NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Molecular diagnostics firm Great Basin Scientific today reported that its first quarter revenues climbed 31 percent year over year due to growth in its customer base.
For the three months ended March 31, the Salt Lake City-based firm reported revenue of $458,730, up from $349,135 in the first quarter of 2014.
In the quarter the firm reported a 42 percent increase in US customers, from 71 to 101, and a 126 percent increase in evaluations either in progress or scheduled, from 23 to 52.
Net loss for the quarter was $71.2 million, or $13.99 per share, compared to $2.7 million, or $34.98 per share in Q1 2014. Net loss per share included a non-cash charge of $13.17 per share due to an increase in derivative liability. Excluding this non-cash derivative liability charge, adjusted net loss per share in Q1 was $.82 compared to $23.74 in the same quarter last year. Great Basin used about 5.1 million shares to calculate net loss in Q1 2015 compared to 115,510 shares in the year-ago period. In October, Great Basin went public, and in February it commenced a public offering of preferred stocks and warrants.
The firm's R&D spending increased 85 percent to $1.5 million from $814,237 because of an increase in clinical trials and test development. SG&A expenses, meanwhile, increased 51 percent compared to $1.9 million from $1.2 million, the result of increased sales efforts and cost of operating as a public company.
Great Basin finished the quarter with $20.6 million in cash.
During the quarter, Great Basin raised $21.7 million in the follow-on public offering, and increased its number of revenue-generating customers by 20 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2014. It also began clinical trials of a molecular diagnostic test for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli. In January 2015 it received a new patent for its sample-to-result technology, and in April the FDA cleared its group B Streptococcus assay.