Original from: 360DX
DiaSorin said on Friday that its third quarter revenues fell 17 percent year over year as COVID-19 testing revenues continued an expected decline and losses in non-COVID molecular diagnostics and licensing businesses further offset gains in the company's immunodiagnostics business.
On a constant currency basis, total revenues were down 13 percent year over year, and excluding no-COVID revenues, revenues were up 2 percent at constant currency, the firm said.
The company also reported during it has begun the process to discontinue its Aries molecular diagnostics business and consolidate its customers onto the firm's Liaison molecular diagnostics platform.
For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the Saluggia, Italy-based firm posted revenues of €270 million ($289.6 million), down from €327 million in Q3 2022.
DiaSorin's COVID-19 testing revenues declined 78 percent to €11 million in Q3 2023 from €52 million one year earlier, continuing a slide seen during the first half of the year.
Excluding COVID-19-related revenues, DiaSorin's immunodiagnostics revenues rose 4 percent to €175 million for the quarter from €172 million a year ago. On a constant currency basis, sales in that segment grew 6 percent.
DiaSorin CEO Carlo Rosa said during a conference call the company saw 7 percent growth of its immunodiagnostics sales in Europe and 13 percent North America. Testing volumes in Europe were up on a general post-pandemic rise in test submissions from physicians, and the increased sales in North America reflect a push by DiaSorin to increase usage of its testing platforms and menus in US hospitals as well as contributions from an ongoing collaboration with Israeli diagnostics firm MeMed, he said. The company also saw rising immunodiagnostic sales in Brazil, Mexico, Australia, and India but weaker sales in China.
Rosa said DiaSorin is expanding its installed base through expanded use of MeMed's products, which is opening doors to hospitals that had not previously used DiaSorin's instruments.
Molecular diagnostics revenues, excluding COVID-19, fell 14 percent year over year to €51 million from €44 million a year ago. On a constant exchange, the segment's revenues were down about 7 percent. The firm attributed much of the decline to the loss of a contract with a leading commercial laboratory for cystic fibrosis testing, although that was partly offset by increased sales of respiratory panels.
Rosa said the molecular diagnostics business is performing as expected, and the company saw stable revenues for multiplex testing and single-digit growth in single-target tests. The firm had elevated instrument sales during the year-ago quarter, which was at the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and sales have since normalized.
Rosa also said DiaSorin is discontinuing its Aries molecular diagnostics platform, which had generated low revenues but high infrastructure costs. He predicted the company will have a limited monetary impact and improve the company's margins in 2024.
Licensed technologies sales declined 10 percent to €39 million from €43 million in the year-ago quarter. The decline was 4 percent at constant exchange rates.
DiaSorin reported net income for the quarter of €25 million, down from €62 million from a year ago.
The firm ended the quarter with €243 million in cash and cash equivalents.
DiaSorin's R&D spending declined about 12 percent year over year to €22 million. Its SG&A costs declined 5 percent to €100 million from €105 million.
DiaSorin confirmed its previous guidance for 2023 full-year with revenues expected to decline about 14 percent year over year at constant exchange rates.
