NEW YORK — Diagnostics firm BioMérieux on Thursday reported that its first quarter revenues grew 8 percent year over year driven by strong performance across all of its business divisions and particularly its BioFire syndromic testing portfolio.
For the three-month period ended March 31, BioMérieux's consolidated revenues rose to €905.7 million ($997.6 million) from €837.1 million in the first quarter of 2022. On an organic basis (at constant exchange rates and scope of consolidation) revenues also increased roughly 8 percent.
Revenues for the company's clinical applications segment grew 8 percent in the quarter on a reported basis to €760.4 million from €703.8 million in the year-ago period. Within that segment, molecular biology sales, which include the BioFire portfolio, rose 10 percent to €352.7 million from €320.1 million.
BioFire sales were up 32 percent across all geographies, with respiratory panel sales growing 3 percent despite a decrease in demand related to an early slowdown of the respiratory pathogen season. The company noted that its installed base of BioFire systems increased by 500 during the first quarter, bringing the total installed base to about 24,000.
Also within clinical applications, microbiology sales were up 11 percent to €299.6 million from €269.0 million led by Vitek automated ID/AST and BACT/ALERT blood culture reagents. Revenues from immunoassays, meanwhile, were down approximately 9 percent to €95.6 million from €104.5 million related to downward trends in the US and China for procalcitonin assay sales.
Industrial application sales during the first quarter rose 9 percent year over year to €145.4 million from €133.3 million, which the firm said was fueled by high-single-digit sales growth in reagents.
"In line with its commitment to innovation for enhanced diagnostics, BioMérieux also had a strong momentum in terms of collaboration and key product launches," said BioMérieux Chairman and CEO Alexandre Mérieux in a statement, noting that the firm "had a good dynamic in this first quarter [and] the company delivered a solid sales performance both in clinical and industrial applications."
In the quarter, BioMérieux obtained 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for the BioFire SpotFire Respiratory (R) Panel Mini, which detects SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and B, respiratory syncytial virus, and rhinovirus in about 15 minutes. The firm will now apply for CLIA waiver for the assay. It also entered into a strategic partnership with Oxford Nanopore to bring nanopore sequencing to the infectious disease diagnostics market.
Also in Q1, BioMérieux submitted a 510(k) premarket notification to the FDA for the Vitek Reveal, formerly known as the Specific Reveal Rapid AST System, and BioFire Defense received a contract from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in the quarter to accelerate the development of the system. The firm also launched BioFire Fireworks software solution for its BioFire systems in the quarter.
BioMérieux confirmed its business outlook for 2023, guiding for organic sales growth between 8 percent and 10 percent, excluding respiratory panels, driven by growth of BioFire non-respiratory panels as well as microbiology and industrial applications. The company also said it expects net income in the range of €600 million to €630 million at forecast exchange rates, including a €40 million estimated unfavorable foreign exchange impact.