NEW YORK (360Dx) – Roka Bioscience said after the close of the market on Thursday that its first quarter revenues grew 25 percent year over year.
For the three months ended March 31, the company posted $2.0 million in revenues, up from $1.6 million. Growth was driven by a 26 percent increase in the number of pathogen detection tests sold, Roka Bio said, as the number of Atlas molecular diagnostics instruments placed with customers grew to 54 in Q1 2017 compared to 44 in the year-ago quarter.
Roka's R&D spending was cut 30 percent to $1.4 million from $2.0 million, but its SG&A costs grew 11 percent to $4.9 million from $4.4 million.
Its net loss decreased to $7.6 million, or $1.53 per share, in Q1 2017 from a net loss of $8.2 million, or $4.66 per share, in Q1 2016. Roka used 5 million shares to calculate its loss per share in the recently completed quarter compared to 1.8 million shares in the year-ago quarter.
Roka finished the quarter with $1.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and $15.0 million in short-term marketable securities, it said.
Earlier this week, Roka said that it has entered into a five-year non-exclusive distribution agreement with FoodChek Systems to distribute FoodChek's proprietary Actero Elite and Actera Universal enrichment medias. Roka will pair the enrichment media with its Atlas integrated molecular testing platform and food safety assays.
"By pairing the innovative enrichment media products in FoodChek's Actero Media line with the advanced detection capabilities of the Atlas system, we can further our goal to deliver industry-leading accuracy and faster time to result for pathogen testing in the food industry," Roka President and CEO Mary Duseau said in a statement.