The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode with London Stock Exchange Group's Chris Mayo has just been released. Listen here.
The only thing they are validating is their inability to prioritise and focus on commercialisation. R&D of multiple 'products' is an expensive hobby when you have zero income.
When an expert endorsement includes the phrase ." I believe that the eventual implementation of these tests also has potential" it begs questions about how the limited finances are being spent.
So your not here to share research, nor are you here to debate the pros and cons of the investment. You are bored reading the contributions yet here you are? You are either a fool or desperately trying to ramp the share price. Your accusation that I am deramping suggests the former.
Burrows appears to be running a friends and relatives club. He is prone to exaggeration, and misleading gullible shareholders with promises of exponential sales growth or 3rd parties lining up.to buy a slice of the corporate IP so that placements would not be needed. As things stand I wouldn't touch these shares at half the price. It seems too that the CSO and Vulpes have recently decided discretion is the better part of valour.
You say it is early stage.
Do you know how many tests were done using the earlier version of the test?
Are you aware that the cohort used for initial validation is 7 times the size of the OBD cohort tested under Prostogram? He sensitivity data from this larger US cohort is very impresdive.
Admittedly both tests suffer the same limitations wrt genetic mix and age range of those tested and in that regard both are 'early stage' and desperately need further validation. The urine test was developed with fundi g from the US National Cancer institute and is ahead of PSE in that the previous less affective version is already in the NCCN guidelines, something OBD are still working towards. So you will need to explain why you claim it is early stage but OBD is not. Why will they struggle more than OBD to gain traction? A test funded by the NCI producing results comparable to PSE from a larger cohort and based on a completely non-invasive test would seem.to me to be in a better position to gain acceptance in the US market than PSE.
So let's keep the discussion focused on relevant facts. Do you think the urine test I have referenced is a threat to OBD's ambitions or not? If so why? If not why? Then we can have a sensible debate without your constant whining about deramping.
I have cut my losses here as I posted in here many months ago. I retain a token holding out of sentiment as I was once a strong advocate of the science/technology. I continue to post to warn others of the risks of investing in what increasingly feels like a lifestyle company and to bring relevant facts for the consideration of those still invested more heavily than me.
So have you read the article? Do you think.it represents a risk to OBD's commercial ambitions or not?
You should be grateful that others are willing to share their research with you as you apparently don't do much of your own.
Dusty.
You can whine about deramping if you.like but I suggest you open your eyes, read the article (published just a couple of weeks ago) and start recognising that PSE is no longer unique, world leading and at the forefront. It may just save you some money.
Https://prevention.cancer.gov/news-and-events/blog/improved-prostate-cancer-biomarker-test-may-help-men-avoid-unnecessary-biopsy
Note the earlier version of this test is already in the NCCN guidance so this improved version will most likely be included too. Gaining access to these guidance notes for PSE is what Arrivo is tasked with.
Another placement is inevitable and you only need to look at working capital Vs burn rate to see it won't be long coming.
As for the recent RNS's about Goodbody and the London Clinic, both have had 'access' to the test since it was first made available to private patients. There is nothing new of commercial significance in these announcements. It is 8 months since a similar 'agreement was made with BUPA who are by far the largest private healthcare provider in the UK. Indeed that announcement said CiRT was to be offered to all BUPA patients being considered for immunotherapy. That definitive statement has since morphed into announcements of seminars intended to convince BUPA doctors to use CiRT. I wonder how many CiRT tests have been sold resulting from the BUPA agreement. Some might be wise to remind themselves that an agreement to provide access does not equate to a sales contract.
Interestingly Goodbody already offer a prostate test based on genetic analysis of saliva. It is 30% the price of PSE.
https://health.goodbodyclinic.com/product/prostate-cancer-dna-test/
Finally a few should educate themselves about Transform. Remember this is the trial Burrows said it was 'crucially were involved in
The 1st stage of Transform starts in less than a year and will quickly make 12500 blood samples available for testing. It would fast track regulatory approval which even OBD acknowledge to be critical for successful commercialisation. The only alternative is for OBD to self finance a randomised control trial at scale. Now that would require a placing that, to coin a well known phrase, will make the pips squeak'.
Worth reiterating that OBD now has 3 labs, Malaysia, US and UK. At current sales rates they are each presumably processing approximately 1 test per day. Nevertheless the critical role they play in massaging our CEO's ego suggests the overheads are exceptional value for money.
Next-up the RNS announcing seminars to try tompersuade London Clinic doctors to use potentially life changing tests ahead of regulatory approval. The patients already have 'access'. This is BUPA in miniature.
Show us some actual sales please.
Hashi Ahmed's main interest is MRI imaging and he only appears as a co-author on some OBD publications by virtue of his leading role in the Prostogram trial (OBD were ancillary participants in Prostogram).
Prof Eeles has the most relevant expertise to push a case for inclusion of PSE tests but the lancet publication I recently referenced suggests that Stockholm3 is the preferred genetic marker technology included.
Burrows said OBD's participation in Transform was crucial but he has failed to act accordingly. Thankfully we can jump from prostate cancer to rheumatoid arthritis as the latest propaganda bandwagon.
No focus, no strategy, no sales, plenty of placings.
@Lincolnite.
In case you missed it, last year the company CEO was telling us that sales were growing exponentially when subsequent updates revealed they had actually gone down from very few to negligible by year end. This latest statement by the CSO most probably reflects the characteristic scattergun approach to tje market rather than an uplift in sales 'across many fields'. The latter would require that they have abandoned the stated priorities for this year which are that two new VP's were to target inclusion of CiRT and PSE in medical guidance notes for the US in order to boost sales of these "flagship" products. It would also suggest that any new products being 'rapidly adopted' do not require regulatory approval, otherwise we would surely have seen appropriate RNS announcements? I suspect he means a handful of early adopter medics have bought a handful of tests to explore potential, but unconfirmed, benefits across multiple fields.
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)..