NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Luminex President and CEO Nachum Shamir said today that the firm believes it will report fiscal year 2016 revenues at the high end of its guidance range of $247 million to $255 million.
Speaking at the Jefferies 2016 Global Healthcare Conference held here, Shamir discussed the multiple growth drivers for the company including the recent launch of its Aries real-time PCR-based sample-to-answer molecular diagnostics system and its impending acquisition of Nanosphere.
Luminex received clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration for the Aries System and its Aries Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) 1&2 Assay in October 2015. It launched the system earlier this year, and according to Shamir, Luminex has placed 50 of the new systems — none of which have been returned. He said the market response has been positive regarding the system's capabilities and the software.
Shamir previously said on the firm's first quarter conference call that Luminex aims to place around 100 Aries systems this year, though he didn't provide an update on that figure today.
He also noted that Luminex has several assays in development for the new system and is aiming for between eight and 11 FDA-cleared assays for Aries by the end of 2017. In addition to the HSV assay, it is currently running trials on its Group B Streptococcus test. In the meantime, the firm is also emphasizing its capabilities to produce analyte-specific reagents for use on the platform, which it believes is a selling point for some labs.
Luminex's anticipated revenue growth could potentially push higher into the double digits following the integration of Nanosphere. The firm initially bid $1.35 per share to acquire Nanosphere, but was forced to up its bid to $1.70 per share after an unnamed bidder countered with a $1.50 per share offer. Shamir didn't name the competing bidder, but he noted that Luminex does expect to complete the deal this quarter. He also said the deal is valued at between $90 million and $94 million, including retirement of Nanosphere's debt.
The acquisition will provide Luminex with an established molecular testing platform in the microbiology space, an adjacent market to its current offerings. According to Shamir, Nanosphere has about 240 live customer accounts in the US. Its platform will provide Luminex with a high-plex, low-throughput system to complement its existing xTag and xMap systems, which are geared toward high-plex, high-throughput testing, while the Aries is focused on customers in the low-plex, low-throughput testing market.
Following completion of the acquisition, Shamir said Luminex's molecular diagnostics revenues would grow to between 55 percent and 60 percent of the firm's total revenues. In FY 2015, molecular diagnostics accounted for $101 million of its total revenues of $237.7 million.
In early Thursday afternoon trade on the Nasdaq, shares of Luminex were up a fraction of 1 percent at $20.88.