NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – BG Medicine today reported third quarter revenues of $334,000, down 52 percent from $695,000 in the third quarter of 2014.
The decline was due to a drop in product revenues from sales of the company's BGM Galectin-3 test, which fell to $274,000 in the quarter, down 59 percent from $669,000 in Q3 2014. Product fee revenues were up 57 percent to $60,000 compared to $26,000 in the year-ago period.
BG's net loss attributable to common shareholders for the quarter was $2.6 million, or $.27 per share, up from a net loss of $2.4 million, or $.28 per share, in the third quarter of last year.
For the quarter, the company's R&D spending was down 54 percent to $333,000 from $724,000 in Q3 2014. Its SG&A expenses dropped to $924,000, down 53 percent from $2 million in the year-ago period.
In a statement accompanying the release of the financial results, BG CEO Paul Sohmer said the company had with its partner Abbott Diagnostics launched an automated version of its galectin-3 assay during the quarter and that it expected “that product fees generated through the initial sales of the automated tests for galectin-3 in the US … will be reported next quarter.”
He noted that during the first three quarters of 2015 the company had raised additional capital while focusing on reducing its operating expenses and cash burn to ensure it has “adequate resources to provide support to the development, market introduction, and market expansion of automated testing for galectin-3 by our automated partners.”
In August, BG made an offering of common stock and warrants aimed at bringing in net proceeds of $2.1 million. In May, the company entered into a securities purchase agreement with its principal shareholders Applied Genomic Technology Capital Fund, AGTC Advisors Fund, and Flagship Ventures Fund, selling them secured convertible promissory notes totaling $500,000 and agreeing to sell them $2 million in newly created Series A preferred stock.
The company ended the quarter with $2.6 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Moving galectin-3 testing to an automated platform has long been a key part of BG Medicine’s commercial strategy, the expectation being that such a move would increase uptake of the test by improving throughput and turnaround time, and reducing the amount of labor involved in running it.
In addition to Abbott, the company has partnered with Alere, Siemens, and BioMérieux on developing automated versions of the test.
Sohmer noted that the drop in Q3 revenues was due largely to a decline in orders from the company’s largest clinical laboratory customer, which emerged from bankruptcy in Q4 of 2015.
In Tuesday morning trading on the OTC market, BG Medicine shares were down 24 percent at $51.