Will Qiagen's Qiasymphony Placements Weave Magic in 2015? - Analyst Blog
Netherlands-based Qiagen NV (QGEN) recently reported that it has surpassed its goal of installing 250 new QIAsymphony modular automation solutions in 2014. The company's strong progress is an outcome of its attempt to bolster its position in the molecular testing market.
With this, at 2014-end, Qiagen has achieved a placement count of more than 1,250 for its cumulative solutions, exceeding its expected goal of 1,215 installations.
Qiagen's QIAsymphony automation solution refers to a revolutionizing molecular testing workflow which offers flexible and effective processing from sample to valuable clinical insight, while also allowing an increased number of tests to run on the QIAsymphony.
In addition, Qiagen reported that it has now set a goal for another 250 system placements in 2015. Moreover Qiagen also expects to further expand its test menu in the U.S., Europe and other markets through new submissions during 2015.
Qiagen also reported the receipt of the U.S. FDA clearance for its artus HSV-1/2 QS-RGQ MDx kit in late Dec 2014. The kit has been designed to detect the presence of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2) infections in a patient's body.
Per management, the aforesaid FDA clearance marks the fifth U.S. regulatory approval for Qiagen in 2014. The thumbs up from the FDA has clearly expanded Qiagen's diagnostic kits menu that runs on the QIAsymphony family of instruments.
Other notable U.S. regulatory approvals that Qiagen received during 2014 include the 510(k) clearance for the QIAsymphony RGQ MDx workflow to be used with the artus test. The artus test is used to identify the potentially fatal infection associated with C.difficile (c.diff).
Qiagen also received two pre-marketing approvals for tests using the Rotor-Gene Q MDx – a test to detect cytomegalovirus (CMV) and a therascreen KRAS companion diagnostic paired with Vectibix, a dominant targeted therapy used to cure certain types of metastatic colorectal cancer.
To add to the achievements, a total of 3 tests from Qiagen won CE-IVD mark in Europe in 2014 for use on the full QIAsymphony system – artus tests for the detection of vancomycin-resistant bacteria (VanR), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Group B streptococcal infection (GBS). This ensured expansion of the CE-IVD menu on the full QIAsymphony system to a total of 13 assays.
For 2015, Qiagen has confirmed its previously stated goal of exceeding 1,500 cumulative total placements worldwide. This will make it one of the most extensively placed medium-throughput systems for molecular testing.
In third-quarter 2014, Qiagen experienced strong double-digit consumables growth on the QIAsymphony system owing to the company's overall portfolio of profiling assays that are used for disease detection and monitoring.
We expect the latest news to enhance consumable growth figures further for the QIAsymphony system, resulting in higher profit at Qiagen. Moreover, we expect the update to bolster investor confidence in the stock, going forward.
Zacks Rank
Currently, Qiagen holds a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). Better-ranked stocks in the med-biomed/generic industry include Affymetrix Inc. (AFFX), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ALXN) and AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMAG). All these stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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