NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Enzo Biochem reported after the close of the market yesterday a 6 percent drop in its FY 2014 revenues year over year.
Separately, the firm announced today a deal with Flagship Biosciences to develop companion diagnostics for anatomic pathology applications.
Enzo said that revenues for its fiscal first quarter dropped to $24.1 million from $25.6 million a year ago. Clinical laboratory services for the three months ended Oct. 31 slid to $14.9 million from $15.2 million a year ago, product revenues were down to $7.7 million from $8.4 million, and royalty and license fee income decreased to $1.6 million from $2.0 million.
The Enzo Life Sciences segment saw revenues narrow to $9.3 million from $10.5 million a year ago, the company said, as academic and government labs continued to trim R&D funding. Planned reductions in lower margin products also affected revenues, Enzo said.
Revenues generated from the Enzo Clinical Labs segment ticked up to $14.9 million from $14.0 million a year ago.
The firm's net loss for Q1 FY 2014 was down to $2.8 million, or $.07 per share, compared to a net loss of $3.7 million, or $.09 per share, a year ago.
Enzo ended the quarter with $7.4 million in cash and cash equivalents.
In a statement, Enzo President Barry Weiner said that the company remains "focused on our developing technologies that offer enhanced efficiencies and materially reduced costs for the clinical diagnostics market, in addition to new assays in line with increasing attention paid to molecular diagnostics.
"We are moving to increase our position as a segment innovator, and in that regard, have underway the development of a strategic program incorporating comprehensive molecular diagnostic products and services based on high performance new platforms focusing on, amongst others, women's health," he said.
Its partnership with Flagship calls for the companies to deliver tissue-based in situ hybridization companion diagnostics to drug manufacturers who require such tools. Enzo will apply its technology, reagents, and protocols and analysis of nucleic acid in tissue to the deal. Its capabilities are being combined with Flagship's software imaging and histopathology methods, the firms said.
Joe Krueger, CSO of Flagship, said in a statement that the firms would "offer an independent, flexible, complete service for the development of companion diagnostics in anatomic pathology."
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.