enabling automated rapid MALDI identification results, Phillips said. Accelerate has also entered into an exclusive supply and collaboration arrangement with Ascend Diagnostics to commercialize a complementary desktop MALDI instrument.
"We are excited about these new additions to our product portfolio and believe they will help position Accelerate for sustained success and more rapid adoption of our technology as the market continues to recover from the unprecedented impacts of COVID-19," Phillips said.
Accelerate also recently submitted the final Emergency Use Authorization review items and data for the MS Fast fully-automated chemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer and SARS-CoV-2 tests for the detection of IgG and IgM to the US Food and Drug Administration.
Accelerate lowered its second quarter net loss to $19.2 million, or $.35 per share, from a loss of $20.8 million, or $.38 per share, in Q2 2019. Analysts, on average, had expected a loss of $.34 per share.
The company's R&D costs during the recently completed quarter were down 13 percent year over year to $5.3 million from $6.1 million as the result of increased efficiencies and lower external study spending. Its SG&A expenses declined 12 percent to $11.3 million from $12.8 million driven by pandemic-related reductions in sales and marketing costs related to travel and trade shows.
Accelerate finished the quarter with $47.4 million cash and cash equivalents.