On September 18, 2021 Personalis, Inc. (Nasdaq: PSNL), a leader in advanced genomics for population sequencing and cancer, reported that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Million Veteran Program (VA MVP) has issued a new task order under its current contract with the company, with a value of up to approximately $10 million (Press release, Personalis, SEP 18, 2021, View Source [SID1234587935]). The company also announced that it has received, so far in Q3, more than $25M in orders from its oncology customers, a new record. Together these orders allow the company to reconfirm its total revenue outlook for 2021, with oncology revenue growth now projected to be at least 50% above 2020.

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"We are extremely pleased with our on-going relationship with the VA MVP, which represents the largest whole genome sequencing project in the United States," said John West, Chief Executive Officer. "Although this new task order is less than in pre-Covid years, we do expect this program to continue for many years to come, and to reaccelerate after the pandemic. In addition, our record oncology orders have largely offset the VA MVP order decline. Oncology orders received so far in Q3 have already exceeded the orders received in the first half of 2021, and are more than double our level in Q3 2020."

Personalis has delivered over 140,000 whole human genomes to date, and with this new task order remains on track to reach its goal of 150,000 by the end of 2021. ​​ Personalis also takes advantage of this experience and infrastructure to offer whole genome sequencing in cancer, and expects this to be an increasingly important contributor to its business in the future.

The performance period for the new VA MVP task order will be September 17, 2021 through March 31, 2022. Realizing revenue from this contract is subject to the receipt of samples from the VA MVP and performance of services by Personalis. The cumulative value of task orders received to date from the VA MVP has increased to approximately $185M. Following a pause during the pandemic, the VA MVP has resumed enrollment, now with approximately 840,000 veterans and the ultimate goal of enrolling two million.

Some of the new oncology orders received are for prospective projects, which are expected to provide revenue over several years, compared with retrospective projects that may be completed in less than two years. The company now expects that its oncology business will become the larger portion of its total revenue in 2022 and, long-term, the company expects that it represents Personalis’ largest market opportunity.

Updated Business Outlook

Personalis now expects the following for the third quarter of 2021:

Total revenue to be approximately $22.2 million (no change from previous outlook)
Revenue from biopharma and all other customers, excluding VA MVP, to be in the range of $8.3 million to $8.8 million (up from previous guidance of $7.5 million to $8.5 million)
Net Loss to be in the range of $17 million to $18 million; estimated outstanding shares of 44 million (no change from previous outlook)
Personalis expects the following for the full year of 2021:

Total revenue to be approximately $85 million (no change from previous outlook)
Revenue from biopharma and all other customers, excluding VA MVP, to be in the range of $34 million to $35 million (up from previous guidance of $33 million to $34 million)
Net Loss to be in the range of $65 million to $70 million; estimated outstanding shares of 44 million (no change from previous outlook)
The company is not providing a business outlook for fiscal year 2022 at this time. However, the company is targeting approximately 50% growth in biopharma and other customer (excluding VA MVP) revenue for the full year 2022.

Webcast and Conference Call Information

Personalis will host a conference call to discuss the announcement and updated business outlook before market open on Monday, September 20, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time / 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call can be accessed live over the phone by dialing (866) 220-8061 for U.S. callers or (470) 495-9168 for international callers, using the conference ID: 8835748. The live webinar can be accessed at View Source

About the VA Million Veteran Program

Launched in 2011, the VA MVP is a landmark research effort aimed at better understanding how genetic variations affect health. Up to two-million veterans are expected to enroll in the VA MVP. Data and genetic samples collected through the program are stored securely and made available for studies by authorized researchers, with stringent safeguards in place to protect Veterans’ private health information. The VA MVP was enrolling veterans at 63 VA medical centers nationwide prior to the pandemic. The VA’s central biorepository is equipped with a state-of-the-art robotic system for DNA extraction and storage and is currently being expanded to support up to 4 million samples. With approximately 840,000 enrollees since 2011, the VA MVP already far exceeds the enrollment numbers of any single VA study or research program in the past, and is in fact one of the largest research cohorts of its kind in the world. The VA MVP provides researchers with a rich resource of genetic, health, lifestyle, and military-exposure data collected from questionnaires, medical records, and genetic analyses. By combining this information into a single database, the VA MVP promises to advance knowledge about the complex links between genes and health. Veterans’ privacy and confidentiality are top priorities in the VA MVP, as in all VA research. For more information about the VA MVP, visit www.research.va.gov/MVP. This press release does not imply a Department of Veterans Affairs endorsement, and is neither paid for nor sponsored, in whole or in part, by any element of the United States government.