NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) - Nanosphere today announced after the close of the market that its third quarter revenues rose 33 percent on sales of its Verigene Gram Positive and Gram Negative Blood Culture Tests.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, the Northbrook, Illinois-based molecular diagnostics company said it posted record-high revenues of $4.9 million, up from $3.7 million a year ago, and in line with the average Wall Street expectation.
Sales of the blood culture tests in the quarter increased 69 percent year over year compared to Q3 2014, the firm said in a statement.
On a conference call following the release of the results, Nanosphere President and CEO Michael McGarrity said that the firm continues to make progress on increasing adoption of the Verigene system. Having made an additional 26 customer placements in the quarter and being able to manage working capital, the firm can focus on "[moving] customers through their evaluation and validation activity and into consistent utilization" of the test menu, he said.
He added that Nanosphere demonstrated a functional prototype of its next-generation Verigene Flex system at last week's Association for Molecular Pathology meeting and remains on track to begin clinical trials by the end of the year.
Nanosphere's net loss for the quarter was $8.8 million, or $1.31 per share, compared to a net loss of $9.6 million, or $2.52 per share, a year ago, and falling short of the average analyst estimate of a $1.15 loss per share.
The firm's R&D spending plummeted 37 percent to $3.5 million from $5.5 million during the third quarter of 2014, attributable to the timing of clinical studies. Its SG&A costs increased 7 percent to $5.4 million from $5.1 million in Q3 2014.
Nanosphere ended the quarter with $12.3 million in cash and cash equivalents and $4 million in restricted cash.
The firm affirmed its full-year 2015 revenue guidance in the range of $18 million to $20 million.
In Tuesday morning trade on the Nasdaq, shares of Nanosphere were down 8 percent at $1.62.