Member Info for B2HS2L

Hillseeker -

I posted this earlier in the week:

From RNS :
"We remain committed to becoming a leading, global clinical diagnostics company in the fight against infectious diseases, which will be enabled by strengthening the team, our core business and enhancing our position as a "global first responder" to outbreaks of novel pathogens. We will also endeavour to streamline our R&D programme to ensure we are keenly focused on commercially attractive opportunities and bringing the right solutions, to the right customers at the right time."

From the video :
"....However I think the important point as we seek resolution on the dispute by engaging with DHSC, we really want to build on our success with a real laser focus, so we are capitalising on our ability to focus on new opportunities in the private sector as we have demonstrated in the prior year."

++++
So after April the 'streamlined' R&D team will be employed on those private sector projects that are most commercially attractive.

Now the whole transcription is available, I suspect there may be other subjects where one half of the story is in the RNS and the other half in the video presentation.

DRB83 -
"Can our Escapeplex distinguish between BA.1, BA.2 and Delta."
http://novacyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Ncyt-Omicron_2021-12-15-12-01-27.pdf

Escapeplex can be used to identify Omicron BA.1 or BA.2 from other variants.

https://www.genomeweb.com/scan/johan-hultin-dies#.Yfa4c73P1hE

Johan Hultin Dies
Jan 28, 2022

Save for later
Johan Hultin, who found victims of the 1918 influenza outbreak buried within permafrost, has died, the New York Times reports. He was 97.

According to the Times, Hultin, then a medical student at Uppsala University who spending a year at the University of Iowa, first set off in 1951 to find victims of the flu outbreak in Alaska whose remains were frozen in the permafrost. While he did find and collect samples then, with permission from the village council, Hultin was unable to grow the virus in the lab. But a 1997 Science from Jeffery Taubenberger, now at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, sent Hultin, who had been working in private practice in San Francisco as a pathologist, back to collect more samples, the Times says.

This enabled Taubenberger and his colleagues to generate the genetic sequence of the deadly flu virus's hemagglutinin gene and, eventually, all of its viral genes, the Times says. "Dr. Hultin's discovery was crucial to finding the , allowing researchers to examine what made it so lethal and how to recognize it if it came again," it adds.

From yesterdays 17:11 post -

"Directors are not listening to shareholders reasonable requests for more communication."
"In short they are behaving as though PI's are an irritation"

This morning I can see the transcript of David's video that I pasted on the board last night,
reproduced in French on the Boursorama - Novacyt bulletin board.

Ask yourselves why this transcript has not been provided by the company for French shareholders, if the above is not correct?

The majority of shares are in French hands, why bother making a video in English for a third of shareholders?

The company have had all week to do this.

Does this encourage French share holders to sell, as they should rightly feel shunned?

Is the share price still too high James Wakefield?

The British shareholders needed a transcript anyway, as David's delivery left much to be desired ;o)

Katie: Let's touch upon your core capabilities. What would you say the core capabilities are and how do you intend to expand and leverage the key non-Covid 19 sales after the Pandemic.

David: I guess I said this at the start, it's the talent in the company and the quality of the team. So whether it is the science, the innovation the R&D the manufacturing and supply team, our regulatory capability, through to our commercial capabilities.
That would be the first core capability that one can leverage. The other thing is our extensive product portfolio not just in the clinical diagnostics arena but also in the research / life sciences arena from which we can drive innovation, and so we
really have that strength of product design to manufacturing and our existing portfolio to build on, and then we really want to, with our new commercial relations, build on that market led or customer led strategy going forwards to identify areas of unmet needs, that we can deploy our resources towards solutions for customers, where they have gaps now, in the context of infectious disease. So what you will see are two things, one is the R&D team with the commercial team will pick which opportunities to go after in the future, thats in the organic piece of the investment going forward, and increasingly we are looking at enhancing our business development efforts to bolster the portfolio and really remain agile, the companies always been agile.

Katie: So what are your plans for further geographic expeansion, are they particular markets you are focused on?

09:52 David: We started out very reliant on the UK, we still do a lot of business in the UK, but the clearest opportunity for us is to leverage our CE marked products across the European economic area, so a huge area for which we already have regulatory coverage. Our additional regulatory hurdles we are going through in the UK to ensure our products are on the UK Market, but really across key markets in the European economic area is the most of this, and then with targetted regulatory approvals in additional territories, and as we go forward and strengthen the company we will build on our business across key continents from America to Asia / Pacific and we will with our 'first responder' strategy I mentioned earlier, we are strengthening our effort in regards to NGO's Governments and Philanthropic organisations who support a number of developing countries.
So I think you might see it first things first across UK and then EEA and then realy enhancing global reach step by step.

Then they discuss DHSC with no new info as per.

2/2

I've worked already in a preliminary sense on strategy with the team and we really see two core strands. We are going to build the foundation of the business with climnical diagnostics with our instruments and our research use portfolio as an innovation engine for the future, but continue our second strand to be a global first responder towards major disease outbreak as we have done so for Covid-19 and then lastly but not least, - I'm a Marketing guy by background, and the company has been a little more product lead in the past, but I really want to be more market or customer lead serving our medical needs and picking important under-served issues in the future as we invest in the non-covid portfolio, so there will be more of an update on that in April with the full year results.

Katie: Whats next, - tell us more David

Yeah, really good question Katie, the first thing I would say, - sad to say Covid-19 is not going away, erm Yes from Pandemic to Epidemic or to Endemic, the disease will be here to stay and that varies by country.

We proudly innovated 15 new products last year, to tackle the evolving disease, we've developed a new customer base largely in the private sector, - film, media, employers etc , - help bring them to test their workforces.

We've contracted further with the department of health, and we've increased our NGO / Governmental / Philanthropic business as well abroad. So in that regard, and with the evolving variants of concern like Omicron we've remained relevant and remained on top of the pandemic innovating on the front line.

But to your point what is next, - we are now carefully considering opportunities for growth through to that situation beyond Covid-19, we are doing a number of assessments for where the key unmet needs are that we could best serve in infectious disease. The way I think about that really is that today if we are more 80/20 reliant on Covid from a business point of view we will evolve towards the opposite reliance. So in the future you will see the company innovate in other conditions in infectious disease. As I say I will bring more colour to that evolution in the April time frame when we bring full year results, but we are excited that we really have the building blocks to do that.

Katie: Let's touch upon your core capabilities. What would you say the core capabilities are and how do you intend to expand and leverage the key non-Covid 19 sales after the Pandemic.

David: I guess I said this at the start, it's the talent in the company and the quality of the team. So whether it is the science, the innovation the R&D the manufacturing and supply team, our regulatory capability, through to our commercial capabilities.
That would be the first core capability that one can leverage. The other thing is our extensive product portfolio not just in the clinical diagnostics arena but also in the research / life sciences arena from which we can drive innovation, and so we
really hav

1/2
This is a transcript of the 25th January Video that was published after the release of the Strategy and Full Year 2021 Trading Update 25.01.2022.

I hope you will pardon my poor attempts to punctuate what was David's constant stream of consciousness in answer to Katie Pilbeam's questions.

Preamble
David: What attracted me to the company is that the company had the key ingredients for future value creation.
I saw a solid number of building blocks, strong talents, a strong product portfolio, already established R&D and manufacturing supply chain, a commercial organisation with international reach, and accrued cash on balabnce in the bank, so essential building blocks which are hard to come by in any business. I think I'm of the DNA to really make a difference in the company, take it to the next level and leave a legacy beyond that which the company has already achieved.

Last but not least, the other reason I joined was I felt comfortable at home with the team, a sense of belonging but a really talented team of individuals.

2.04 Katie:
Since joining in October last year, you have undertaken a strategic review of the business. Tell us more about your key findings and the conclusions you made and how they support your view of the future direction of the business.

David: Yeah, so I have taken some time to really dig in and listen and learn about the company, and it's very clear to me that the companies great strength has been it's ability to be agile and react quickly in the face of infectious disease previously reacting to outbreaks of Zika, Ebola, H1N1 swine flu, but actually Covid-19, the first company in Europe to produce a CE mark in-vitro diagnostic test. I guess the first thing is I really appreciated the strengths of the company and when one is thinking about strategy leveraging strength is the best start point. Its of no surprise to any of us that in the infectious disease space that the risks are increasing. We've seen that with the pandemic, with viruses, the ongoing problems with antimocrobial resistance. As we overuse antibiotics the understated problems we see with fungal infections, under appreciated or untreated and with climate change of course, diseases are moving with their ****that carry them around the world so there is a whole list of reasons why infectious diseases are becoming even more problematic in a sense a resurgence perhaps of the past. So the way I have tried to think about the unmet needs the challenges and leveraging the strength of the company is to be much clearer for the company going forward with it's vision so we really want to hone that, and become a leading global clinical diagnostics in the fight against infectious disease, we've done that before and we will do more in that regard. With our purpose being to protect people by providing the right information at the right place at the right time, actionable health information, and protecting people from the invisible threat.

HarChris / Urraca -
"A small buy back would at least signal that they are listening and are interested in seeing the share price recover."
"Shareholders should lobby for this right now."

Directors are not listening to shareholders reasonable requests for more communication.
They are not interested in advising when news arrives that could move a share price, should it be made public,
which is a mandatory requirement.
In short they are behaving as though PI's are an irritation, and they can continue with their plans, there being no significant II's to pander to.
Life's fine as it is for our board members.
A small buy back would tend to increase the amount of share volatility which is already quite drastic at times.

FWIW, I think part of the video and part of the RNS provide the answer:

From RNS :
"We remain committed to becoming a leading, global clinical diagnostics company in the fight against infectious diseases, which will be enabled by strengthening the team, our core business and enhancing our position as a "global first responder" to outbreaks of novel pathogens. We will also endeavour to streamline our R&D programme to ensure we are keenly focused on commercially attractive opportunities and bringing the right solutions, to the right customers at the right time."

From the video :
"....However I think the important point as we seek resolution on the dispute by engaging with DHSC, we really want to build on our success with a real laser focus, so we are capitalising on our ability to focus on new opportunities in the private sector as we have demonstrated in the prior year."

++++
So after April the 'streamlined' R&D team will be employed on those private sector projects that are most commercially attractive.

If David reacts as fast as Graham, then his impressive marketing and sales expertise will surely mean we have a worthy successor to GM.

That Irish coffee was much stronger than it needed to be :@)

Hillseeker -
"GM was very much MARKET LED".
Agree there. - As soon as a customer requirement (an opportunity) surfaced, Novacyt were on to it.

DA is very much MARKETING LED.

source Amryt Pharma video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADcZzV9TyA0

(1:20)

"I'm a through and through marketeer, sales / market access guy."

"I'm really grass roots in the commercial arena, since I was first in sales."

"Selling drugs for nearly 25 years". ;o)

+++
I will be reserving my opinion on David's performance for a while yet.

What I'm looking for is a CEO who ensures the R&D team are able to grab opportunities as quickly and as completely as GM did.
Certainly nobody could have produced results faster.
For David, he is going to have to rely on the pace, skills and expertise of his R&D staff.
AFAICS they are up to the job of being "global first responders".

If David reacts as fast as Graham, then his impressive marketing and sales expertise will surely mean we have a worthy successor to DA.

New CEO joined 18.10.2021 - market close = 255p

I still think the RNS caused an sp drop.
The following video, - with everbody's first impression of the new NCYT CEO was negative for all the reasons stated since.
The french shareholders on Boursorama are non-plussed, and there are two of them to one of us.
Best DA finds some more news and gives a much better performance.
Are you listening Novacyt PR dept (!?).

Hi ChrisToffer -
DA needs to provide more news to improve matters.
Not sure that will happen, but now he is past the first 100 day milestone, (which he preferred to complete in silence, but failed to tell anyone), there could be room for perhaps a little more news. :o)

Covidopportunist - Love it. - Wouldn't change a thing. Perfection.

In the order of her discussion points, the following comments as they relate to Novacyt, are IMO valid:

WHO expects future variants to be more transmissible, not less transmissible.
Nobody knows whether future variants will be more or less severe (but the Novacyt genomic surveillance team trawling databases, are signaling new variants as they arrive on databases).
(More and more countries are contributing to world wide surveillance in greater quantities than before.
New variants are being detected sooner, giving more time to prepare for the next wave generated by VOC's.)
WHO expects future variants to be more able to escape our present vaccines making them less effective.
WHO wants to make sure that spread is reduced. (Testing will assist in this regard).
We can expect, if interventions are to be used appropriately, there to be a low level of circulation. (Testing is an important interventions, although Maria does not mention testing.)
Within that low level of circulation there will be waves of infection. (Requiring those who regard themselves as a "global first responder" to use their agile R&D facilities to develop effective tests for new variants).
++++

The boards expectations for 2022 IMO are not correct.
COVID-19 reported sales will not be reduced by around 50% in 2022, (because as first responders we will have new tests for new variants available fastest).

Take the time to read the following video transcription, and ask yourself if you agree that DA's RNS statement is correct.
"Currently, the Board expects COVID-19 reported sales could be reduced by around 50% in 2022, versus 2021"

Source - https://twitter.com/i/status/1486426907289731083

Dr Maria Van Kerkhove
Infectious Disease Epidemiologist;
COVID-19 Technical Lead @WHO,
WHO Health Emergencies Programme.

"Omicron will not be the last variant you will hear us talking about, the next variant of concern will be more fit.
What we mean by that is it will be more transmissible because it will have to overtake what is currently circulating.
The big question is whether or not future variants will be more or less severe.
The other thing we expect with variants is that there may be more immune escape, which means our countermeasures, our vaccines, will be less effective.
We don't want to be in that situation. So again we want to make sure that we reduce the spread.
Future scenario's - We expect that with interventions, if they are used appropriately, we expect there to be a low level of circulation.
But within that low level of circulation there will be flare ups, there will be outbreaks. And those outbreaks will occur in people who are not well protected.
Either because they have not been vaccinated because they don't have access, they refuse to be vaccinated because there is a vaccine hesitancy which we are working to address globally.
Or they have been infected and they may have waning immunity over time.
But we may also see a seasonal pattern. This a respiratory pathogen so we expect as we go forward we will typically see a pattern:
The Northern Hemisphere you see in the winter months and the southern hemispher in their winter months.
In the tropics it's a little different. We do expect there to be a kind of seasonality.
But the variants are a wildcard. We still don't know everything about this virus or about the variants and their future trajectory.
What we do know is what works. Vaccines work, vaccines prevent people from needing hospitalisations and prevent people from dying.
Physical distancing works in terms of reducing the spread.
Wearing a mask actually prevents spread, and reduces opportunity to spread.
Improving ventilation reduces the spread, as does avoiding crowds.
That does not mean we shut down society. What we are looking for is a layered approach, and we really need everybody's help."

++++

"DA is going for a customer driven approach".

++++

From RNS 12.02.2020 - Coronavirus test update.

Graham Mullis, Chief Executive Officer of Novacyt, commented:

"In addition, we believe interest in our COVID-19 test will have a positive, long-term impact on Novacyt as new customers look to purchase our broader product range. ***We are already seeing an increased demand for our B2B capabilities as customers look to utilise our molecular design and development capabilities.***

++++

So we have, and have always offered a molecular design and development capability that was customer driven, including working to the customers time scale.

++++

From the DA video transcript yesterday:
"....However I think the important point as we seek resolution on the dispute by engaging with DHSC, we really want to build on our success with a real lazer focus, so we are capitalising on our ability to focus on new opportunities in the private sector as we have demonstrated in the prior year."

From RNS yesterday:
"We remain committed to becoming a leading, global clinical diagnostics company in the fight against infectious diseases, which will be enabled by strengthening the team, our core business and enhancing our position as a "global first responder" to outbreaks of novel pathogens. We will also endeavour to streamline our R&D programme to ensure we are keenly focused on commercially attractive opportunities and bringing the right solutions, to the right customers at the right time."

++++
So after April the 'streamlined' R&D team will be employed on those private sector projects that are most commercially attractive......a capability we have always had.

IMO what DA has found on his 100 day walkabout is that R&D hasn't been optimally employed.
The DA and GM way of operating the R&D facility doesn't differ that much I think.
++++
We need more R&D teams, particularly if future variants are going to replace present variants so quickly, and we assume the "global first responder" role.

HarChris,
I don't think the R&D team are twiddling their thumbs until April, they are up to something now, so some of the previous products that were identified as to be delivered this year are still in development. (I'd like to think that the project to reduce PCR process from 60 mins to 10 was one of them).

When you say deployed, are you referring to M&A activity, or just big spend items, for instance new premises to house a bigger work force.