NEW YORK – Aspira Women's Health reported after the close of the market on Thursday that its fourth quarter revenues were up 11 percent year over year.
Separately, the Austin, Texas-based company said it has signed an agreement with the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Medical University Lodz to evaluate their microRNA technology combined with Aspira's current technologies in order to develop a highly sensitive and specific high-risk, early detection test for ovarian cancer.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Over the past 10 years, Aspira has been actively developing and evaluating numerous technologies that will advance early detection of ovarian cancer. With our focused expertise and experience in multi-modality detection of ovarian cancer risk, we have the foundation to implement a liquid biopsy test specific to early-stage disease detection," Aspira CSO Lesley Northrop said in a statement.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2020, the company reported total revenues of $1.4 million, up from $1.3 million in Q4 2019.
Aspira posted $1.4 million in product revenues from sales of its OVA1 ovarian cancer test and genetic testing, up 11 percent from $1.3 million in the prior-year quarter. Revenues from its genetic testing business were $44,000, up 100 percent from $22,000 the year before. The company had no service revenues in Q4 2020, compared to $2,000 in Q4 2019. Aspira stopped taking on new services business inn Q3 2019.
The company performed 3,849 OVA1 tests in Q4 2020, essentially flat with 3,854 in Q4 2019.
On a conference call following release of the earnings, Vermillion CFO Bob Beechey said that OVA1 test volumes grew 7 percent sequentially from Q3 to Q4 of 2020, and noted that this improvement reflected an increase in doctor visits as "patients have adjusted to the COVID environment."
Valerie Palmier, Aspira's president and CEO, announced that the company was moving up the target launch date of its OVASight test for managing suspected benign pelvic masses to the fourth quarter of 2021 with availability nationwide planned for 2022.
She noted that the company had planned to launch the test in 2022 but that the test, previously named OvaNext, would be ready ahead of that original schedule. The test is intended for monitoring women with a likely benign mass who have not undergone surgery and are not planning surgery.
Additionally, Palmieri said that in Q1 2021, Aspira had submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration for breakthrough device designation for its EndoCheck test for diagnosing endometriosis.
The firm's Q4 2020 net loss was $6.1 million, or $.58 per share, compared to $3.4 million, or $.03 per share, a year ago.
Aspira's R&D spending rose 200 percent in Q4 2020 to $734,000 from $244,000 in Q4 2019 while its SG&A spending was $5.6 million, up 52 percent from $3.7 million in Q4 2019.
Beechey noted that this jump in R&D spending was primarily due to costs associated with development of the OvaSight test as well as investments in bioinformatics.
For full-year 2020, the company posted revenues of $4.7 million, up 3 percent from 4.5 million in 2019.
Product revenues were $4.5 million, up 2 percent from $4.4 million in 2019, while service revenues were $13,000 in 2020, down 88 percent from $112,000 in 2019. Revenues from genetic testing were $108,000, almost five times the $22,000 recorded the year before.
The company did not break out full-year OVA1 test volumes, but full-year combined OVA1 and genetic test volumes were 13,864, up 7 percent from 12,994 units in 2019.
For full-year 2020, Aspira's net loss was $17.9 million, or $.18 per share, compared to a net loss of $15.2 million, or $.18 per share, in 2019.
The company's R&D costs in 2020 were up 107 percent year over year to $2.1 million from 1.0 million, while its SG&A costs were up 11 percent to $17.1 million from $15.5 million.
Aspira finished 2020 with $16.6 million in cash and cash equivalents.
The company performed 3,849 OVA1 tests in Q4 2020, essentially flat with 3,854 in Q4 2019.
The firm's Q4 2020 net loss was $6.1 million, or $.58 per share, compared to $3.4 million, or $.03 per share, a year ago.
Aspira's R&D spending rose 200 percent in Q4 2020 to $734,000 from $244,000 in Q4 2019 while its SG&A spending was $5.6 million, up 52 percent from $3.7 million in Q4 2019.
For full-year 2020, the company posted revenues of $4.7 million, up 3 percent from 4.5 million in 2019.
Product revenues were $4.5 million, up 2 percent from $4.4 million in 2019, while service revenues were $13,000 in 2020, down 88 percent from $112,000 in 2019. Revenues from genetic testing were $108,000, almost five times the $22,000 recorded the year before.
The company did not break out full-year OVA1 test volumes, but full-year combined OVA1 and genetic test volumes were 13,864, up 7 percent from 12,994 units in 2019.
For full-year 2020, Aspira's net loss was $17.9 million, or $.18 per share, compared to a net loss of $15.2 million, or $.18 per share, in 2019.
The company's R&D costs in 2020 were up 107 percent year over year to $2.1 million from 1.0 million, while its SG&A costs were up 11 percent to $17.1 million from $15.5 million.
Aspira finished 2020 with $16.6 million in cash and cash equivalents.