NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) - Veracyte announced after the close of the market Thursday that revenues for its second quarter rose 37 percent year over year on sales of its Afirma gene expression classifier (GEC) tests.
For the three months ended June 30, 2015, the South San Francisco, California-based molecular diagnostics company said that revenues increased to $11.9 million from $8.7 million a year ago, missing the average Wall Street expectation of $12.2 million.
Sales of the Afirma tests in the quarter grew 38 percent year over year to 4,758 tests, the firm said in a statement, attributing the increase to greater insurance coverage and contracts.
Veracyte currently sells the Afirma Thyroid FNA test to differentiate benign thyroid nodules from cancerous ones, and in April launched the Percepta Bronchial GEC test to resolve lung cancer diagnosis after ambiguous bronchoscopy.
Veracyte's net loss in the quarter was $9.1 million, or $.35 per share, compared to a net loss of $6.7 million, or $.31 per share, a year ago, falling short of the consensus Wall Street estimate of a net loss per share of $.31.
Veracyte's R&D spending rose to $3.1 million from $2.2 million during the second quarter of 2014, while its SG&A costs rose to $12.4 million from $9 million.
Veracyte ended the quarter with $51 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Veracyte reiterated its FY 2015 revenue guidance of $48 million to $53 million and its forecast of Afirma GEC volume in the range of 19,000 to 21,000 tests.