Alex Philippidis Senior News Editor Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

Assay Makers Study Markers by Marrying Molecular Biology with Medical Testing

With molecular diagnostics projected to grow to a $7.6 billion industry by 2017 (Kalorama) and surpass $8 billion by 2020 (Grand View Research), the field is seeing growing interest from both corporate giants and smaller specialized companies.

On the corporate side, the largest players include such familiar names as Roche, Qiagen, Becton Dickinson, and Abbott, as well as more recent arrivals such as Hologic, Grifols, and bioMérieux. Yet the past few years has also seen a growing number of smaller companies devoted to MDx by focusing on specific technologies or disease areas (especially cancer).

Just in the past year alone, several of those companies have been acquired. Many of those deals have been made by Roche, which earlier this month completed its $1.18 billion purchase of a majority stake in Foundation Medicine, continuing a buying spree that in 2015 alone has included Signature Diagnostics for an undisclosed price, and Ariosa Diagnostics for up to $625 million. A year ago this month, the pharma giant bought Iquum for up to $450 million, followed in June by Genia Technologies for up to $350 million.

Beyond Roche, MDx deals include Rosetta Genomics buying PersonalizeDx this month for an undisclosed price, while in 2014 bioMérieux bought BioFire Diagnostics for $486 million cash and debt; Crescendo Bioscience was acquired last year by Myriad Genetics for $245 million cash; and Veracyte purchased Allegro Diagnostics for $21 million.

Below is a list of 20 top up-and-coming molecular diagnostics companies, ranked by 2014 revenues as reported by the companies in press releases, investor presentations, and regulatory filings, including registration statements in advance of initial public offerings. As a result, the list includes only companies that are public or plan to be; privately held companies typically do not report revenues. For three of the companies, only six- or nine-month results for 2014 were available; these companies include footnotes with 2013 full-year results.

The results show a wide disparity in annual revenues, from nearly a half-billion to just over a half-million—reflecting both how small the smallest startups are, as well as the fact MDx companies do not generate the billions in revenues of both drug developers and the largest tools/tech companies.

#20. Genetic Signatures

$524,197 (A$680,000)5

#19. Rosetta Genomics

$1.327 million

#18. Great Basin Scientific

$1.606 million

#17. Exact Sciences

$1.798 million

#16. GeneNews

$1.891 million (C$2.453 million)

#15. HTG Molecular Diagnostics

$2.031 million4

#14. Genetic Technologies

$4.275 million (A$5.544 million)3

#13. Signal Genetics

$4.320 million

#12. Roka Bioscience

$5.057 million

#11. Biocartis

$9.113 million (€8.478 million) 

#10. AutoGenomics

$11.212 million2

#9. MDxHealth

$11.671 million

#8. AltheaDx

$13.609 million1

#7. Nanosphere

$14.3 million

#6. CareDx

$27.3 million

#5. GenMark Diagnostics

$30.594 million

#4. Veracyte

$38.2 million

#3. Sequenom

$151.569 million

#2. Genomic Health

$275.706 million

#1. Cepheid

$470.1 million

Notes:
1 Revenue reported for the first nine months ending September 30, 2014, as disclosed in the company’s Form S-1, filed December 23, 2014, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in advance of a future initial public offering. The company withdrew its registration to go public on March 9
2 Net revenue reported for the first six months ending June 30, 2014, as disclosed in the company’s Form S-1, filed October 7, 2014, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in advance of a future initial public offering. The company generated $18.083 million in net revenue in 2013, the most recent full year available.
3 Figure is for most recent company fiscal year, which ended July 1, 2014
4 Revenue reported for the first nine months ending September 30, 2014, as disclosed in the company’s Form S-1, filed December 30, 2014, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in advance of a future initial public offering. The company generated $2.243 million in revenue in 2013, the most recent full year available.
5 Figure is for most recent company fiscal year, which ended June 30, 2014

 

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