NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – BG Medicine today reported second quarter revenues of $1 million, up 62 percent from $622,000 in the second quarter of 2012.
The revenue increase was driven by $972,000 in revenues from sales of the company's BGM Galectin-3 test, a 72 percent jump from the $566,000 it posted in Q2 2012. The remaining $34,000 in revenues came from BG's services business, down 39 percent from $56,000 a year ago.
The company's revenues fell short of the average Wall Street estimate of $1.27 million.
On a conference call following the release of the results, Charles Abdalian, BG's executive vice president and CFO, said the increase in galectin-3 revenues resulted "primarily from increased volume from our largest specialty cardiovascular laboratory provider and also increased purchases relating to third-party clinical research studies."
During the call, BG CEO Paul Sohmer announced a shift in company strategy, saying that the firm would prioritize driving adoption of its galectin-3 test over other efforts, including the development of a CLIA lab and commercialization of its CardioScore test for identifying individuals at high risk for near-term cardiovascular events.
"We will redirect our effort and investments from the previously announced CLIA laboratory, launch of CardioSCORE in Europe – except as partnership opportunities arise – and longer term clinical studies so that we may further develop and support the message, the product, and the product features that are required to drive the adoption of galectin-3 testing," Sohmer said.
In 2011 BG submitted CardioScore for US Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance, but withdrew the submission last year upon determining that it would not be able to respond in full to a request from FDA to confirm certain data from its BioImage validation study for the test.
Medical review of that data is ongoing, Sohmer said, adding that the company expects the review to be completed by the end of the year and that the results will guide its strategy regarding commercialization of the test going forward.
"In the interim, we may move forward with a European launch in test markets as partnership opportunities arise," he said.
BG's net loss for the quarter was $4.8 million, or $.18 per share, down 25 percent from a net loss of $6.4 million, or $.32 per share, in the second quarter of last year, and beating the average Wall Street estimate of a net loss of $0.20 per share.
The decrease was due primarily to lower operating expenses, primarily in research and development, Abdalian said.
For the quarter, the company's R&D spending was down 48 percent to $1.1 million from $2.1 million in Q2 2012. Its SG&A expenses dropped to $4 million, down 7 percent from $4.3 million in the year-ago period.
The company provided a full-year 2013 guidance of revenues between $3.8 million to $4.0 million, and an expected operating cash burn of between $15.5 million to $16.5 million.
BG Medicine ended the quarter with $16.2 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $288,000 in restricted cash. According to Abdalian, the company has adequate funds to "take us through at least the next 12 months."
Shares of BG Medicine were down 17 percent at $1.14 in Thursday morning trade on the Nasdaq.