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JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, Day 4: Standard BioTools, Geneoscopy, OraSure Technologies

SAN FRANCISCO – Companies in the diagnostics and genomics tools markets wrapped up the last day of the 43rd annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Thursday with updates about their businesses and the industry. 

Below are brief reports on conference presentations by three companies on Thursday. Check elsewhere on our site for summaries of company presentations from Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.

Standard BioTools 

Standard BioTools CEO Michael Egholm said the firm has "reached a tipping point" for its SomaScan proteomics technology, calling it the "crown jewel" of its product portfolio.

More than 1,000 studies have now been published that use the technology, which can assay thousands of proteins in blood. "More importantly, we're seeing pharma companies publishing on how they use our tech," he said.

Earlier this month, researchers from Novo Nordisk published a paper in Nature Medicine on their use of SomaScan to assay more than 6,000 proteins in a 1,900-person cohort that had been treated with semaglutide, also known as Ozempic or Wegovy. They were able to see proteomic changes in the patients after treatment and "elucidate the mechanisms of action for all the benefits this drug class has," Egholm said, including cardiovascular health benefits. 

With Illumina set to launch a distributed proteomics assay based on SomaScan and next-generation sequencing as a readout, the technology is set to "reach its full potential," he said. 

"We're at an amazing point in time," Egholm said. "Pharma is fully embracing it. We have proof we can scale to [cover] half the proteome, which has always been a question. And now we have the enabling breakthrough with Illumina." 

Earlier this week, Standard BioTools said it expects fourth quarter revenues of $46.5 million, up 65 percent from the year-ago quarter, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $43.0 million. For full-year 2024, the firm expects revenues of $174.0 million, up 64 percent year over year and beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $171.2 million. 

Egholm noted that a year after acquiring SomaLogic, the company has already reduced that firm’s operating expenses by $80 million. 

Consistent with its modus operandi, the firm is planning to acquire four to six companies over the next two years, Egholm said, noting it was an "opportune" time to be buying companies or technologies. 

"The market desperately needs consolidation," he said. "Valuations are down, funding is down, but innovation hasn't stopped. In fact, I would argue there's more innovation than ever."

Geneoscopy 

Geneoscopy CEO and Cofounder Andrew Barnell on Thursday discussed the importance of the firm's partnership with Laboratory Corporation of America as it rolls out commercial access to its ColoSense test for colorectal cancer following approval by the US Food and Drug Administration last year. 

Labcorp was one of the investors in the firm's $105 million Series C financing round announced last week. 

The firms also signed a multiyear agreement last summer to increase access to ColoSense, a CRC screening tool that analyzes RNA from stool samples. Having Labcorp as a partner on the front end makes it "easy to integrate our tests into existing contracts," Barnell said. Moreover, the clinical lab giant has a large distribution network and sales reps that can help sell primary care and other physicians on the test. Labcorp is the leading fecal immunochemical test provider in the US, he noted. 

"Inbound interest has been huge since FDA approval," he said, and the firm is hoping its test will soon be included in a national coverage determination (NCD) for CRC screening. Last year, Geneoscopy made a request to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reconsider the NCD to including stool-based RNA tests. Though it's hard to know exactly when that might happen, Barnell said, "we expect it to be added, and we expect it to be this year." 

He did not provide specifics about a launch timeline for ColoSense but said it will also be this year. 

Geneoscopy is expecting the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board to soon make a decision on whether to institute inter partes review of an Exact Sciences patent that is central to a lawsuit between the firms. 

Barnell also spoke about the firm's plans to expand into inflammatory bowel disease testing, including sponsoring a study on IBD "to begin product development outside of our pharma partners." 

"We have the perfect platform to service this entire market," he said. 

OraSure Technologies 

OraSure Technologies CEO Carrie Eglinton Manner said that the firm's recent $25 million acquisition of Sherlock Biosciences represents its commitment to increase innovation in its diagnostics and sample management businesses through internal and external opportunities. 

The Sherlock acquisition, announced last month, will allow OraSure to further penetrate the instrument-free molecular diagnostics market with its upcoming Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) test, which is currently undergoing clinical trials. The company expects to submit the 30-minute test for US Food and Drug Administration approval for over-the-counter use by the end of this year, Manner said. 

Meantime, the firm's $30 million investment and distribution agreement with Sapphiros will help it expand further into the digital lateral flow and molecular point-of-care markets as well as new sample types, Manner added. Sapphiros' SatioDot and SatioDraw at-home blood collection devices are expected to launch later this year. 

OraSure is also launching a research-use-only blood-based proteomics product in 2025 that utilizes specific chemistry to provide protein-specific sample stabilization at ambient temperatures and will be compatible with a broad range of proteomic methodologies, she said. 

According to Manner, the company's strategy for capital deployment has been to invest in companies with innovative diagnostic opportunities or new sample management types and analytes, whether through distribution agreements or M&A. "The distribution agreements we have done have purely been about expanding access to innovation," she added. 

OraSure has been and continues to be willing to explore both organic and inorganic opportunities. "We're diligently continuing to look, and we've got a cash balance that allows us to do that," Manner said.