Qiagen beats the Street's Q3 numbers with success of companion Dx and next-gen TB test

Qiagen CEO Peer Schatz

Qiagen ($QGEN) beat the Street's expectations during the third quarter, riding high on strong sales of its companion diagnostic products for cancer and the continued success of its next-generation tuberculosis blood test.

Earnings shot up 6% and adjusted net income rose to $66 million, exceeding average estimates of $64.7 million, Reuters reports. Net sales also increased to $336.8 million, a 4% hike year-over-year, and the German diagnostics giant expects 2014 earnings to rise to $1.08 from $1.02 in 2013, the company said in its earnings statement.

Qiagen pointed to the strong performance of its QuantiFERON-TB test, a product the company expects to bring in $100 million in full-year 2014 sales. In March, Qiagen launched its test in China with its eye on the country's lucrative market, and plans to roll out a fourth generation of the product, the company said in its Q3 earnings statement.

Meanwhile, Qiagen continues to beef up its companion diagnostics portfolio and ink deals to develop its next-generation cancer tests. In May, the diagnostics heavyweight announced that it would team up with Eli Lilly ($LLY) for the companies' fourth diagnostic partnership to create new tests to analyze DNA and RNA biomarkers for various types of cancer.

Earlier this week, the company partnered with Astellas Pharma to develop companion diagnostics to go along with two of Astellas' cancer drugs. While financial terms were not disclosed, the deal stands to benefit both sides, giving Tokyo-based Astellas access to Qiagen's next-generation sequencing technologies and allowing Qiagen to gain a stronger foothold in Japan's growing companion diagnostics market.

"The master agreement provides Astellas and Qiagen with flexibility and a strong foundation to add further development projects across other therapeutic areas, across analytical techniques, and across a broad array of sampling options," Qiagen CEO Peer Schatz said in a statement at the time of the deal.

- read the Reuters story
- here's Qiagen's earnings statement (PDF)
- get more from GenomeWeb (reg. req.)