Original from: Genomeweb
Castle Biosciences reported after the close of the market on Monday that its fourth quarter revenues increased 45 percent year over year, while full-year revenues climbed 50 percent.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, 2021, the molecular diagnostics company reported revenues of $25.0 million, up 45 percent from $17.3 million a year ago, beating the average Wall Street estimate of $23.7 million.
¡°Driven by our patient-centric focus and our commitment to strong execution on our growth plans, we had an outstanding 2021,¡± Castle President and CEO Derek Maetzold said in a statement. ¡°We exceeded the goals we set out to accomplish in 2021 and beat our revenue expectations. We successfully doubled our dermatology-facing commercial team and accelerated our investments in R&D, which allowed us to continue generating data to further demonstrate the value of our tests.¡±
In 2021, Castle acquired Myriad Genetics¡¯ MyPath Melanoma laboratory and test as well as Cernostics¡¯ TissueCypher spatial omics platform. ¡°The commercially available TissueCypher Barrett¡¯s esophagus test, which is designed to predict future development of high-grade dysplasia and/or esophageal cancer in patients with Barrett¡¯s esophagus, adds approximately $1 billion to our estimated total US addressable market,¡± Maetzold said.
In Q4, Castle delivered 5,635 DecisionDx-Melanoma test reports, an increase of 33 percent compared to the 4,246 reports delivered in Q4 of 2020. Castle also issued 438 DecisionDx-UM test reports in Q4 2021, up 7 percent from the 410 reports it delivered in the prior-year quarter. The firm also reported 1,265 DecisionDx-SCC test results during Q4, almost three times the 428 tests in the fourth quarter of 2020. Finally, Castle delivered 904 MyPath Melanoma DecisionDx DiffDx-Melanoma aggregate test reports in Q4, compared to 73 in the same quarter in 2020
The firm's net loss for Q4 was $6.4 million, or $.25 per share, compared to a net loss of $4.9 million, or $.23 per share, a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had estimated a loss per share of $.47 for Q4. Castle used approximately 25.3 million shares to calculate per-share loss in Q4 2021 compared to about 20.8 million shares a year earlier.
Castle's Q4 R&D expenses more than doubled to $9.4 million from $4.6 million in Q4 2020, and its SG&A costs for the quarter rose 68 percent to $25.2 million from $15.0 million the year before.
For full-year 2021, the company reported a 50 percent increased in revenues to $94.1 million from $62.6 million the year before, beating the average Wall Street estimate of $92.8 million.
In 2021, Castle delivered 20,328 DecisionDx-Melanoma test reports, an increase of 25 percent compared to 16,232 reports delivered during 2020. The company said third-party data suggested that diagnoses of melanoma in 2021 were down 11 percent compared to ¡°historical pre-COVID 2019 levels.¡±
Castle also delivered 1,618 DecisionDx-UM test reports in 2021, up 16 percent from the 1,395 reports it delivered during 2020. Meanwhile, the firm issued 3,510 DecisionDx-SCC test reports compared to 485 between August 31, 2020, and December 31, 2020. Lastly, Castle delivered 2,662 MyPath Melanoma and DecisionDx DiffDx-Melanoma aggregate test reports in 2021, compared to 73 from November 2, 2020, through the end of 2020.
The firm reported a net loss for 2021 of 31.3 million, or $1.24 per share, compared to a net loss of $10.3 million, or $.54 per share, a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had estimated a $1.46 loss per share for 2021. Castle used approximately 25.1 million shares to calculate per-share loss in 2021 compared to about 18.9 million shares in 2020.
Castle's 2021 R&D expenses more than doubled year over year to $29.6 million from $13.3 million. Its SG&A costs for the year rose 80 percent to $86.7 million from $48.1 million in 2020.
The company had cash and cash equivalents of $329.6 million at the end of 2021.
For 2022, Castle exects between $115 million and 120 million in total revenue. This includes revenue from the TissueCypher Barrett¡¯s esophagus test thatthe firm acquired in December of 2021.
