BNGO Stock Price Increased 50.42%: Why It Happened – Pulse 2.0

The stock price of BioNano Genomics Inc (NASDAQ: BNGO) increased by 50.42% as it went from a previous close of $0.88 to $1.33. And it is up more than 133% since the past week. The companys announcements over the last couple of weeks triggered the momentum.

This is what the company announced over the last couple weeks:

December 28 Bionano Announces Praxis Genomics Receives Accreditation From College Of American Pathologists

Bionano Genomics announced on December 28 that its customer Praxis Genomics received accreditation from the College of American Pathologists (CAP), making it the first CAP-accredited CLIA-certified diagnostic lab in the United States to offer a laboratory-developed test (LDT) based on whole-genome analysis with Saphyr. And the LDT is designed for postnatal patients suspected of a constitutional genetic disorder.

Praxis utilizes optical genome mapping (OGM) with Bionanos Saphyr System as an alternative to traditional methods of chromosomal microarray (CMA) and karyotyping (KT) as they seek to improve the rate of clinical diagnosis for patients with genetic disease. And CMA and KT together typically diagnose 30-50% of patients tested. Recent studies have found that OGM with Saphyr is concordant with CMA and KT and also diagnoses a significant fraction (18-25%) of the patients who could not be diagnosed with traditional methods.

Medical guidelines have recommended successive rounds of analysis with CMA, KT, repeat expansion testing, single gene or gene panel testing, and whole-exome sequencing until a pathogenic variant is identified or until the different techniques have been exhausted. At Praxis, this tiered approach is replaced by whole-genome analysis using OGM with Saphyr for structural variants (SVs) and whole-genome analysis by next-generation sequencing (NGS) for single nucleotide variants (SNVs) when requested.

This workflow eliminates costly and time-consuming steps like cell culture and tedious manual data analysis across multiple platforms and provides a streamlined approach for detection of all types of genomic aberrations designed to achieve a higher rate of diagnosis faster, easier, and at a lower economic cost for labs and payors.

Several diagnostic labs in the U.S. like PerkinElmer Genomics and the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics have already launched Saphyr based LDTs targeting a specific clinical indication, a form of muscular dystrophy called FSHD1. And while the development of whole-genome clinical tests with Saphyr has been in progress in Europe for various clinical applications including inherited genetic disorders and leukemias, the Praxis clinical service is the first to provide whole-genome analysis in the U.S.

December 23 Analyst Rating By Oppenheimer

On December 23, Oppenheimer analyst Kevin DeGeeter had reiterated an Outperform (Buy) rating on BNGO shares. And he assigned the company a price target of $1.50.

December 23 Publication Announcement Of A Study By The Human Genome Structural Variation Consortium

Bionano Genomics announced the publication of a study by the Human Genome Structural Variation Consortium (HGSVC) revealing that their sequencing method based on PacBio HiFi reads detected only 72% of the large SVs that Bionanos optical genome mapping (OGM) detected across 32 different human genomes. And the consortium developed its custom sequencing method by combining sequencing with PacBio and the single-strand prep and sequencing method StrandSeq to establish a comprehensive catalog of human SVs with base-pair and haplotype resolution.

The cost of the method is estimated, based on list pricing, to be between $10,000 and $20,000 per genome. And OGM with Saphyr which costs less than $500 per genome was shown to be significantly more sensitive than the sequencing method. And many of the SVs missed by the sequencing technologies overlapped with complex regions of the genome that cause microdeletion and microduplication syndromes which are highly relevant clinically owing to their involvement in neurodevelopmental disorders.

The analysis is primarily focused on insertions and deletions which are considered to be easier for sequencing to detect. And other studies have shown that OGM significantly outperforms sequencing for detection of other SVs like inversions and translocations which are also highly clinically relevant, especially in cancer. And the publication did classify some large SVs as being uniquely detected by the sequencing-based method based on PacBio HiFi. Upon further analysis, most of these SVs were in fact identified by OGM but classified differently. Overall, under 2% of the large SVs detected by PacBio were missed by OGM.

December 21 Key Milestones With Software Update For Saphyr System

Bionano Genomics recently announced the achievement of a key milestone for the throughput of its Saphyr System. And with the release this week of a software update for the Saphyr Instrument, part of its system for optical genome mapping, the system is now capable of imaging up to 96 human genomes per week to a depth of coverage of 100x (or 4,992 samples per year), assuming continuous operation.

Since the launch of Saphyr in 2017, annual throughput has increased 1,400% from 384 samples per year to nearly 5,000 samples per year. And the expansion in throughput has been driven by the growing use of the Saphyr System in a variety of high volume settings, including discovery research and cytogenomics.

The software update will come pre-installed on all systems shipped or installed beginning today and is made available free of charge for immediate installation on all Saphyr Systems installed in the field, including the first-generation Saphyr systems shipped before 2019 which will see a 15% speed increase as well.

Disclaimer: This content is intended for informational purposes. Before making any investment, you should do your own analysis.

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BNGO Stock Price Increased 50.42%: Why It Happened - Pulse 2.0