Pacific Edge chief executive David Darling is confident
United States regulatory approvals will come through this
month as planned. Photo by Craig Baxter.
Shares in Dunedin-based cancer diagnostic company Pacific
Edge briefly hit an all time high of 79c yesterday, following
the appointment of a non-executive director to its US
subsidiary.
Pacific Edge is waiting for US regulatory approval so it can
begin staffing its new $4.5 million laboratory in Hershey,
Pennsylvania. The lab has the capacity to employ up to 100
staff in sales, administration and the laboratory and to
process up to 260,000 non-invasive bladder cancer tests
annually.
During the past six months, Pacific Edge shares have steadily
risen from 24c to hit 79c, albeit on light trading volumes.
Its closing price, at 72c per share, gave it a $200.7 million
market capitalisation.
Last week, Pacific appointed a New Zealand and Australia
commercial manager, Brent Pownall, and yesterday announced
the appointment of a non-executive director, Bruce Nogales,
to its US subsidiary .
Chief executive David Darling was contacted in Dunedin
yesterday, and said final regulatory approval, registration
under the US' Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments
regulations, had not yet been given, but he was confident it
would come through this month, as forecast last year.
''We're at the point where we're ready to put the hammer
down,'' Mr Darling said.
When approval came through, he said, sales teams would
immediately visit the top 20 urologist sites around the US,
each of which employs 10 to 20 urologists, while there would
also be appointments of a national sales and strategic
accounts representatives, the latter covering institutions
and hospitals.
While Pacific Edge has booked total losses of more than $25
million since listing, it recapitalised by more than $20
million in 2011 to fully develop and market its diagnostic
Cxbladder test.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said
investor interest had been spiked with the US operations
''coming to fruition'' and the company's potential to begin
making money given the large market it was about to operate
in.
''Pacific Edge has been truly the outstanding performer in
the market during the past six months,'' he said of its share
price, which has risen about 230% during that period.
simon.hartley@odt.co.nz
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