Unlock stock picks and a broker-level newsfeed that powers Wall Street.
Q4 2024 OraSure Technologies Inc Earnings Call

In This Article:

Participants

Jason Plagman; Vice President, Investor Relations; OraSure Technologies Inc

Carrie Eglinton Manner; President, Chief Executive Officer, Director; OraSure Technologies Inc

Kenneth Mcgrath; Chief Financial Officer; OraSure Technologies Inc

Jacob Johnson; Analyst; Stephens Inc.

Casey Woodring; Analyst; JPMorgan Securities LLC

Andrew Cooper; Analyst; Raymond James & Associates, Inc.

Presentation

Operator

Welcome to the OraSure Technologies Inc 2024 fourth quarter earnings conference call.
(Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.
I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Jason Plagman, VP of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Jason Plagman

Good afternoon and welcome to OraSure Technologies' fourth quarter 2024 earnings call. Participating in the call today for OTI are Carrie Eglinton Manner, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Ken McGrath, our Chief Financial Officer.
As a reminder, today's webcast is being recorded, and the recording can be found on our Investor Relations website.
Before we begin, you should know that this call may contain certain forward-looking statements, including statements with respect to revenues, expenses, profitability, earnings or loss per share and other financial performance, product development, performance, shipments and markets, business plans, regulatory filings and approvals, expectations and strategies. Actual results could be significantly different.
Factors that could affect results are discussed more fully in OTI's SEC filings, its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, and its other SEC filings. Although forward-looking statements help to provide more complete information about future prospects, listeners should keep in mind that forward-looking statements are based solely on information available to management as of today. OTI undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after this call.
With that, I am pleased to turn the call over to Carrie.

Carrie Eglinton Manner

Thanks, Jason, and thank you to everyone for joining us today. We are pleased to provide an update on the progress OraSure is making on the three pillars of our strategic transformation: one, strengthening our foundation; two, elevating our core growth; and three, accelerating profitable growth.
Today, I'll discuss a few highlights from Q4 and our priorities for 2025. A few notable developments during the fourth quarter include, we delivered Q4 revenue that was in the top half of our guidance range for total revenue and core revenue, which grew 10% year over year.
In December, OTI acquired Sherlock Biosciences to expand our innovation pipeline with the addition of a molecular diagnostics platform that is expected to provide rapid results with strong sensitivity and specificity in a disposable format that is well suited for over the counter usage. Sherlock's first molecular self-test for chlamydia and gonorrhea, or CTNG is in clinical studies and is expected to be submitted to the FDA by the end of 2025 for review.
Next, we secured FDA approval in December for a labelling change to our OraQuick HIV self-test that will increase access to HIV testing for adolescents. The change expands the approved age range to include individuals 14 years of age and older in using the or a quick HIV self-test. Previously, the test was approved for use in those 17 and older.
In November, we received an award through the Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle for the development of a Marburg Virus Disease rapid antigen test. The initial contract award valued at approximately $7.5 million over multiple years in the base period with a potential value up to $11 million funds the development to achieve US FDA 510(K) clearance of a single-use lateral flow immunoassay intended for the qualitative detection of antigens from viruses within the Marburg virus genus.
During Q4, we generated positive cash flow from operations for the core business. Demonstrating continued progress on our operating efficiency and cost savings initiatives. Overall, with our healthy balance sheet, we are strong today, and we are well positioned for the future. We do the work required to compete and win. We closely monitor the external environment. We continue to invest in our innovation roadmap and in opportunities that leverage our existing strengths, all of which bolster OTI's journey toward delivering sustainable, profitable, accelerated growth.
Diving into our core business, Q4 core revenue of $36.5 million grew 10% on a year over year basis, which was above the midpoint of our guidance range. Diagnostics revenue grew 9% and sample management solutions revenue grew 14%, each on a year over year basis.
Within our diagnostics portfolio, we continue to have success with multi-product sales across our portfolio of HIV, HCV, and syphilis tests as healthcare providers and public health organizations recognize the need for a syndemic approach to rapid testing, given the significant overlap in patients at risk for these infections.
The commonality and simplicity of the workflows across all of the rapid tests we provide makes our comprehensive offerings appealing to clinicians, lab directors, and other customers.
Our international diagnostics business also delivered strong performance in Q4, and 2024 was a record year for revenue from that business, surpassing OTI's prior high set in 2023.
Shifting to sample management solutions, revenue increased sequentially in Q4, as it did in the prior three quarters of 2024, as we continue to see signs of growth, albeit variable across our customer segments. Here in 2025, the market environment is clearly posing elevated uncertainty that I will reiterate, we are closely monitoring in our segments.
For infectious disease testing programs, administrative orders such as freezes on US funding for foreign aid announced in January have caused significant uncertainty for several of our partners that help coordinate programs for HIV testing and treatment in developing countries.
For OTI, the international diagnostics business generated $41 million of revenue in 2024. And we believe approximately 80% of that amount is associated with programs that are supported by some type of donor funding.
Worldwide, the largest sponsor of HIV testing and treatment programs in developing countries, including the international programs that OTI works with, is the Global Fund, a multilateral partnership to defeat HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria that is supported by both public and private donors across numerous countries.
We also work with programs that receive support from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR, which is funded by the US government. In 2024, programs directly supported by PEPFAR represented a portion of business that is in the low teens as a percentage of our international diagnostics revenue or low single digits of our core revenue.
Following the initial freeze on foreign aid, PEPFAR has been granted a waiver to continue performing its life-saving work. But operational activities in some countries have been disrupted as the groups that both procure and implement testing and treatment programs in developing countries work to understand the impact of changes on their operations and budgets.
Separately, potential reductions to research funding by the National Institutes of Health, or NIH are also creating uncertainty for some academic and research organizations that utilize our sample management solutions. Specifically, earlier this month, the NIH announced plans to reduce funding mechanisms that cover indirect research costs.
For OTI, the US academic and research segment represented less than $10 million of revenue for our SMS business in 2024. We estimate approximately 75% of that amount is supported by some type of NIH related grant, and this translates to low single digits of our core revenue in 2024 that was associated with NIH funded research projects.
Clearly these are fluid situations impacted by the changing dynamics of the federal government and including judicial review in many cases. While we do not have full visibility right now, we wanted to provide a frame of reference for these evolving external factors as we closely monitor them along the way.
Overall, we share the view held by many. Investments in science and innovation support the United States' leadership and competitiveness as our country plays a key role in improving public health, work that is supported by OTI.
Despite external near-term uncertainty, we remain confident in our strong positioning today and our opportunity for long-term growth. Over the last few years, we've demonstrated progress in strategically expanding and diversifying our customer base and our product portfolio.
In the SMS business, we've deepened existing relationships across segments like clinical diagnostics and added new ones with key innovators in emerging fields such as in oncology and genetic risk assessment for research programs with pharma and biotech companies and in animal health as a few examples.
As we've described over the last few quarters, we're working to expand our sample management offerings into other important sample types, analytes, and applications with active work toward launches in blood proteomics, self-collected urine with Colli-Pee, and self-collection of blood samples with Sapphiros.
Across OTI, our innovative product portfolios help connect people to care wherever they are. In the diagnostics business, the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the value of high quality, accessible infectious disease testing at the point of need for healthcare providers and for the general population.
Patients want flexibility and privacy. They want to be able to access diagnostic insights through rapid, easy to use tests like the ones OTI provides that we make available through a variety of channels, including private and public health over the counter and home delivery.
We have been investing in the drivers for future growth. We believe these opportunities for OTI will increase significantly as we expand our portfolio of tests and build upon OTI's strength, longevity, and credibility in serving our customers.
Switching gears to our portfolio innovation with new products and life cycle expansion. The acquisition of Sherlock Biosciences in December represents another step in OTI's innovation strategy and aligns with our focus on expanding our portfolio of rapid diagnostic tests that improve access to care.
Sherlock's DTNG test, which is currently in clinical trials, is expected to further bolster our strength in diagnostic testing for infectious diseases and sexual health following regulatory approval, for which we plan to submit by the end of the year.
We believe there is a significant opportunity to provide an innovative, instrument-free OTC test that can serve a large addressable market that has significant unmet need through improved access and affordability.
We are off to a great start in welcoming Sherlock's talented team to the OTI family and working with them to advance our priorities. From day one, our newly expanded team has been working well together, leveraging the unique expertise in developing and clearing novel diagnostics that existed in both organizations. To accelerate the planned launch of the Sherlock device and its first assay.
Looking forward, we expect that the combination of our pre-analytical sample prep expertise and our now widened assay development capabilities has the potential to drive breakthrough innovation in point of need rapid diagnostic testing.
Additionally, we are also demonstrably advancing our efficiency agenda, including leveraging automation, consolidating our facility footprint, and insourcing certain production activities into our Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Center of Excellence.
Our enterprise-wide focus on continuous improvement is expected to deliver further productivity gains in 2025 and beyond, which Ken will detail in his discussion of our financial results and guidance. Ken?