NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Rosetta Genomics reported after the close of the market on Monday a sharp increase in revenues for the for the six-month period ended June 30, as the company expanded access to its suite of microRNA-based cancer diagnostics.
During the first half of 2013, Rosetta's revenues rose to $193,000 from $51,000 in the same period the year before.
"During the past months, we have made considerable progress in all three areas that are critical to the successful commercialization of our lead product, the Rosetta Cancer Origin Test," which is designed to identify the tumor of origin in cancers of unknown primary, Rosetta President and CEO Kenneth Berlin said during a conference call. "Those three areas are demand generation, demand fulfillment, and payor management."
In 2013, Rosetta expanded its US sales force from 4 to 12, and added six new sales territory managers. Additionally, during the year the company inked credentialing deals with four preferred provider organizations for its diagnostics. The company announced yesterday that it forged such deals with FedMed and Fortified Provider Network.
The company has also doubled the capacity of its Philadelphia-based laboratory operations, Berlin noted.
The Israeli firm's net loss after discontinued operations was $6.3 million, or $0.68 a share, down from a loss of $6.6 million, or $5.35 a share, the year before.
Rosetta's research and development spending in the six-month period rose to $877,000 from $740,000 the year before.
The firm's marketing and business development costs surged to $3.6 million from $1.2 million, largely due to its efforts to drive commercialization of its products. Meanwhile, general and administrative expenses increased nearly $600,000 to $2 million, reflecting the addition of key executives and other personnel.
As of June 30, Rosetta had cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and short-term bank deposits totaling $28.9 million.
Rosetta said that it intends to continue investing in its US commercialization efforts, and anticipates that its burn rate for the second half of the year will be in the range of $6 million to $7 million. It added that its current resources are expected to fund its operations into 2015.