NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Roka Bioscience said after the close of the market Wednesday that its first quarter revenues rose 7 percent.
For the three months ended March 31, the Warren, New Jersey-based food safety testing firm reported revenues of $1.6 million compared to $1.5 million in the year-ago period. The revenue spike was due to an increase in the number of Atlas molecular testing platforms placed with commercial customers and increased use of the instruments.
As of the end of the quarter, Roka had 44 instruments placed with customers under commercial agreements compared to 41 at end of both Q1 and Q4 2015.
"We are encouraged by the performance of our new Atlas Listeria Environment Assay and we see early indications of customer adoption of the assay," Mary Duseau, Roka's senior vice president and chief commercial officer, said in a statement. "Combined with the placement of additional instruments in the first quarter, we believe we are building a base for commercial growth of our business."
Roka's net loss in Q1 was $8.2 million, or $.47 per share, compared to $8.8 million, or $.51 per share, in the same quarter last year.
The company spent $2.0 million on R&D in Q1 compared to $1.9 million in Q1 2015, and trimmed its SG&A expenses to $4.4 million from $5.1 million in the year-ago period.
Roka finished the quarter with $5.6 million in cash and cash equivalents and $17.5 million in short-term marketable securities.