EXCLUSIVE: Invitae CEO On Making Genetics Cost-Effective And Accessible

San Francisco-headquartered Invitae Corp NVTA defines itself as medical genetics company seeking to bring comprehensive genetic information into mainstream medicine, with the goal of improving outcomes and lowering health care expenses.

Admittedly, this is not an easy task and according to CEO Sean George, it's even more difficult than it sounds.

Dollars And Sense: “There are a lot of reasons that genetics hasn't become front and center in mainstream medicine, and none of them are particularly good,” he admitted in an interview with Benzinga. “We can break it down into two main buckets: cost and access.”

In terms of costs, George explained Invitae has “invested heavily in reducing the cost dramatically of getting this information, and more importantly translating that information to actionable medical results.”

In terms of access, the company has been creating tools “to allow your average clinician to use genetics and work with a patient” in making therapeutic decisions.

George pointed out one of the main stories that kept percolating during the COVID-19 pandemic involved the many Americans who were unable to gain access to medical care. He noted bringing down the costs of genetic testing would dramatically expand access to quality care.

“When we started the company 11 years ago, an individual gene test could cost $5,000 to $7,000 and a panel of genes would cost us $50,000 to $100,000,” he said.

“Right off the bat, that meant access to information was going to be limited. Now, you can get any one of our panel tests at $250. So, we've taken a massive amount of costs out of the system in order to make it more accessible and more available.

“Gone are the days when a child has something clearly wrong but no one can diagnose it,” he added. “Gone are the days when your average individual cannot get a genetic diagnosis. We've fixed that.”

See Also: Benzinga's Biotech Buzz

Weathering The Pandemic: When the pandemic took root in March 2020, it forced Invitae to quickly reconfigure its focus to a wildly different playing field.

“It was not a great year to try to be running a fast-growing company,” George said, noting the company was in the process of expanding through acquisitions.

In 2020, the company acquired four privately-held companies: YouScript, a clinical decision support and analytics platform; Genelex, a pharmacogenetic testing company; Diploid, a Belgian-headquartered developer of artificial intelligence software capable of diagnosing genetic disorders in minutes; and ArcherDX, a genomics analysis company. The fifth acquisition of Genosity Inc., a genomics software and laboratory solutions provider, was announced last month.

“It's a little harrowing to do that kind of thing in the middle of a pandemic, and I can tell you that integrations are not easy by Zoom. Looking back," George said. "I don't think we would do anything differently, but it certainly was not a year for the faint of heart.”

Q1 Results: Some residue of the pandemic could be found in Invitae’s Q1 earnings report from earlier this month, which saw a net loss of $109.5 million, or a 56-cent net loss per share, compared to a net loss of $98.5 million in the first quarter of 2020, or a 99-cent net loss per share.

The company did generate $103.6 million in revenue during the quarter, a 61% increase compared to $64.2 million in the same period one year earlier, and it reported a billable volume of 259,000, a 72% increase compared to 151,000 in the first quarter of 2020.

Invitae achieved a first-quarter gross profit of $28.1 million, up from $23.8 million one year earlier.

In January, the company launched the sale of roughly 8.9 million shares of its common stock at a price of $51.50 per share, which generated $434.3 million in net proceeds.

George acknowledged the first quarter “started off rocky” as the pandemic forced a resetting of health systems across the country and overseas, but he added that “toward the end of the quarter, things really start to pick up. We had all-time high daily volume averages and a record-high number of new accounts for formation in the quarter. So, all told, where we were really pleased.”

Looking Forward: For the remainder of 2021, Invitae will be focused on opening a new laboratory and production facility near Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. George said the new facility will better serve the company’s operations along the East Coast and in South America.

The company is also planning to allocate a $1.5 billion investment from SB Management, a subsidiary of Softbank Group Corp., for growth initiatives. George is also eager to expand his company’s mission further into the global market.

“There's a massive unmet demand outside the U.S. for genetics that requires investment capital to get the facilities and for dealing with all the logistics around sample processing and data management,” he said. “We want to make sure we keep fueling the high growth for many years to come.”

(Photo of Sean George courtesy of Invitae.)