Biocept (BIOC) narrowed its loss in the fourth quarter, beating analyst estimates. However, sales failed to impress the street. Shares of the firm increased above 3% after the bell as the Q4 loss came in better-than-expected.

Revenue saw a dip of 14% to $860,000 over the prior year, which came in below the Street consensus of $930,000. On a sequential basis, sales improved 7% in the fourth quarter. Net loss surpassed estimates in the Q4 touching $1.43 per share on 4.2 million weighted-average shares outstanding. Analysts were expecting losses for the diagnostics firm to be at $1.58 per share.

Last quarter, Biocept revenues dropped 31.5% to $761,591. However, net loss narrowed to $2.42 per share over $5.90 per share but failed to meet analyst consensus of $2.02 loss per share.

Commenting on the capital requirements CEO Michael Nall said, “We have raised more than $18 million in equity capital since the beginning of 2019, and we now believe that we have the financial resources to implement our business strategy throughout the year.”

Strategic Revamp  

Biocept also plans to launch multi-gene testing panel in the second quarter which is expected to lift the top line in the near future. The company believes that its Target-Selector platform can be commercialized as in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test kits. The platform provides biomarker detection and monitoring ability from patients’ blood sample for better diagnostics.

As part of its strategy, Biocept plans to market the Target-Selector platform to oncologists, pathologists, and physicians who use biomarker details for better diagnostics of their patients. The company plans to make money by offering lab services to biopharma companies to develop cancer drugs using its Target platform. In addition, licensing and sales of in-house testing and technologies to its global partners are also expected to generate revenues.

The diagnostics firm is also expanding its pathology partner program called Empower TC to pathologists throughout the United States. Launched in late 2017, this program helps pathologists to interpret biomarkers from blood samples of cancer patients locally. However, the specimens still need to be sent to its high-tech lab in San Diego, California.

Earlier this week, Biocept expanded its Empower platform to the urology market, which provides the ability to conduct biomarker tests in patients diagnosed with prostate cancer. Investors were upbeat about the news with the stock surging 13% post the announcement.

According to the American Cancer Society, 174,650 new cases are expected to be recorded in the USA for people who are suffering from prostate cancer. The organization also expects the USA to witness 31,620 deaths in 2019 just from patients with prostate cancer.

The early-stage cancer diagnostics company’s stock has increased 46% this year, recovering from the 52-week low levels of $0.66 recorded in December. Biocept’s share has lost about 86% in the last 12 months.

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