NEW YORK – Lucid Diagnostics on Monday announced that its Q4 2024 revenues rose 20 percent year over year as the firm processed a record number of EsoGuard tests.
The company reported Q4 2024 revenues of $1.2 million, up from $1.0 million in Q4 2023. Lucid processed 4,042 EsoGuard tests during the quarter, an 84 percent increase from Q4 2023.
The PAVmed subsidiary also secured the first positive commercial insurance coverage policy for EsoGuard from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield during the quarter.
The EsoGuard test is a next-generation sequencing-based DNA methylation assay that quantifies methylation at 31 sites on two genes to screen for esophageal precancer. The firm also offers the EsoCheck collection device for the test, which is a swallowable balloon capsule catheter device that samples surface esophageal cells.
Net loss for the quarter was $10.9 million, or $.19 per share, compared to net loss of $9.9 million, or $.23 per share, in Q4 2023.
"We believe we are on the cusp of achieving broader payor coverage for EsoGuard and expect our focus on new contractually guaranteed revenue sales channels, including concierge medicine, to drive revenue growth in the second half of 2025,” Lucid Chairman and CEO Lishan Aklog said in a statement. "We are now well positioned to capitalize on EsoGuard's very large clinical and market opportunity."
Full-year 2024 revenues were $4.3 million, up 79 percent from $2.4 million in 2023.
Net loss for the year was $40.0 million, or $.79 per share, compared to net loss of $38.4 million, or $.92 per share, in 2023.
Lucid Diagnostics ended the year with $22.4 million in cash and cash equivalents.
In a note to investors, Canaccord Genuity analyst Kyle Mikson wrote that EsoGuard's effective average selling price notably decreased quarter over quarter to about $296 per test, but that Lucid's processed test volume materially increased between Q3 2024 and Q4 2024.
He added that Lucid management expects the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' MolDx program will cover EsoGuard in the first half of the year.
"Although the company's revenue has been relatively similar over the past few quarters (test volume has increased recently), we believe Lucid's efforts to deepen its market penetration through a comprehensive strategy should drive revenue higher over time," Mikson wrote.