NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – WaferGen Biosystems today reported preliminary revenue growth of between 52 percent and 68 percent for the third quarter, spurring the firm to raise its revenue guidance for full-year 2015.
Separately this week, WaferGen announced the commercial launch of its ICell8 single-cell system for single-cell genomics at the American Society of Human Genetics meeting in Baltimore.
For the third quarter, the Fremont, California-based firm expects to report revenue of $1.9 million to $2.1 million compared to $1.3 million in Q3 2014. This also represents a sequential increase from $1.6 million in revenue reported in the second quarter of 2015. Revenue for Q3 is expected to be the highest in WaferGen's history and represents the second consecutive quarter of revenue growth, the company noted.
The primary driver of revenue growth was sales of the company's SmartChip products and services, which comprised approximately 67 percent of total revenue compared to 58 percent in Q3 2014.
WaferGen is also updating its full-year 2015 revenue guidance from between $7.5 million and $7.8 million to between $7.8 million and $8.2 million, to account for expected sales of its new ICell8 system.
"With our base business now performing well, and the recent commercial launch of our ICell8 Single-Cell System, we are well-positioned for meaningful growth in our business," WaferGen President and CEO Rollie Carlson said in a statement.
Based on the company's SmartChip technology, the ICell8 system is designed to isolate, identify, and process thousands of individual cells using a multi-sample nanodispenser, automated imaging, and CellSelect software. Multiple samples or experiments can be run on a single chip, the company said.
Earlier this year WaferGen launched an early-access program for its single-cell genomics platform. Early-access partners and collaborators included Genentech, Karolinska Institutet, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, National Jewish Health, and the Broad Institute.
Data from early-access experiments have demonstrated that single cells from solid tumors, brain cells, pulmonary airway cells, multiple cell lines, and nuclei, ranging from 5 µm to 100 µm in size, can be isolated and dispensed into a single chip without pre-selection or filtering, WaferGen noted.