Mark Capone
Analyst · William Blair. Please go ahead
Thanks, Scott. I would like to start today’s call by providing key highlights for our fiscal year and the fourth quarter, after which Bryan Riggsbee will provide details regarding our financial results and guidance, and then I will finish the call by providing additional information on our initiatives to drive an inflection in our current business trends in fiscal 2019. In the fourth quarter, we once again exceeded expectations with revenues of $200.9 million and adjusted earnings per share of $0.38. For the full year, we reported revenue of $773 million and adjusted earnings per share of $1.20, which significantly exceeded our initial guidance and what is in line with our most recent revised guidance. For the fiscal year, earnings increased by 17% on a slight increase in revenue, which highlights the success of our efforts to reengineer our cost structure. As a company, one of our fundamental values is a commitment to pioneering science and fiscal 2018 represented another significant year in scientific achievement. Having pioneered the field of hereditary cancer testing more than 20 years ago, we remain committed to research that will enhance our understanding of future cancer risks. This commitment culminated in the launch of riskScore in September, which began the fourth major EPIC and hereditary cancer testing. In the field of neuroscience, we successfully completed the GUIDED study, which is the largest pharmacogenomics prospective study ever conducted in mental health. In companion diagnostics we received approval for BRACAnalysis CDx for metastatic breast cancer patients in the U.S. and Japan. We have committed more than 10 years of research to understand how best to select patients for PARP inhibitors and we are extremely pleased to help bring this class of pharmaceuticals to a broader group of patients. In the field of rheumatoid arthritis, we completed landmark research demonstrating that Vectra DA was three times better at predicting radiographic progression in rheumatoid arthritis patients compared to historical measures of disease activity. For the first time, physicians can use a completely objective and reliable measure to guide treatment for RA patients. In total, the company had 70 scientific presentations and 23 published manuscripts, which represent a substantial body of scientific progress. We also made important progress in our diversification efforts with new products representing 70% of our total sample volume of approximately 750,000 tests. This is a significant change from fiscal 2013 when new products represented less than 1% of samples. It is also interesting to note that hereditary cancer test volumes have grown significantly since fiscal 2013, the year before the Supreme Court decision. In fiscal 2018, we also had record new product revenue of $212 million, with GeneSight growing 59%, Vectra DA up 31%, Prolaris growing 73% and EndoPredict up 16%. During the fourth quarter, we continue to make progress on our five critical success factors to build upon a solid hereditary cancer foundation, grow new product volume, expand new product reimbursement, increase international RNA kit revenue and improve profitability with the Elevate 2020 program. From a hereditary cancer perspective, we saw continued strength with revenue up 4% and volume up 3% sequentially. This represents our sixth sequential quarter of volume growth and the third sequential quarter of stable pricing. riskScore has proven to be a strategically important competitive differentiator in the market and as a result, we saw strong year-over-year growth trends in the Preventive Care market with double-digit volume increases for patients with less severe family histories. Following the BRACAnalysis CDx approvals in the second half of the year, metastatic breast cancer patients tested in the fourth quarter increased 13% sequentially and we continue to increase our physician and patient education efforts in the U.S. and Japan. Lastly, we saw a significant number of positive changes and guidelines for expanded indications this fiscal year. These changes include major expansions in the prostate, pancreatic, colon and endometrial cancer testing guidelines that in aggregate add over 120,000 patients per year to the addressable hereditary cancer testing population. GeneSight was the most significant contributor to the new product growth in the quarter and the number of ordering physicians has more than doubled since we completed the acquisition with ordering frequency remaining relatively consistent. This quarter, we set two new records with greater than 15,000 doctors ordering a GeneSight test and almost 3,000 new ordering physicians, results that we attribute to the strength of the GUIDED study. We believe these metrics are both strong indicators heading into fiscal year 2019. We also saw Prolaris approach at $30 million run rate and Vectra DA achieved a $60 million run rate in the fourth quarter. In fact, due to these strong results, both our urology and autoimmune business units reached profitability in the fourth quarter, joining our women’s health, neuroscience and oncology business units in that regard. This fiscal year, we made significant progress establishing broader new product reimbursement. We measure reimbursement according to the percent of addressable market that has a coverage decision. Using this metric, we ended the year with EndoPredict at 90%, Prolaris at 55%, Vectra DA at 40%, GeneSight at 6% and myPath Melanoma at 1% of targeted U.S. reimbursement. In total, the reimbursed addressable market for new products exceeds $1.6 billion in potential revenue per year. For GeneSight, we completed the landmark GUIDED study, which represents the first pharmacogenomics technology to demonstrate statistically significant changes in response and remission rates versus an active drug arm. Based upon the strength of this data, we have secured our first commercial coverage decision with CareFirst, the 15th largest payer in the country with over 3 million covered lives whose policy went into effect August 1st. We recently published the IMPACT study and the GUIDED and Optum studies are in the later stages of review. When all three studies are published, they will put us in a strong position to receive additional coverage decisions in fiscal 2019. With Prolaris, we saw significant expansions in coverage throughout fiscal year 2018. Prolaris was included in updated NCCN guidelines, which broadly endorsed biomarker-based prognostic testing, making it standard of care for low-risk and favorable intermediate patients. This has resulted in expanded Medicare coverage for favorable intermediate patients and eight commercial payer decisions encompassing over 20 million covered lives or approximately 12% of all commercially insured lives in the United States. This year we also developed a new approach to securing coverage by working directly with self-funded employer groups, which make up approximately 50% of total commercial lives in the United States. Our first success was with Kroger Prescription Plans, the pharmacy benefits manager for Kroger, the fourth largest employer in the United States. Kroger will cover Vectra DA for employees with a medical benefit and we are finalizing an expanded agreement to cover GeneSight as well. Furthermore, we recently signed a contract with a second large employer that has approximately 30,000 employees, which covers GeneSight. These agreements demonstrate the utility that personalized medicine offers to self-insured employer groups who are best positioned to see the full value from our advanced diagnostics. We also received a new coverage decision from a regional payer for Vectra DA, which includes a prior authorization requirement mandating Vectra DA testing prior to adding biologic therapy. This is yet one more example demonstrating how our proprietary tests can reduce costs, while also improving patient outcomes. With EndoPredict, we received our final LCD for Medicare in January increasing total coverage to over 90% of breast cancer patients. Given the momentum from fiscal 2018 with new guidelines and critical data, we believe fiscal 2019 represent even a greater opportunity for a transformational increase in reimbursement. Moving to our international business, we made significant progress in fiscal year 2018 on advancing our kit-based strategy and improving profitability with the announcement of our restructuring program. For EndoPredict, we currently have reimbursement coverage in France, Switzerland and in the province of Ontario, Canada. We recently received a NICE recommendation to cover EndoPredict in the United Kingdom, a market which represents approximately 27,000 patients per year. In addition, both Germany and Italy are evaluating coverage for breast prognostic testing and should make decisions by the end of the upcoming fiscal year. In the fourth quarter, we received Japanese regulatory approval for BRACAnalysis CDx from the Japanese Ministry of Health Welfare and Labor, and in June started receiving samples, which are processed by our U.S. laboratory. This market represents approximately 15,000 potential patients per year. Additionally, we initiated our international restructuring with plans to consolidate laboratory testing for hereditary cancer and companion diagnostics in our Salt Lake City facilities and closed the Munich laboratory. We expect this laboratory transition to be complete by the end of the calendar year. Also, we have initiated -- we have identified interested parties to purchase the German clinic and have assumed the sale of the clinic in the first half of fiscal year 2019. Finally, with Elevate 2020 we continue to make significant progress and so total adjusted expenses down again in the fourth quarter declining approximately $7 million year-over-year, despite double digit test volume growth. This led to a 380 basis point improvement in adjusted operating margins on a year-over-year basis in the fourth quarter. And as we look forward to fiscal year 2019, we see significant additional opportunities with the laboratory process improvements, Crescendo and international restructuring and Counsyl synergies. Overall, fiscal 2018 was a transformational year for the company and we made substantial strides towards solidifying Myriad as the global diversified personalized medicine company. We created a stable foundation for hereditary cancer revenue with pricing visibility and a return to year-over-year volume growth. Moreover, 70% of our volume was attributable to new products growing from 1% of volume in fiscal 2013 and we made meaningful progress in advancing reimbursement for our key pipeline tests. Finally, through our Elevate 2020 programs, we increased the efficiency of our organization leading to significant profitability growth. As we look to fiscal 2019, with the recent completion of the Counsyl acquisition, we believe the transformation of the business will continue to accelerate. With that, I will turn the call over to Bryan to discuss our financial results and guidance.