What happened

Shares of genetic-testing pioneer Myriad Genetics (NASDAQ:MYGN) received a much-needed boost today, rising as much as 16%, after the company announced fiscal third-quarter 2017 financial results. The stock has witnessed a 42% decline in the last year, although it is now up roughly 28% year to date, as investors see signs of life for the company's most important revenue machine and are holding out hope for a pipeline of promising growth products.

The strong performance in the most recent quarter prompted management to raise its full-year fiscal 2017 financial guidance for revenue and narrow the range for earnings per share. As of 12:45 p.m. EDT, the stock had settled to a 15.5% gain.

Image source: Getty Images.

There were reasons for optimism and pessimism in the financial update. Consider how the most important products fared compared to last year's fiscal third quarter:

Metric

Fiscal Q3 2017

Fiscal Q3 2016

% Change

Hereditary-diagnostic-testing revenue

$140.8 million

$156.3 million

(10%)

GeneSight testing revenue

$23.9 million

N/A

N/A

Vectra DA testing revenue

$11.2 million

$12.3 million

(9%)

Prolaris testing revenue

$3.4 million

$5.2 million

(35%)

EndoPredict testing revenue

$2.3 million

$1.1 million

109%

Other revenue

$3.6 million

$2.5 million

44%

Data source: Myriad Genetics.

A 10% year-over-year drop in revenue from hereditary diagnostic testing may not seem like much reason to celebrate, but it marks the second consecutive sequential gain for Myriad Genetics after many quarters of decline. It's a silver lining investors aren't willing to overlook.

Of course, the array of promising growth products is turning in more mixed results. Products excluding GeneSight combined for a year-over-year drop in revenue of $1.7 million. In fact, if not for GeneSight, Myriad Genetics' total revenue would have declined. It's a major reason for the updated revenue guidance -- and investors should be happy to have GeneSight growing into a significant contributor to the overall business and performing well against offerings from competitors.

Metric

Fiscal Q3 2017

Fiscal Q3 2016

% Change

Total revenue

$196.9 million

$190.5 million

3%

Operating expenses

$139.7 million

$107.7 million

30%

Net income

$4.2 million

$34.5 million

(88%)

Data source: Myriad Genetics.

Efforts to rapidly scale new products and services have resulted in a large increase in operating expenses in recent quarters, eating away at net income. Last quarter was no different, but the increase in operating expenses is a necessary evil for investors looking for the company to turn the page long-term.

The company now expects full-year fiscal 2017 revenue to fall between $763 million and $765 million, compared to $754 million in fiscal 2016. Meanwhile, diluted earnings per share are expected to fall between $0.23 and $0.25, compared to $1.71 in fiscal 2016.

Investors are aware that Myriad Genetics is a company in transition, turning away from proprietary testing products (driven by price) and toward cheaper, larger-scale, and more flexible services such as GeneSight (driven by volume) that are in high demand from patients and clinicians. Viewed through that lens, there were no major surprises in the most recent quarter. The company continues to work toward its long-term goals.

Maxx Chatsko has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Here's Why Myriad Genetics Rose as Much as 16% This Morning - Motley Fool

May 3, 2017 Western spotted skunk. Credit: Robby Heischman.

Climate plays a key role in determining what animals can live where. And while human-induced climate change has been causing major problems for wildlife as of late, changes in the Earth's climate have impacted evolution for millions of yearsoffering tantalizing clues into how to protect animals facing climate change today. In a new paper in Ecology and Evolution, scientists have delved into the effects of Ice Age climate change upon the evolution of tiny, hand-standing skunks.

"By analyzing western spotted skunk DNA, we learned that Ice Age climate change played a crucial role in their evolution," says lead author Adam Ferguson, Collections Manager of Mammals at The Field Museum in Chicago and affiliate of Texas Tech University. "Over the past million years, changing climates isolated groups of spotted skunks in regions with suitable abiotic conditions, giving rise to genetic sub-divisions that we still see today."

Western spotted skunks are really stinkin' cute at two pounds, they're smaller than the striped Pepe Le Pew variety, their coats are an almost maze-like pattern of black and white swirls, and when they spray, they often do a hand-stand, hind legs and fluffy tail in the air as they unleash smelly chemicals to ward off predators. They're found throughout the Western US and Mexico, in a wide variety of climates they thrive everywhere from Oregon's temperate rainforests to the Sonoran, the hottest desert in Mexico.

There are three genetic sub-groups, called clades, of western spotted skunks. Often, clades develop when a species is split up by geography. If a species is separated by, say, a mountain range, the groups on either side of the mountain may wind up splitting off from each other genetically. However, the division of the skunks into three clades doesn't seem to have been driven solely by geographical barriers populations separated by mountains are more or less genetically identical. Instead, the skunks vary genetically from one historic climate region to another, due to Ice Age climate change.

"Western spotted skunks have been around for a million years, since the Pleistocene Ice Age," explains Ferguson. "During the Ice Age, western North America was mostly covered by glaciers, and there were patches of suitable climates for the skunks separated by patches of unsuitable climates. These regions are called climate refugia. When we analyzed the DNA of spotted skunks living today, we found three groups that correspond to three different climate refugia."

"That means that for spotted skunk evolution, climate change appears to have been a more important factor than geographical barriers," says Ferguson.

In the study, scientists used DNA samples from 97 skunks from a variety of regions and climates in the American Southwest. Upon sequencing the DNA, the scientists were surprised to see that the skunks split into three clades based on pockets of suitable climate present during the Pleistocene.

"Small carnivores like skunks haven't been well-studied when it comes to historical climate change," says Ferguson. "We know how small mammals like rodents respond to changing climates, and we know how bigger carnivores like wolves respond, but this study helps bridge the gap between them."

Ferguson also notes that skunks don't deserve the bad rap they get. "Skunks are a really interesting family of North American carnivores they're well-known, but not well-studied. And studying them comes with a cost they stink, even their tissues stink, and you run the risk of getting sprayed. But they're important to their ecosystems for example, they eat insects and rodents that damage our crops," he says.

Moreover, Ferguson says, the study can illuminate the bigger picture of biodiversity in the face of climate change an issue that grows increasingly relevant as human-driven climate change affects more and more of the world's animals.

"What we know about the past can inform what we expect to see in the future," says Ferguson. "Understanding these genetic subdivisions that happened as a result of changing climatic conditions can help us conserve skunks and other animals in the future."

Before working at The Field Museum, Adam Ferguson was affiliated with Texas Tech University and completed this research there. Ferguson's co-authors are affiliated with Angelo State University, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Zoological Park, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the University of New Mexico.

Explore further: Study finds climate, landscape changes may lead to more rabid skunks

Journal reference: Ecology and Evolution

Provided by: Field Museum

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New research by University of Montana forest landscape ecology Professor Solomon Dobrowski shows that organisms will face more hardships as they relocate when climate change makes their current homes uninhabitable.

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Female Drosophila buzzatii cluster fruit flies may be drawn to the specific courtship songs of males of their own species, according to a study published May 3, 2017 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Patricia Iglesias ...

Climate plays a key role in determining what animals can live where. And while human-induced climate change has been causing major problems for wildlife as of late, changes in the Earth's climate have impacted evolution for ...

Research by wildlife biologists from Clemson University and the Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center near Georgetown is shattering conventional scientific understanding about American alligator growth and reproduction.

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Ice Age climate change played a bigger role in skunk genetics than ... - Phys.Org

Newswise The Harvard Medical School-based Personal Genetics Education Project (pgEd.org) and the Sanford Program for the Midwest Initiative in Science Exploration (PROMISE) at Sanford Research have teamed to bring the latest developments in genetics into classrooms and communities in Massachusetts and South Dakota.

The Building Awareness, Respect and Confidence through Genetics project, or ARC, is part of pgEds broader initiative to engage high school students and the general public in conversations about the benefits and implications of advances in personal genetics. The Sanford PROMISE will contribute experience and expertise in biomedical science education programming in the northern Plains and extend the project into rural America.

The ARC project, which is supported by a five-year Science Education Partnership Award from the National Institutes of Health, includes creating curriculum and rolling out new and existing curriculum to teachers.

Given where genetic technologies are heading, its now more important than ever to be discussing the possibilities for improving our health and wrestling with the implications of knowing more about our genetic make-up, said Marnie Gelbart, ARC principal investigator and director of programs at pgEd. ARC is a project that sees opportunities for talking about genetics in many settings and relies on the expertise of and collaboration with teachers to bring these conversations into classrooms, schools, and communities.

The curriculum is transdisciplinary and focuses on genetics, identity and diversity through topics such as gender, race, behavior and genome editing. The first module on genome editing was released in February. Additional modules will be released as the grant progresses.

These topics are making their way into workshops for educators, particularly those teaching in middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities.

ARC hopes to empower teachers across all disciplines to stimulate dialogue about personal genetics, said David Pearce, executive vice president of Sanford Research. It has become increasingly important that we all, regardless of status or education background, better understand the benefits and implications the human genome has and will have in their everyday lives.

In the first year of the program, pgEd held a three-day workshop titled Genetics and Social Justice at Harvard Medical School that attracted nearly 50 educators from across the nation. This group included teachers from Brockton High School in Brockton, Mass., (Jonathan Shapiro, science chair, and David Mangus, science) and Harrisburg High School in Harrisburg, S.D. (Lisa Cardillo, science, and Colby Peterson, social studies).

Working with these four lead teachers, pgEd and The Sanford PROMISE are paving the way for future workshops and community events. In April, the pgEd team visited Harrisburg High School for a community experience, and the team will host professional development workshops in Brockton, Mass., in June 2017 and Sioux Falls, S.D., in summer 2018. This summer, two rural high school educators from South Dakota will travel to Brockton with The Sanford PROMISE and work together with the Harrisburg teachers to help bring awareness of genetics to other South Dakota educators.

About Sanford Health Sanford Health is an integrated health system headquartered in the Dakotas. It is one of the largest health systems in the nation with 45 hospitals and nearly 300 clinics in nine states and four countries. Sanford Healths 28,000 employees, including more than 1,300 physicians, make it the largest employer in the Dakotas. Nearly $1 billion in gifts from philanthropist Denny Sanford have allowed for several initiatives, including global children's clinics, genomic medicine and specialized centers researching cures for type 1 diabetes, breast cancer and other diseases. For more information, visit sanfordhealth.org.

About pgEd

The mission of the Personal Genetics Education Project (pgEd.org) is to raise awareness and spark conversation about the benefits as well as the ethical, legal, and social implications of genetic information. We aim to be inclusive of all voices in these discussions,regardless of socioeconomic or educational background, cultural or religious affiliation, and ethnic or personal identity. Founded in 2006, pgEds efforts include providing online curricula, organizing workshops for professionals, holding congressional briefings in Washington, D.C, engaging producers and writers of film and television, convening conferences, supporting an online learning tool (Map-Ed.org), collaborating with museums and libraries, and partnering with communities of faith.

This projectissupported by the National Institutes of Health under grant number R25OD021895. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors anddoes not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Continued here:
Harvard Medical School, Sanford Research to Engage Classrooms and Communities Through Genetics - Newswise (press release)

"This collaboration demonstrates our continued commitment to pain supporting our ambition to deliver four to five new products to patients in diseases with high unmet needs by 2022, as it is Grnenthal's first step into generating Big Data which plays an increasingly important role in drug development and is essential to drive innovation. One perspective in the context of precision medicine is to use human DNA as guidance for which drugs work best in which patients. We aim to use the outcome of the study to identify starting points for the development of innovative, highly effective medicines," emphasizes Gabriel Baertschi, CEO of the Grnenthal Group.

"Pain is a complex disease. As a worldwide leader in pain, we are continuously striving to expand the body of knowledge to offer solutions for those patients who don't have a treatment option today," said Klaus-Dieter Langner, Ph.D., CSO of the Grnenthal Group. "We are very much looking forward to working with our expert collaborators at 23andMe to learn about the causal relationship between genetic patterns and different aspects to pain. Ultimately, our goal is to research and develop innovative, highly effective medicines for patients in need," Langner concludes.

"The goal of this study is to understand genetic factors associated with the experience of pain and response to medications designed to alleviate pain," said Emily Drabant Conley, Ph.D., vice president of business development, 23andMe. "Pain is often a unique experience for each individual, and therefore complex to understand and treat. By leveraging large amounts of genetic and phenotypic data this study may help develop a more personalized approach to pain management."

The new 23andMe and Grnenthal study could shed more light on why individuals experience pain differently by understanding genetic factors associated with pain sensitivity, progression, severity, and response to treatments.

About 23andMe23andMe, Inc. is the leading personal genetics company. Founded in 2006, the mission of the company is to help people access, understand and benefit from the human genome. 23andMe has more than two million customers worldwide, with over 80 percent consented to participate in research. 23andMe, Inc. is located in Mountain View, CA. More information is available at http://www.23andMe.com

About Grnenthal The Grnenthal Group is an entrepreneurial, science-based pharmaceutical company specialized in pain, gout and inflammation. Our ambition is to deliver four to five new products to patients in diseases with high unmet medical need by 2022 and become a 2 billion company. We are a fully integrated research & development company with a long track record of bringing innovative pain treatments and state-of-the-art technologies to patients. By sustainably investing in our R&D above the industrial average, we are strongly committed to innovation.

Grnenthal is an independent, family-owned company headquartered in Aachen, Germany. We are present in 32 countries with affiliates in Europe, Latin America and the US. Our products are sold in more than 155 countries and approx. 5,500 employees are working for the Grnenthal Group worldwide. In 2016, Grnenthal achieved revenues of approx. 1.4 bn. More information: http://www.grunenthal.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/23andme-and-german-pain-specialist-grunenthal-explore-the-genetics-of-pain-to-help-identify-new-treatments-for-patients-300450454.html

SOURCE 23andMe, Inc.

https://www.23andme.com

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23andMe and German Pain Specialist Grnenthal Explore the ... - PR Newswire (press release)