Biomerieux Q3 Sales Up 7 Percent

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Biomerieux reported today that its third quarter revenues rose 7 percent from Q3 2015, including a 46 percent jump in molecular biology sales.  

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported total revenues of €510.8 million ($557.3 million) from €478.3 million a year ago.

The firm's industrial applications sales rose 7 percent year over year to €93.6 million. This was due in part to strong performance of the Vidas and Vitek and culture media lines in food industry application, which the firm said outpaced an increase in sales of culture media and flow cytometry products to the pharmaceutical industry. There was also a nearly 2 percent increase in sales related to subsidiary BioFire Defense.

Revenues from clinical applications, meanwhile, were up more than 8 percent in the third quarter to €405.6 million. This was largely due to a 46 percent increase in revenues from the molecular biology subcategory, which grew to €73.5 million in the quarter from €50.3 million in Q3 of 2015. The firm noted that expansion in installations of the BioFire FilmArray system — to an installed base of almost 3,500 units — and the success of the firm's gastrointestinal panel, helped boost sales in the FilmArray line.

During Q3, Biomerieux also received clearance from the Chinese Food and Drug Administration for its FilmArray 2.0 system, and panels are still being reviewed by local authorities there. Its BioFire affiliate was granted CLIA waiver for the FilmArray Respiratory Panel to be used outside of a laboratory setting, and commercial launch is expected in November.

In immunoassays, sales of the Vidas line of products rose nearly 7 percent in the third quarter driven by expansion in emerging markets, while overall Immunoassay sales increased nearly 3 percent to €108.4 million from €105.7 million.

Also within clinical applications, the firm's microbiology segment sales increased 3 percent to €222.6 million from €216.2 million. This increase was driven by sales of the BacT/Alert blood culture line, including the latest Virtuo version, and sales of culture media. The firm further noted that sales in its Vitek automated bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility testing lines continued to grow in all regions.

Globally, the biggest sales increase was in North America, which was up 18 percent to €179.1 million from €151.7 million in the year-ago period. Sales in Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region increased by 8 percent and 12 percent, respectively, while sales in Europe, including the Middle East and Africa, fell 1 percent. Notably, sales in the UK fell sharply due to negative currency effects.