Shares in molecular diagnostics company Genetic Signatures Ltd (ASX: GSS) finished the day strong and closed 12.5% in the green at $1.75.
Today's gain extends an impressive run the company has been on over the past week. Specifically, investors have been piling into Genetic Signatures after it released an investor update last week. Here are the details.
Why did the Genetic Signatures share price charge higher?
Genetic Signatures released an investor update last week where it outlined several investment highlights. For instance, the company outlined it has had a strong year to date and expects sales of at least $21 million for the half year.
First quarter sales were $12.4 million, a company record, supported by a surge in COVID-19 testing in Australia. The recent emergence of the Omicron variant has seen testing volumes increase dramatically in the past three weeks, according to the release.
With case numbers in NSW alone surpassing the 12,000 mark today, this increased testing will likely continue into 2022.
Genetic Signatures designs and manufactures a suite of real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) based products for the routine detection of infectious diseases under its EasyScreen brand.
Luckily for the company, it's been determined that its flagship EasyScreen COVID-19 Detection Kit was able to detect all known variants, including the Omicron variant.
Since the new variant has arrived, the company has developed a new kit, called the EasyScreen SARS-CoV-2 Variant Detection Kit. It says this kit was designed in collaboration with customers to differentiate the Omicron and Delta variants prior to sequencing.
Performance of the new kit has been confirmed in-house against more than 300 clinical patient samples. The new kit is being offered initially for research use only and can identify mutations specific to Delta or Omicron in SARS-CoV-2 positive samples.
The company also advised it is still amidst the clearance process for its EasyScreen Enteric Protozoan Detection Kit in the US. After clearance is obtained, the company can market its device.
Genetic Signatures is required to supply data from three different clinical sites and a minimum of 1,500 patient samples with the application. It had been hoped that these trials would be completed by year-end but sample collection has been halted due to COVID-19.
The company expects that these trials will be completed before the end of the March quarter, per the release.
Genetic Signatures share price summary
In the past 12 months, the Genetic Signatures share price has fallen almost 14% into the red after sliding another 13% this year to date.
In the past month, it has regained steam and is now up more than 35% in that time, after climbing more than 29% in the past 5 days of trading.
