Myriad cuts loss; revenue climbs 39%

Myriad Genetics Inc. said Tuesday that it shrunk its year-over-year net losses in the most recent fiscal year as revenue climbed 39 percent.

The Salt Lake-based biopharmaceutical company reported that it had a loss of $38.2 million, or $1.05 per share, in the fiscal year ended June 30. That compares with a loss of $40 million, or $1.30 per share, for the previous fiscal year.

The company's fourth-quarter loss was $11.4 million, or 29 cents per share, compared with a loss of nearly $10 million, or 32 cents per share, in the previous fiscal year's fourth quarter.

The per-share losses for both the quarter and fiscal year matched the consensus Wall Street expectations for the company.

Revenues totaled $114.3 million in the fiscal year, up from $82.4 million, led by a company-record $100.6 million in revenues from its predictive medicine products.

At the end of the fiscal year, Myriad had about $228 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable investment securities, with no debt and no convertible securities.

Research and development costs in the fiscal year totaled $83.6 million, up from $59.2 million. The company said much of the increase was due to advancing its therapeutic development programs in Alzheimer's disease and cancer, specifically the enrollment of approximately 1,600 patients in a U.S. Phase 3 study of Flurizan, the launch of a European Phase 3 study of Flurizan and the advancement of four additional trials with cancer drugs.

The company also reported Tuesday that it has completed the U.S. Phase 3 clinical trial enrollment for Flurizan. The trial is scheduled for 18 months but could be stopped after a year if "exceptional" results are attained.

The European Phase 3 trial will involve about 800 patients with mild Alzheimer's disease.

Myriad stock fell $1.56, or 5.9 percent, to close at $24.90 per share Tuesday on Nasdaq. During the past year, the price has ranged from $16.63 to $28.53.

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