NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Myriad Genetics reported after the close of the market Tuesday that its third-quarter revenues increased 21 percent year over year, with sales of the firm's BART test jumping nearly 400 percent.
The Salt Lake City-based molecular diagnostics company brought in total revenues of $156.5 million for the three months ended March 31, compared to $129.8 million for the third quarter of 2012. It beat the consensus Wall Street estimate for revenues of $148.3 million.
Myriad's molecular diagnostic testing revenue was $148.4 million, up 20 percent from $123.3 million, and its companion diagnostic services revenue climbed 25 percent to $8.1 million from $6.5 million.
Sales of Myriad's BRACAnalysis test increased 9 percent to $115.4 million, while sales of its Colaris and Colaris AP tests were up 19 percent to $13.3 million, and sales of the BART test jumped 392 percent to $16.9 million. Revenue from its other molecular diagnostic tests was $2.8 million.
Mark Capone, president of Myriad Genetics Laboratories, said on a conference call following the release of the results that the firm continues to see "increases in physician demand for Prolaris," its prostate cancer test that provides information about a cancer's aggressiveness to help guide physicians in treating patients.
"During the past year, Myriad has received more than 3,000 Prolaris test orders. ... Currently about 90 percent of the orders we receive are biopsy samples from patients recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and trying to make the initial decision of how aggressively to treat their disease."
He added that more than 350 urologists have used Prolaris in their practice.
Myriad doesn't have Medicare reimbursement for the test, but it expects to receive a positive coverage decision in 2014. "We are making progress with our PROCEED prostate cancer registry study and are actively opening up new enrollment sites for the clinical trial," said Capone. "Enrollment has taken a little longer than we initially expected, but we believe we are on track to provide data to Medicare by late summer. This would keep us on schedule to potentially receive Medicare reimbursement for Prolaris in the first half of calendar year 2014, which is in concert with our previous guidance."
CFO Jim Evans noted on the call that Myriad's companion diagnostics segment benefited from its diabetes collaboration with Sanofi. "Based on the large amount of work done as part of the Sanofi collaboration we are increasing our revenue guidance for Myriad RBM in fiscal 2013 and are now calling for revenues of $28 million to $30 million, versus our previous expectations of $25 million to $28 million," he said.
Myriad posted net income of $37.9 million, or $.46 per share, for the quarter, up from $29.6 million, or $.34 per share, for Q3 2012. It surpassed analysts' consensus estimate of $.40 per share.
The firm's R&D spending increased 15 percent to $13.6 million from $11.8 million, and its SG&A expenses were up 18 percent to $64.6 million from $54.7 million year over year.
Myriad finished the quarter with $462.3 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.
The firm upped its revenue and EPS guidance for FY 2013 following the release of the results. It now expects full-year revenues of $595 million to $600 million, up from its previous guidance range of $575 million to $585 million. It expects EPS of $1.65 to $1.67, up from the previous guidance of $1.55 to $1.58.
"We are very optimistic regarding the future outlook as we seek to expand our core markets, diversify our business through new product introductions, and expand internationally," Myriad President and CEO Peter Meldrum said in a statement.
In Wednesday morning trade on the Nasdaq, shares of Myriad were up 6 percent at $29.95.
Mizuho Securities analyst Peter Lawson upgraded Myriad's stock to Buy from Neutral on Wednesday morning. He cited the Q3 results, as well as downside risk from the ongoing Supreme Court case regarding gene patents and data from competitive tests, as drivers up the upgrade. Lawson also upped his price target on Myriad's stock to $34 from $27.