focusIR May 2024 Investor Webinar: Blue Whale, Kavango, Taseko Mines & CQS Natural Resources. Catch up with the webinar here.
Formal launch of the Transform project took place on May 1st and is discussed in an article in the Lancet. The following extract suggests OBD are not involved and although this could change in the future it suggests that commercialisation of the test is unlikely to be supported by evidence from a fully randomised control trial anytime soon. The relevant extract from the lancet is
"The first stage of TRANSFORM will last 3 years and involve approximately 12 500 men. It will evaluate PSA followed by full MRI, as well as a shortened MRI scan, both on its own on a general population, and in individuals with high PSA scores. “We think the short scan will reduce the need for the longer MRI scan”, said Caroline Moore, Professor of Urology at University College London and NIHR Research Professor, and one of the lead investigators for TRANSFORM. Another arm of the trial will assess polygenic risk scores; participants will provide a saliva sample and those in the highest risk bracket will undergo further testing."
The reference to.polygenic risk scores most probably means the Stockholm3 test. So PSA, MRI and Stockholm3 but no PSE.
Hi Serendipity,
We should be pushing on an open door w.r.t. Transform. Key participants (like the two Profs we have mentioned) will be aware of the test and its potential, but that does not ensure participation.
It is a fact that OBD missed the initial round of applications which preceeded commercial availability of PSE. The good news is that the project design specifically anticipates new developments and participants. The bad news is that only a few months ago we were subjected to the charade of Burrow's reading a crib sheet of extracts from the Prostate Cancer UK press release in a vain attempt to appear knowledgeable about the project and opportunity. He says participation is crucial, but his actions do not match those words. We know, for example , that Burrows prioritises the US market (exponential growth via P2P marketing) and that his newest VP's are tasked with getting CIRT and PSE into US medical guidance notes as their #1 priority. Beyond stating that they have employed a 3rd party lobbyist to try to secure participation in Transform they are silent as to who internally is responsible to ensure it happens. Furthermore there are other liquid biopsy tests that use genetic markers already openly discussed by the project sponsors. Stockholm3 is clearly the leading candidate in this research segment and the budget available to differentiate between blood tests may be very limited given the recent emergence of alternatives based on saliva (for example)..
@Serendipity.
Prof. Ahmed is an advocate of advanced MRI imaging.
https://www.imperial.ac.uk/giving/donate/prostagram/
The fact he was interviewed by the Daily Mail is not surprising as I would suggest that Prostogram imaging is the odds on bookies favourite to become the UK's screening technology.
His name appears on some of the PSE publications because the initial cohort of 120 (I seem to recall) men that were tested by PSE were part of the initial Prostogram program. The fact he was interviewed by the Daily Mail has very little relevance to PSE being a participant in Transform. Suggest you read my earlier comment about Rosalind Eeles contribution to the interview. That plus Burrow's apparent ignorance of the existence of Transform demonstrated in his recent webinar speak to the probability of PSE being in Transform.
I have also asked investor relations which member(s) of our bloated senior management team are directly responsible to ensure our participation and have had no response. Burrows has actually outsourced a government lobbyist to do this . Let's hope the lobbyist is medically qualified.
Yet still no.mention of OBD, PSE or potentially ground breaking blood tests from UK biotech.
Rosalind Eeles is mentioned. She is a geneticist and prostate expert from Imperial College. So the context is there to mention OBD but the signs are not good that we will be involved. My research suggests any mention of genetic biomarkers is most likely a reference to the Stovkholm 3 test.
Shaping up to be yet another broken promise from our CEO. Share price could be set for a sharp fall.
Derampers? You mean derampers other than the inept board of directors? They sure don't need any help given their broken promises of exponential sales growth and 3rd party purchases/licencing agreements to avoid the inevitable shareholder dilution arising from the recent placing. Most damning is their refusal to acknowledge the need for proper medical validation as a catalyst for meaningful sales. This share needs no help to continue it's downward spiral.
The first major shareholder to dismiss the offer as 'unattractive and opportunistic'. Expect others to reinforce this message.
BHP may find their managerial and strategic competence under fire. My bet is on a significantly improved offer to stave this off.
An all share offer that uses elements of the existing business to put finance the deal is beyond cheeky, its opportunistic and exploitative of existing shareholders. They will need to do much better than this offer and I suspect they know that.
Contracts for participants in Transform should be announced in the coming weeks. If OBD is not amongst the participants it will ensure another 2 or 3 placings minimum. At least two.just to keep.the lights on and another major placing to self finance the necessary large scale validation trials. Even our challenged CEO acknowledged that it was critical that OBD are involved in Transform. Expect the share price to drop back below 5p if they are not.
Their analysis is on the money. A good listen for existing and prospective shareholders.
The biggest hurdle they have to negotiate is getting proper validation and Burrows seems reluctant to acknowledge this. His stubborn belief that he can get market traction by peer to peer selling could well become a very expensive mistake for all concerned.
Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer.
Bought into the placing at 9p but apparently only fo appearances sake. Selling off as soon as the SP dropped back to the placing price is not a vote of confidence.
It's all a bit tragic. Good science going to waste because they are clueless about commercialisation.
Might be worth dropping a line to the BUPA marketing g woman that was welcoming the deal via LinkedIn and ask her how many CiRTs they have bought to date and if the agreement to buy was unconditional which is the tone of the OBD RNS. It now feels like it was likely subject to recommendation by BUPA consultants hence the semi ar series to be ran this year. If I'm rightin that suspicion then the RNS was clearly misleading.
In another indication that liquid biopsy technology is a rapidly growing and competitive segment a new Alzheimers test is to leverage funding from charity and NIHR to secure rapid validation at scale.
Sounds kinda like Transform Prostate which Burrows said OBD 'must be involved in'. Shame he seems to have forgotten to include this 'must do' in his recent description of key corporate goals for the coming year. .