Myriad's fiscal 2006 loss improves 4%, sales rise

US biotechnology firm Myriad Genetics says that, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006, its revenues increased 7% on the like, year-ago period to $28.8 million, due primarily to its strong sales and marketing efforts, causing increased product demand. Total revenues for fiscal 2006 soared 39% to $114.3 million.

As a result of its improved sales, the firm's net loss was $38.2 million, or $1.05 per share, a 4% reduction on last year, with a loss of $11.4 million or $0.29 per share for the fourth fiscal quarter. The results were in line with analysts polled by Thomson Financial who predicted an average loss of $0.29 per share on income of $31.9 million.

In fiscal 2006, Myriad's predictive medicine product revenues jumped 41% to a record $100.6 million and the firm noted that growth was seen across all four molecular diagnostic product lines.