NEW YORK – Genetic Signatures of Australia said this week that it had A$4.9 million (US$3.4 million) in revenues for Q4 of its fiscal year 2022, which ended June 30, down 10 percent from A$5.4 million in Q4 of FY2021. The firm attributed the downturn to a decrease in SARS-CoV-2 molecular testing in both Australia and international markets. Genetic Signatures did not report net income or loss for the quarter. For fiscal year 2022, the company reported A$35.4 million in sales, up 25 percent from A$28.3 million in FY2021. As of June 30, Genetic Signatures held A$36.9 million in cash.
SEngine Precision Medicine said this week that it has raised $19 million in a Series A funding round. Participants in the Series A2 round, which closed this week, included the Washington Research Foundation along with Alethea Fulcrum Fund, Vincere Capital Biotech, Bangarang Group, and unnamed investors. The Seattle-based company spun out of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 2015 and is developing a precision oncology platform that uses patient tumor samples to conduct ex vivo drug sensitivity testing, using a platform called PARIS, and to inform drug discovery. SEngine will use the proceeds to fund its drug discovery initiatives, pharmaceutical partnerships, and clinical validation of the PARIS test platform.
Diagnostics firm Inex Innovate of Singapore said this week that it has provided an undisclosed amount of funding to researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to further develop Inex’s fetal cell isolation and enrichment technology, Lexi, for noninvasive prenatal testing. The Lexi technology uses a microfluidic chip with a microfabricated filter to deplete most non-target cells in a blood sample and capture fetal cells. The funding will support research by Richard Choy, a professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at CUHK.
IndyGeneUS AI said this week that it has opened its first next-generation sequencing laboratory in Africa on the Cape Health Innovation Campus in Cape Town, South Africa. The Washington, D.C.-based company plans to create a blockchain-encrypted repository of clinical and genomic data from Africans and the African diaspora in hopes of closing gaps in health equity.
Rheonix said this week that it has opened a CLIA-certified clinical laboratory near the company's headquarters in Ithaca, New York. Rheonix Laboratories has New York state authorization to provide COVID-19 testing and results and will be partnering with organizations such as pharmacies, schools, long-term care facilities, and county and municipal health departments to provide low-cost testing. The laboratory specifically provides the Rheonix COVID-19 MDx assay, which was granted US Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization in April 2020.
Seqster PDM said this week that it has entered into a three-year partnership with Boehringer Ingelheim to create a data portal for patients and researchers in clinical trials. Called the Digital Front Door, the portal will run on the Seqster Operating System to support informed consent, data integration, and interoperability. The SeqsterOS platform collects information from wearables, consumer genetic tests, electronic health records, and social determinants of health to create regularly updated longitudinal health records.
ProPhase Labs said this week that its board of directors has authorized a stock repurchase program of up to $6 million. The program will become effective three days after Garden City, New York-based ProPhase reports its second quarter 2022 earnings on Aug. 12. Following that date, and for six months thereafter, repurchases may be made through open market transactions, privately negotiated transactions, block trades, or any combination thereof, in accordance with applicable federal securities laws.
PerkinElmer last week declared a quarterly dividend of $.07 per share of its common stock. The dividend will be payable on Nov. 11 to all stockholders of record as of the close of business on Oct. 21.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on GenomeWeb.