Yesterday afternoon, the company held its annual meeting in Dunedin where chief executive David Darling and chairman Chris Gallaher, who appeared by video link from Melbourne, updated shareholders on the company’s progress.
Mr Gallaher told shareholders that the 2021 financial year (FY21) was a year of achievement for Pacific Edge.
The company had achieved a lot including a commercial agreement with US-based Kaiser Permanente and the publication of additional clinical evidence highlighting the clinical utility of CxBladder.
"The market’s response to these events was very encouraging and pleasingly, Pacific Edge was included in the NZX 50 index, which resulted in a re-rating of shares," he said.
Over the past year, the company’s share price had increased 59% or $0.471 a share.
Mr Darling, who will be stepping down in April next year after nearly 20 years in the role, told shareholders the United States market remained Pacific Edge’s primary focus.
The US market offered the company the largest and most accessible opportunity, he said.
The annual market size in the United States for bladder cancer was estimated to be more than 5million test opportunities for all products, with an estimated annual revenue opportunity of about $US3.5billion, Mr Darling said.
Pacific Edge would be trying to expand the commercial adoption of CxBladder by Kaiser Perm-
anente and other large healthcare organisations over the 2022 financial year.
The company had increased its sales team based in the US, employing eight extra account managers in the past year. The company had 24 account managers in the US and it would be seeking to increase that to between 28 and 30 over this financial year, Mr Darling said.
Given the US focus of
the company, a shareholder asked the directors whether it had considered listing on the Nasdaq Composite index.
Pacific Edge director and chairman of its capital committee Anatole Masfen said the way the company sourced capital was under constant review but believed listing on the Nasdaq would be "a leap to far" for the company at this stage.
Mr Gallaher said that a recruitment process was under way to find a replacement for Mr Darling, who will retire next April.
