Biocept Inc (NASDAQ:BIOC), the diagnostics-focused group, swung to a profit in its third quarter, recovering from the loss it reported in the corresponding period last year, thanks to a 165% increase in revenue on the back of increased RT-PCR COVID-19 testing.
For the three months to September 30, the company posted net income of $427,000 compared to a loss of $4.9 million in 3Q, 2020. Revenue came in at $17.5 million, up from $6.6 million in the third quarter of 2020.
That revenue figure included $16.5 million from COVID-19 testing, $826,000 in oncology test revenue, $34,000 in development services test revenue, and $71,000 in revenue for distributed products.
CEO Michael Nall said the biotech firm had received over 660,000 samples for testing since June this year.
"Testing volume increased during the third quarter due to the emergence of the Delta variant and our contracted services with the California community college system," he told investors.
READ: Biocept says study shows its Switch-Blocker technology enhances performance of PCR-based liquid biopsy assays in detecting rare cancer mutations
"Revenue from COVID-19 testing drove profitability for both the quarter and year-to-date, which in turn supports continued investment in our long-term oncology business," he added.
Nall also noted that, with the firm's CNSide assay - a "paradigm-changing" neuro-oncology test that uses cerebrospinal fluid for diagnosing and monitoring patients with brain metastases, the company was seeing "strong sequential-quarter volume growth, primarily driven by data generated with our academic partners". Customers for this assay have now been expanded to 40 top US academic institutions, the company reported.
Research and development (R&D) expenses for 3Q were $1.3 million, compared with $1.1 million for the same period a year earlier, while the company ended the three months with $27.7 million in cash.
Other highlights in the third quarter included naming Samuel Riccitelli as chairman of the board and expanding said board to nine with the appointments of Linda Rubinstein and Antonino Morales as directors, added Biocept.
The group was also awarded a South Korean patent for the Primer-Switch technology, which detects rare mutations in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) using RT-PCR and associated analysis methods.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com