NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Roka Bioscience reported on Friday that its second quarter revenues rose 20 percent year over year thanks to an increase in the number of Atlas molecular pathogen detection instruments placed with customers.
For the three months ended June 30, the firm reported total revenues of $1.8 million, up from $1.5 million a year ago. As of June 30, the company had placed 46 instruments with customers under commercial agreements, up from 44 instruments as of March 31.
"We believe the increased attention to food safety from regulators, consumers and the food industry supports the strong position held by Roka with our highly accurate pathogen tests and automated Atlas platform," said Chief Commercial Officer Mary Duseau in a statement. "We are seeing the impact of this renewed focus on better food safety programs as we continue to grow volume of both our new Atlas Listeria Environmental Assay, as well as our other assays."
The firm's reported net loss for the quarter narrowed to $7.6 million, or $.43 per share, from $9.2 million, or $.54 per share, a year ago.
Its R&D costs fell 21 percent to $1.5 million from $1.9 million in Q2 2015, and its SG&A costs fell 17 percent to $4.5 million from $5.4 million.
Roka ended the quarter with $8.9 million in cash, cash equivalents, and $7.9 million in short-term marketable securities.
Roka's shares rose nearly 2 percent to $.89 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.