QIAGEN: Focusing on Strengths
It has been a busy year for QIAGEN, an over $1.5 billion company supplying molecular biology tools. The company has experienced major demand for consumables and instrumentation for COVID-19 testing. Such revenues are estimated to total $600 million in 2020. The company was also the subject of a proposed acquisition by Thermo Fisher Scientific, but shareholders rejected the offer this summer (see IBO 8/15/20). This month, the company held its first investor day under Thierry Bernard, who was named CEO in March (see IBO 3/31/20).
QIAGEN kicked off the day by announcing the raising of its sales and adjusted EPS forecasts for the fourth quarter, full-year 2020 and full-year 2021 (see Executive Briefing), citing better-than-expected results for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 associated sales.
At the event, QIAGEN also unveiled a new financial reporting structure divided between: Sample Technologies, PCR/Nucleic Acid Amplification, Diagnostic Solutions, Genomes/NGS and Other. In the first nine months, on a CER basis, sales for each were up 44%, up 54%, down 13%, down 10% and down 10% to $568 million, $255 million, $302 million, $116 million and $58 million, respectively.
In its presentation, the company emphasized its new streamlined focus and post COVID-19 growth drivers. Going forward, QIAGEN will invest a greater proportion of resources into these higher-growth opportunities, which the company refers to as its “five pillars of growth”: sample technologies, the QIAcuity digital PCR solution, the QIAstat-Dx solution for syndromic testing, the NeuMoDx integrated PCR platform and its QuantiFERON latent TB testing franchise. Two of the pillars, sample technologies, such as DNA and RNA isolation solutions, and latent TB testing via QuantiFERON, are already established company franchises, whereas the others are relatively new product lines. Underlying the pillars are what the company calls its core businesses: genomics/NGS, precision medicine, PCR/nucleic acid amplification, human ID/forensics, QIAGEN Digital Insights and OEM reagents. For all pillars, excluding sample technologies, revenues are expected to grow double digits at constant exchange rates (CER) post COVID. Mr. Bernard also described other priorities, stating “One, transforming customer service and service activities as a profit center for our company. And, second, having a much stronger monitoring of our installed base management and installed base profitability.”
The company expects COVID-19-related sales to decline next year down from an expected $600 million this year due to vaccinations. In 2020, sample tech is expected to account for $400 million of COVID-19 sales. But as Mr. Bernard declared, “What we do not believe is that vaccination kills testing. There are many examples in healthcare proving that a test-and-treat strategy is the right strategy.” He cited flu and HPV as two examples. Going forward, new COVID-19 related testing opportunities for the company include tests for monitoring immunity status with a new QuantFERON assay, and for influenza-like infections with the NeuMoDx platform and assays.
Instruments are expected to reach more than $770–$780 million in sales this year and more $750 million next year…
For sample technologies, the company promised expanded consumables sales driven by rapid uptake of its instrumentation this year as a result of pandemic-related testing. Instruments are expected to reach more than $770–$780 million in sales this year and more $750 million next year, which includes an expected decrease in manual RNA sample prep sales. A key part of the strategy for sample tech is driving consumables growth as a result of new instrument placements, up by more 3,300 placements this year, including 2,000 new sample prep placements, and new applications, such as microbiome research.
With shipments beginning in October, QIAGEN estimates its QIAcuity business will total $10 million this year with an installed base of approximately 150 systems. In 2021, sales are estimated to reach around $45 million and the installed base should reach 600. The product line features three different instruments, with differentiation features, according to the company, such as a plate-based workflow very similar to PCR, a time to result of 2 hours and an entry-level system price of $30,000 per system. With initial applications in the research market, such as COVID-19 wastewater testing, the company then plans to enter the clinical market, gaining CE-IVD marking for the system in 2023.
Introduced in 2018, the QIAstat Dx real-time PCR platform is expected to hit $50 million in sales this year, having racked up around 2,000 placements. In 2021, sales are estimated to total around $120 million. Supporting QIAstat Dx growth in coming years and expanding on its growth in installed base that has resulted from COVID-19 testing, QIAGEN will introduce a number of new panels, including GI panels in the US and a meningitis assay in Europe in 2021. The company will also launch a COVID-19 RUO assay for the platform next year. Priority investments include building out manufacturing capacity to meet unfulfilled consumables demand.
One of QIAGEN’s newest products and one accessed through the purchase of NeuMoDx Molecular (see IBO 10/1/20), the PCR-based NeuMoDx launched in late 2018. Sales are expected to be approximately $50 million this year, rising to around $140 million next year. In 2020, the installed base will reach an estimated 130 systems. Like NeuMoDx, QIAGEN will expand product sales in coming years with expanded menus and regulatory submissions in both the US and Europe over the next two years. This includes 7 test submission to the US FDA in 2022 and following years.
In the latent TB testing market, QIAGEN sees much growth ahead, estimating only 25% of the overall market for this test has switched from the traditional skin test to blood-based testing, such as that offered by its QuantiFERONn test. The business is expected to record around $180–$190 million in sales this year, with sales of approximately $230 million forecast for 2021. As with NeuMoDx, growth will come from new regulatory approvals for assays, including the launch of QIAreach in the second half of 2021. The QIAreach SARS-Cov-2 virus enables testing in decentralized setting such as airports. Although sales declined in 2020 due to COVID-19, the company expects 2021 sales to equal those of 2019.