Genomeweb 360 DX news of J.P. Morgan conference day 3This one has seen a wild ride of swings in price through Covid. Very bullish revenue forecast now with fast molecular system just perfected. It's considered another category outside pcr. Molecular is similar in nature but much faster using a hand held cartridge like system like Veritor BD plus in Antigen category. This is what airports need for fast screening of large volumes. Quidel
CEO Douglas Bryant said Quidel's proposed $6 billion acquisition of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics will enable his firm to leapfrog other pure-play in vitro diagnostics companies and jump from the company with the 12th-highest revenues to one with the fifth-highest revenues, based on the firms' total 2020 revenues of $3.43 billion.
Quidel continues scaling its COVID-19 rapid testing from its current 40 million tests per month to an expected 70 million tests per month — specifically with production rates of 20 million Sofia tests and 50 million QuickVue tests — by mid-February. Bryant noted that many of Quidel's Sofia analyzers placed for COVID testing came with three-year contracts, so the firm expects future revenues on these systems going forward.
Quidel expects to make available a digital health add-on for QuickVue, called Qvue, that can enable results reporting for employee testing as well as offer guided testing and reporting in a telehealth context. The firm is also developing the Sofia Q, with the possibility to provide at-home instrumented diagnostic testing in the future.
For diagnostics overall, Bryant said a paradigm shift has occurred in the public. "The average individual has five respiratory infections, I'm told, and for the most part the public never previously thought about being tested," he said. "COVID has changed the way people think, and if they don't have COVID they want to know what they have," Bryant added.
Quidel has launched its "significantly delayed" Savanna instrument in Europe, Bryant said, adding, "We are super proud of where we are with this product." The firm anticipates an excess of $300 million in Savanna revenues by year three after US launch and sees potential for sales growth through Ortho's commercial channel.
Initially expected to launch in 2015, the final iteration of Savanna features "the latest and greatest" technologies, Bryant said.
The sample-to-answer system has multiplexing technology for four PCR reactions in each cartridge to test three analytes plus a control. It performs 45 thermal cycles in 12 minutes, resulting in a turnaround time of about 25 minutes after extraction. It is also fully integrated, is "very easy to use," and can accommodate direct swabs as well as liquid samples, with test components that are stable at room temperature, Bryant noted. The firm has a menu in development including small panels for respiratory infectious diseases, gastrointestinal illnesses, sexually transmitted infections, herpes viruses, and pharyngitis.
"While the promise of molecular [testing] has been significant, companies that have participated in going after that segment haven't done as well as they would have hoped," Bryant said.
"There is a lot of growth there still to be had," he said, adding that although the sample-to-answer molecular space is crowded, there are not many competitors with the attributes to further penetrate the market, including ease of use, turnaround time, and cost, that can lead to more uptake.