NEW YORK — French diagnostics firm Novacyt reported on Friday a massive increase in revenues for the full-year 2020 amid high demand for its SARS-CoV-2 testing products and the recent acquisition of a PCR instrument manufacturing partner.
For the 12-month period ended Dec. 31, 2020 Novacyt generated revenues of €311.6 million ($378.5 million) compared with €13.1 million the year before.
The company attributed the sharp revenue increase to sales of its PCR-based SARS-CoV-2 offerings, which include its Primerdesign COVID-19 Genesig Real-Time PCR assay and the recently launched Exsig Direct and Exsig Mag sample prep products. Novacyt also cited its €11.4 million acquisition of IT-IS International, which had been exclusively making its q16 and q32 rapid PCR instruments, as key to its efforts to boost its manufacturing volumes.
At the end of 2020, Novacyt had €101 million in cash compared with €1.8 million at the end of 2019.
"We have cemented our early mover advantage of developing one of the first tests for COVID-19 into an established position within COVID-19 testing and the broader diagnostics market," Novacyt CEO Graham Mullis said in a statement. "We have signed significant contracts with national governments, supplied our products to over 130 countries globally, and continued to develop innovative testing capabilities to support laboratories and clinicians during these challenging times."
Among those government contracts is a 14-week SARS-CoV-2 test supply agreement with the UK Department of Health and Social Care that was signed in September and followed a similar contract that was announced earlier that year.
Novacyt said it is currently negotiating an extension to the first phase of the latest contract, which could run up to six months.
Novacyt's full 2020 financial results are set for release in April.