NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – BioMérieux today reported that its second quarter revenues rose approximately 3 percent year over year. The firm attributed growth to a diversified geographic footprint and comprehensive offerings.
For the three months ended June 30, BioMérieux reported revenues of €582.2 million ($677.1 million), up from €566.4 million in the prior-year period. Organic growth, at constant exchange rates and scope of consolidation, was about 8 percent year over year.
Revenues for the clinical applications business, which includes microbiology, molecular biology, and immunoassays, rose 2 percent to €474.4 million from €464.0 million in Q2 2017.
Microbiology rose 1 percent to €236.6 million from €234.9 million in Q2 2017. BioMérieux said that microbiology benefitted from growth in sales of reagents and instruments in the BACT/ALERT line, particularly in China, as well as sales of lab automation systems in North America and Europe.
Molecular biology sales increased 16 percent to €155.1 million from €99.4 million in Q2 2017, with 30 percent growth in the FilmArray line, driven in part by rapid development of international sales.
Revenues in the immunoassays business segment were down nearly 6 percent to €113.9 million from €120.8 million in Q2 last year. The firm attributed the decrease to price pressure on its procalcitonin assays in the US that was partly offset by development of its Vidas line in other regions.
Industrial applications revenues in Q2 rose 5 percent to €107.9 million from €102.5 million in Q2 2017, which the firm attributed to growth in microbiology lines for pharmaceutical clients and sales of immunoassay and molecular biology solutions in agriculture and food testing applications.
BioMérieux reported an installed base at the end of the quarter of approximately 93,400 instruments, including 7,000 FilmArray instruments. The company said it had a net increase of 600 units, which included an addition of 2,300 instruments and the withdrawal from the installed base reporting scope of 1,700 instruments corresponding to lines that have been discontinued or are being taken off the market.
By region, BioMérieux sales in the Americas were essentially flat year over year at €246.9 million from €246.3 million. Sales were driven by FilmArray and BACT/ALERT, while sales of the Vidas immunoassay products slowed under price pressure while volumes continued to grow, the firm said.
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa saw growth of about 5 percent year over year, with Q2 2018 growth in Europe boosted by sales of industrial and clinical applications, as well as increased momentum in Africa for sales of the FilmArray system.
In Asia Pacific, sales were up 5 percent year over year to €108.1 million from €103.2 million. In China, sales rose by 15 percent on reagent sales for clinical and industrial microbiology applications.
In the quarter BioMérieux launched the Vikia screening test for hepatitis C virus and expanded the CE mark for the Vitek MS mass spec-based microbial ID system database, adding 217 bacteria species and 55 fungal species.
BioMérieux also announced that it is acquiring a minority interest in Suzhou Hybiome Biomedical Engineering. Hybiome develops and manufactures a range of automated immunoassay analyzers that have been cleared by China Food and Drug Administration.