Chembio Diagnostics losses widen in fourth quarter

Chembio Diagnostics Inc. on Tuesday reported a higher loss for the October-December period compared with a year ago because of lower sales of its rapid tests for infectious diseases.

The Medford-based manufacturer said it lost $650,000 in the final three months of 2015 compared with a loss of $500,000 in the same quarter of 2014.

Sales fell 38 percent, year over year, to $4.4 million.

Chief executive John J. Sperzel III blamed the larger loss on sales declines in Brazil and Mexico of Chembio’s point-of-care tests for HIV and syphilis. He predicted a stronger performance this year in part because of a new Zika test that the company is developing.

“While the company continues to strengthen its sexually-transmitted disease business, we are also building robust product pipelines in two new areas: fever disease and technology collaborations, and we have been very successful executing our strategy to obtain grant-based or partner-based funding for these projects,” Sperzel said.

Chembio has secured more than $2.5 million from a charitable foundation begun by Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen to develop rapid tests for Zika, Ebola and other fever diseases. The company also received funding from another Microsoft founder, Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, to develop malaria tests.

Sperzel said, “We believe our new fever disease portfolio and technology collaborations will pave the way for future growth.”

The company has worked with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and similar groups in foreign countries.

For the full year, Chembio’s losses more than doubled to $2.4 million compared with $1.1 million in 2014.

Sales for the 12-month period fell 12 percent to $24.3 million compared with 2014.

The earnings announcement came before the stock market opening. In early trading, Chembio shares were down 37 cents, or more than 6 percent, to $5.32 on the Nasdaq market.