NEW YORK – PerkinElmer said this week that it completed its previously announced $2.45 billion divestiture of its applied, food, and enterprise services business to New Mountain Capital. The remaining company will become a high-growth life sciences and diagnostics firm, the new name of which will be announced during the second quarter of this year. The analytical, food, and enterprise services businesses will retain the PerkinElmer name and brand. PerkinElmer Life Sciences and Diagnostics President and CEO Prahlad Singh said in a statement that the firm has "an immense opportunity to continue to lead with science and redefine human health."
Bruker said in its recent 10-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that on Jan. 3 it acquired 100 percent of proteomics firm Biognosys for CHF 75 million ($80.1 million) and then issued and sold stock in Biognosys to the two founding shareholders representing a 2.8 percent interest in the company. Bruker had previously announced only that it had taken a majority stake in the company.
Calibre Scientific this week said it has acquired German diagnostics firm AlphaScience for an undisclosed amount. AlphaScience will be integrated with Calibre subsidiary Biozol Diagnostica, bolstering that firm's product offerings to the German, Austrian, and Swiss region. Based in Frankfurt, AlphaScience provides consumables and equipment for the commercial, lab, clinical lab, academic, research, and hospital industries. Its products cover the autoimmune, allergy, clinical chemistry, infectious disease, molecular diagnostics, general lab supply, and reagents markets. Calibre is based in Los Angeles and provides life science reagents, tools, instruments, and consumables to the research, diagnostics, industrial, and biopharmaceutical markets.
Prenetics said this week that its Q4 2022 revenues were down 19 percent to $52.3 million from $64.7 million a year ago. The genomics and precision oncology company had a profit of $1.6 million, or $.01 per share, compared to a net loss of $85.7 million, or $5.87 per share, a year ago. The firm calculated Q4 2022 EPS using approximately 162.7 million shares compared to about 14.6 million shares in the year-ago period. It reduced its selling and distribution expenses to $2.5 million from $10.4 million in the prior-year period, and lowered its R&D spending to $3.6 million from $5.5 million.
Prenetics went public in May 2022.
For full-year 2022, Prenetics' revenues slipped slightly to $275.8 million from $275.9 million a year ago. The firm had a net loss of $190.5 million, or $2.50 per share, in 2022, compared to a net loss of $174.0 million, or $11.92 per share, in 2021. It used more than 76 million shares to calculate loss per share in 2022 compared to about 14.6 million shares in 2021. Selling and distribution expenses for 2022 were reduced to $13.3 million from $21.9 million in 2021. Its R&D costs grew to $15.5 million from $10.6 million.
Prenetics ended 2022 with $146.7 million in cash and cash equivalents and $19.9 million in short-term deposits.
T2 Biosystems reported this week that its fourth quarter revenues declined 21 percent to $5.5 million from $7.0 million in the year-ago period. Product revenue declined 45 percent to $2.2 million from $4.0 million, while contribution revenue rose 10 percent to $3.3 million from $3.0 million. The firm posted a net loss for the quarter of $10.4 million, or $1.41 per share, compared to a net loss of $12.1 million, or $3.65 per share, a year ago.
For the full year, T2 reported a 21 percent decline in revenues to $22.3 million from $28.1 million in 2021. Product revenue for 2022 declined 32 percent to $11.3 million from $16.6 million, while contribution revenue decreased 4 percent to $11.0 million from $11.4 million. For the full year, T2 reported a net loss of $62.3 million, or $12.28 per share, compared to a net loss of $49.2 million, or $15.50 per share, in 2021. In a statement, the company said it achieved a record full-year sepsis-driven T2Dx instrument placements of 51 contracts.
Co-Diagnostics reported this week its fiscal third quarter revenues fell 83 percent year-over-year to $5.1 million from $30.1 million in the year-ago period. The firm recorded a net loss of $1.4 million, or $.04 per share, compared with net income of $11.5 million, or $.38 per share, a year ago. The firm ended the quarter with $81.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and $5.0 million in marketable securities. Co-Diagnostics CEO Dwight Egan said in a statement the company's Co-Dx PCR Home platform is nearing its final stages of development, the company plans to begin clinical trials "in the very near future," and the firm's positive cash flow from operations supported development and optimization efforts for that platform. He predicts the instrument will become "the new standard for PCR at-home and point-of-care testing," and the company is expanding its suite of tests for its clinical laboratory business segment.
Esophageal cancer testing firm Lucid Diagnostics reported this week that its fourth quarter revenues declined 63 percent year over year to $112,000 from $300,000 in Q4 2021. The New York City-based subsidiary of Pavmed posted a Q4 net loss of $14.9 million, or $.47 per share, compared to a net loss of $11.3 million, or $.32 per share, one year prior. Adjusted Q4 loss per share was $.33.
For the full year, the firm reported $377,000 in revenues, down 25 percent from $500,000 in 2021. Net loss was $56.2 million, or $1.55 per share, compared to a net loss of $28.1 million, or $1.51 per share, in 2021. Adjusted loss per share for 2022 was $1.08. Company officials said in a statement that the firm processed 1,174 EsoGuard Esophageal DNA tests in Q4, up 288 percent year over year, and they predict a continued upward trend to 1,600 tests in Q1 2023.
Euformatics said this week that it has expanded an existing partnership with ViennaLab Diagnostics to develop a 16S rRNA test using next-generation sequencing technology. The test, intended to support species-level classification of the gut microbiome, will include NGS library prep chemistry, operational protocols, and bioinformatics analysis.
Roche shareholders this week approved an increase in the dividend for the past financial year to CHF 9.50 per share and nonvoting equity security. It is the 36th consecutive dividend increase.
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.