NEW YORK – Standard BioTools this week reported fourth quarter revenues of $27.0 million, down 30 percent from $38.3 million a year ago. The South San Francisco, California-based omics research tools provider reported $20.9 million in product revenue and $5.9 million in service revenue in the quarter. Standard BioTools' Q4 net loss ballooned to $20.8 million, or $.26 per share, from $9.4 million, or $.12 per share, in the year-ago quarter. As previously disclosed, in Q4 the company implemented the next phase of its restructuring plan, which is expected to result in more than $35 million in GAAP operating expense reductions for 2023. For full-year 2022, the company logged total revenues of $97.9 million, down 25 percent from $130.6 million in 2021. Net loss in 2022 swelled to $190.1 million, or $2.43 per share, from $59.2 million, or $.78 per share in the prior year. The company finished the year with $81.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and $84.5 million in short-term investments.
Standard BioTools said that it expects proteomics to be its primary future growth driver, and as such, it plans to launch its next-generation imaging mass cytometry system, the Hyperion XTi Imaging System, in April at the American Association for Cancer Research conference.
Accenture said this week that its Accenture Ventures investment arm has made an unspecified investment in bioinformatics startup Ocean Genomics. Pittsburgh-based Ocean has developed software to predict mRNA expression for in silico drug discovery.
As part of the deal, Ocean has joined Project Spotlight, an Accenture Ventures program that helps connect software startups with major public companies.
Oxford Nanopore Technologies said this week that it is expanding a collaboration with UPS Healthcare to accelerate the delivery of its sequencing instruments and consumables in the Asia-Pacific region. UPS Healthcare will store Oxford Nanopore flow cells at its temperature-controlled distribution facility in Singapore and deliver them within 24 to 48 hours using its cold chain distribution capabilities. The partners will aim for same-day dispatch and faster delivery of flow cells in the region. The agreement follows a collaboration signed last year for the US and Canada, and the partners plan to add additional regions, including Australia, later this year.
Ginkgo Bioworks said this week that it is collaborating with the Rwanda Biomedical Centre on a one-year pathogen monitoring program at Kigali International Airport to identify new and emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2. The firm's biosecurity business, Concentric by Ginkgo, will help monitor wastewater samples from arriving aircraft and voluntary nasal swab samples from arriving international travelers. Ginkgo signed a memorandum of understanding on biosecurity with Rwanda in August.
Ginkgo also announced a partnership to optimize the enzymes in Zymtronix's cell-free platform for the manufacture of food, agriculture, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical ingredients. Under the terms of the deal, Ginkgo will optimize the enzymes for expression and production performance. Financial and other terms were not disclosed.
Abbott this week declared a quarterly dividend of $.51 per share payable on May 15 to shareholders of record at the close of business on April 14.
Biosero and Analytik Jena announced a comarketing agreement for their lab automation technologies this week. Under the agreement, the firms will showcase the value of pairing instruments from Jena, Germany-based Analytik Jena — which include a PCR thermal cycler, a real-time PCR thermal cycler, and a liquid handling system — with San Diego-based Biosero's Green Button Go lab automation software.
Alercell, a molecular diagnostics company based in Bozeman, Montana, said this week that it is opening a UK subsidiary, Alercell UK, that will have its principal office in London, including an R&D facility for neuroscience research that is expected to be operational this summer. Alercell is also in the process of founding a French subsidiary, Alercell France, that will be based in Paris and offer the firm's cancer and leukemia diagnostic tests.
Bruker said this week that its board of directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $.05 per share of the firm's common stock, payable on March 17 to stockholders of record as of March 1.
Lunit, a South Korean company that makes artificial intelligence technology for cancer diagnostics and treatment, said this week that it has established a wholly owned subsidiary for the European market. With the new Lunit Europe Holdings, to be based in Amsterdam, the firm seeks to build up its sales force on the continent as well as strengthen and expand partnerships with medical device manufacturers. Notably, Lunit, which went public last year, has a partnership with Guardant Health.
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.