Veracyte's revenue increases 71% to $7.5 million in Q1 2014

Veracyte, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCYT) today reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014, and provided an update on recent business progress. For the first quarter of 2014, revenue was $7.5 million, an increase of 71%, compared to $4.4 million for the first quarter of 2013. 

"We continued to accelerate our business in the first quarter of 2014," said Bonnie H. Anderson, Veracyte's president and chief executive officer. "This included strong payer progress, notably the first positive coverage policy for Afirma from a Blue Cross plan. We believe our growing success with payers and increasing adoption by physicians reflect Afirma's compelling value proposition in thyroid cancer diagnosis by reducing unnecessary thyroid surgeries and corresponding medical system costs. We look forward to continuing to build upon our strong commercial momentum for Afirma and remain on track with development of our next product, which will target interstitial lung diseases."

First Quarter 2014 Financial Results

• The company received 14,373 FNA samples during the first quarter of 2014, compared to 10,757 FNA samples during the same period in 2013, an increase of 34%.
• Afirma GEC tests have increased to 22% of FNA samples received, reflecting our success in penetrating institutional clients with an "Afirma enabled" business model, through which we receive FNA samples for GEC testing only.
• Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2014 were $14.1 million, compared with operating expenses of $10.3 million for the comparable period in 2013, with the increase due primarily to the costs of being a public company. These operating expenses also included cost of revenue of $3.6 million for the first quarter of 2014 versus $2.8 million for the comparable period in 2013.
• Net loss for the first quarter of 2014 was $6.7 million, or $0.32 per common share, compared with a net loss of $6.9 million, or $9.04 per common share, for the same period in 2013.
• Cash and cash equivalents as of March 31, 2014, totaled $64.2 million.

Recent Business Highlights

• Exceeded 125 million covered lives for the Afirma GEC, including a positive coverage policy from Premera Blue Cross, the first Blue Cross payer to cover the genomic test.
• Entered first international market through a partnership with Fleury Health and Medicine in Brazil.
• Invited to present four studies at the AACE conference in May, highlighting data that support the launch of our Afirma Malignancy Classifiers and enhance our overall Afirma solution.
• Accepted for an oral presentation at the American Thoracic Society meeting in May to present proof-of-concept data for the development of a diagnostic test in our next targeted clinical indication – pulmonology.