NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – GeneNews today reported that its net loss rose 74 percent year over year on higher R&D costs as the firm rolled its first commercial biomarker test.
The Toronto-based firm brought in revenues of $288,438 for the three-month period ended June 30, compared to no revenues in the second quarter of 2007. It said revenue from the most recent quarter came from a collaboration with an Asian biomedical consortium to identify and validate a set of biomarkers for prostate disease.
"The launch of our first commercial product, ColonSentry, a blood test to assess a patient's current risk of having colorectal cancer, marks the completion of our company's transition into a fully commercial enterprise,” Heiner Dreismann, lead director and interim CEO of GeneNews, said in a statement.
"Over the coming quarters, our focus will be on driving adoption of ColonSentry in Canada, subsequent launches of the test in Asia, the United States and Europe, and further development of our pipeline of innovative molecular diagnostic tests for a range of disease indications,” he added.
GeneNews posted a net loss of $4 million, or $.07 per share, for the quarter compared to a loss of $2.3 million, or $.04 per share, in the comparable quarter of 2007.
The firm’s R&D expenses jumped to $3 million from $1.7 million year over year, and its SG&A spending increased 25.4 percent to $806,675 from $643,191.
GeneNews finished the quarter with $6.7 million in cash and cash equivalents. The firm said that it believes it has adequate resources to continue operating through the first quarter of 2009.