NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – OpGen reported after the close of the market on Thursday that its fourth quarter revenues sank 24 percent as increases in laboratory services and collaboration revenues were offset by a decrease in product sales.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, the company reported total revenues of $1.0 million, down from $1.3 million in Q4 2015.
Product sales fell nearly 36 percent to $818,488 from $1.3 million a year earlier. Lab services revenues rose 41 percent to $46,774 from $33,275, and collaboration revenues jumped 409 percent to $141,301 from $27,762 year over year.
"In 2016, our investments in genomics and informatics for infectious disease management issues caused by multi-drug-resistant organisms began to pay off. We successfully moved our Acuitas Rapid Test for drug-resistant genes and pathogens and our Acuitas Lighthouse antibiotic resistance prediction technology to the development phase," OpGen Chairman and CEO Evan Jones said in a statement. "We also achieved key milestones including a strategic research collaboration with Merck and compelling data on health outcomes from our partnerships with distinguished US health systems and collaborators."
On a conference call with analysts following the release of the earnings, Jones added that the company has received positive feedback on the potential of Acuitas to help clinicians predict antibiotic resistance, and that it's pushing hard to release several new products and services in 2017.
OpGen's Q4 net loss widened slightly to $4.8 million from $4.7 million a year earlier. However, the firm's net loss per share narrowed to $.21 from $.38 in Q4 2015 as the number of weighted average shares outstanding rose to 22.5 million from 12.5 million year over year.
The firm's R&D costs during the quarter rose 10 percent to $2.3 million from $2.1 million, while SG&A expenses fell 18 percent to $2.8 million from $3.4 million in the prior year period.
For full-year 2016, OpGen reported total revenues rose 27 percent to $4.0 million from $3.2 million in 2015.
Product sales rose 30 percent to $3.5 million from $2.7 million a year earlier, while lab services revenues rose 90 percent to $228,904 from $120,476. Collaboration revenues sank 19 percent to $272,603 from $336,102 year over year.
OpGen's 2016 net loss widened to $19.2 million from $17.4 million a year earlier. However, the firm's net loss per share narrowed to $1.10 from $2.20 in 2015 as the number of weighted average shares outstanding rose to 17.7 million from 8.0 million year over year.
Its R&D costs during the year rose 43 percent to $8.6 million from $6.0 million, while SG&A expenses rose 20 percent to $12.1 million from $10.1 million in the prior-year period.
OpGen ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $4.1 million.
For 2017, Jones said in his statement, the firm plans to grow its business in the US and in international markets. "We are focused on advancing the development of the Acuitas brand of rapid diagnostic products alongside the Acuitas Lighthouse Knowledgebase with a goal of implementing the technology for external research use in the second half of the year," he added.
On the call, he said OpGen is planning to introduce Acuitas test kits for research use only in Q4 2017. The firm is also completing testing of 10,000 multi-drug-resistant organisms and aims to finish that in Q2. Acuitas rapid tests will be deployed to customer sites in Q3, and commercial sales will begin in Q4. The rapid diagnosis and management of complicated urinary tract infections is OpGen's first target indication.
Jones said OpGen is also making plans to get these products CE marked and FDA cleared, as the year progresses.
Though the company didn't provide specific anticipated revenue numbers, CFO Tim Dec noted that OpGen is anticipating a slight downtick in revenues in the first half of the year as it steps away from its legacy genome mapping business. Those numbers are expected to bounce back in H2 2017.