NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – BG Medicine today reported third quarter revenues of $695,000, down 31 percent from $1 million in the third quarter of 2013.
The decline was due almost entirely to a drop in product revenues from sales of the company's BGM Galectin-3 test, which fell to $695,000 in the quarter, down 31 percent percent from $1 million in Q3 2013. BG reported no revenues from its service business for the most recent quarter compared to $23,000 a year ago.
The company's revenues fell short of the Wall Street consensus estimate of $800,000.
BG's net loss for the quarter was $2.4 million, or $.07 per share, down from a net loss of $3.7 million, or $.13 per share, in the third quarter of last year, and matching the average Wall Street estimate.
For the quarter, the company's R&D spending was down 28 percent to $724,000 from $1 million in Q3 2013. Its SG&A expenses dropped to $2 million, down 33 percent from $3 million in the year-ago period.
On a conference call following the release of the results, CEO Paul Sohmer said the company would continue to focus on cutting costs as it anticipated in 2015 the US launch of an automated galectin-3 assay from at least one of its automation partners, which include Abbott Diagnostics, Alere, Siemens, and BioMérieux.
He noted that as part of these cost-cutting efforts, BG last quarter "eliminated approximately 55 percent of our workforce in order to further reduce operating expenses and extend our cash runway."
"We believe that the introduction of automated testing of galectin-3 by our automated partners will eliminate objections related to the more labor-intensive microtiter plate testing method," Sohmer said, adding that the company expected it to "improve access to testing and turnaround time."
"We believe that some laboratories are deferring decisions regarding adoption of the test until it is available in an automated format," he noted.
Sohmer said BG was also considering "strategic alternatives" that could include joint ventures, a merger, or sale of the company, and it has engaged Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. as a financial advisor to help it explore possible options.
The company said it expects to report full-year 2014 revenues between $2.8 million and $3.0 million.
BG Medicine ended the quarter with $6.3 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $265,000 in restricted cash.