VPT:CC - Ventripoint Diagnostics Provides a Corporate Update and Announces New Investor Relations Initiative
(TheNewswire)
Toronto, Ontario – The Newswire –October 27, 2022 - Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd.(" Ventripoint " or the " Company "), (TSXV:VPT ) ; ( OTC:VPTDF) is pleased to provide a corporate update.
Highlights
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New office and expanded manufacturingfacility,
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15 investigator-funded clinical studies planned orongoing,
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11 new clinical studies identified with leading cardiaccenters,
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30-33 sales representatives by year end in USA, Europeand UK,
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Full sales funnel with significant revenue projectedfor 4Q22,
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COVID is having major impact on heart healthworldwide.
New Offices and ManufacturingCentre
The Company has relocated to 18 Hook Avenue, Suite 101in the “junction” area of Toronto. The new facility is largerthan the previous corporate offices and has been configured with alarger manufacturing area and loading/shipping bay. The currentmanufacturing capacity is 10 units per week capacity with room to growto 20 units per week. The Company has expanded the manufacturing andQA team in anticipation of increased demand. All employees andcontractors have returned to the office four days a week to facilitatecoordination and reinforce the innovative culture Ventripoint valuesso much. The team remains focused and energized around our missionto improve cardiac diagnostics for everyone worldwide and especiallyfor children.
Sales, Marketing andDistribution
The Company has aggressively marketed its VMS+ productsat 11 medical conferences so far this year and has committed to do 2more events by the end of the year. The events in 1Q22 were virtualconferences and while providing an increase in awareness of theCompany’s unique ability to deliver gold-standard data fromechocardiograms, they did not result in significant engagement withthe cardiology community. The events in 2Q22 and 3Q22 were“in-person” conferences where engagement was excellent. As aresult, the company now has a full funnel of leads and is seeingsteady progress through the sales process with better-than-expectedretention of interested hospitals. While during the COVID pandemicthe sales cycle lengthened to up to 24 months, the Company now expectsthe sales cycle to be 3-9 months. The company has 4 purchase ordersto fill at this time and has issued multiple quotes to hospitals inEurope, UK and USA. It remains to be seen how quickly these quotesgenerate purchase orders. The Company has atarget of 40-45 systems in use by year end and currently has 29 unitsin operation.
The Company has been exploring introducing its productsin Latin America and has engaged with leading paediatric and adultcardiologists and private laboratories in Brazil. Many clinicalstudies to broaden the applications for the VMS+ have been suggestedand a regulatory review has been initiated. The market opportunitiesare numerous and the VMS+ is ideally suited for this region, wherecardiac MRI is essentially not available. Our representative inBrazil is exploring strategic relationships with hospitals, privatelaboratories and distributors.
The Company has previously announced distributors inthe UK (Cardiologic) and Europe (AngioPro) and the hiring of strategicsales leaders for Europe and the USA and so has a current sales andmarketing team of 10 dedicated representatives. The Company iscurrently finalizing agreements with 10 distributors in the USA. andis expecting to have 30-33 representatives calling on cardiologists bythe end of the year. The Company continues to be actively working withGeneral Electric HealthCare Corporation (GEHC) through their EdisonDevelopment Program 1 to bring our cardiac analysis tools to theirexisting customer base. GEHC is currentlybeing spun out to become a stand-alone company to allow tailored decisions in line with distinct strategies andindustry-specific dynamics to accelerate growth across the continuumof care with focused
organic investment and strategic M&A . 2
Trends in Cardiology and OngoingClinical Studies.
There are a number of innovations coming to market andbeginning to change how heart disease is treated. For example, theuse of transcutaneous heart valves is accelerating as clinical dataare accumulating of an equivalent efficacy to surgically-implantedheart valves for pulmonary and aortic valve implants. The recentapproval of transcutaneous mitral and tricuspid valves willundoubtedly result in increases in their use. One of the Company’susers has started a study using the VMS+3.0 to determine the optimaltime to replace the tricuspid valve on the right side of the heartbased on repetitive assessments of Right Atrial (RA) and RightVentricular (RV) function using echocardiography. The VMS+3.0remains the only technique able to generate reliable, accuratemeasurements of cardiac function for the right side of the heart using2D ultrasound.
The Company is currently assisting in planning ormonitoring 15 investigator-initiated clinical studies where theVMS+3.0 is being used to improve diagnostics and improved patientcare. Two of these studies are seeking to make the VMS+3.0 the“standard-of-care” in certain patient groups. In addition, theCompany is in discussions to start 11 more externally-funded,investigator-initiated clinical studies proposed by leadingcardiologists. There has never been a greater understanding for theneed for better assessment of the heart and the unique ability of theVMS+3.0 to easily deliver quality data to allow physicians toconfidently diagnose, treat and monitor their heart patients.
The COVID pandemic has the potential to dramaticallyincrease the incidence and severity of heart disease. The US-CDC analyzed electronic health records for 63.4million individuals estimated that 20% of COVID-19 survivors aged 18to 64 years and 25% of survivors aged 65 years and older had a healthcondition related to their COVID infection. 3 In anotherlarge study 4 , it was concluded that regardless of severity of symptoms orvaccine status, COVID patients are 72 percentmore likely to suffer from coronary artery disease and 63 percent more likely to have aheart attack?. While most patients recover,their remains 5-10% who have “long-COVID”, which is estimated could cost the USeconomy $3.7 trillion. 5
As cardiologists work to clear the backlog of heartpatients, that accumulated during the COVID pandemic, they are arealso reporting a higher proportion of their patients with more severeheart conditions. It remains to be seen if this was due to COVIDaccelerating their heart failure. Once again, since lung congestionis a major part of COVID, it is the right side of the heart that ismost affected and the power of the VMS+3.0 to assess the right heartwill be needed. 6 The Company is monitoring 2 clinical studies inCOVID patients, who are being followed using the VMS+3.0 to determinethe best ways to assess and treat these patients.
Product Roadmap
The Company continues to advance its products and has aroadmap of upgrades to be implemented over the next two years toimprove the ease of use and expand the measurements to include novelways to quantify and visualize heart function. Patent applicationshave been submitted for the inventions that are enabling theseimprovements. The Company continues to consult its Board of ClinicalAdvisors and users for additional features that would make heartanalytics more effective in various patient populations.
Financial Status and ShareCapitalization
The Company estimates it has 12 to 18 months of cash onhand and expects significant sales to begin in the 4Q22 and increasequarter over quarter. This projection assumes the Company’s abilityto work around COVID restrictions continues to allow effectivemarketing to hospitals, imaging centres and private clinics.
The Company has approximately 156M share outstandingwith a current $52M market capitalization. In addition, there are15.6M warrants at a weighted average price of $0.68 and 9.7M optionsat a weighted average price of $0.27 for a fully-diluted total ofapproximately 182M shares.
Investor Relations
The Company has engaged California-based Think InkMarketing Data and Email Services LLC. to provide marketing servicesto the Company. Think Ink Marketing specializesin various social media platforms and will be able to facilitategreater awareness and widespread dissemination of the Company's news,specifically focused on the United States retail and institutionalinvesting market. The initial term of the engagement is 3 months and may be renewed thereafter. TheCompany will pay Think Ink Marketing a cash fee of US$10,000 permonth.
The Company has suspended its relationship with Iconic Investor Relations LLC.
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https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7121e1.htm?s_cid=mm7121e1_w
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https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20220928/long-covid-could-cost-economy-trillions-experts
About Ventripoint DiagnosticsLtd.
Ventripoint has become anindustry leader in the application of AI (Artificial Intelligence) toechocardiography. Ventripoint's VMS products are powered by itsproprietary KBR technology, which is the result of a decade ofdevelopment and provides accurate volumetric cardiac measurementsequivalent to MRI. This affordable, gold-standard alternative allowscardiologists greater confidence in the management of their patients.Providing better care to patients serves as a springboard and basicstandard for all of Ventripoint's products that guide our futuredevelopments. In addition, VMS+ is versatile and can be used with allultrasound systems from any vendor supported by regulatory marketapprovals in the U.S., Europe and Canada.
For further information, pleasecontact:
Dr. George Adams
519-803-6937
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its RegulationServices Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXVenture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracyof this news release.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statementsand forward-looking information within the meaning of applicablesecurities laws. The use of any of the words "expect","anticipate", "continue", "estimate","objective", "ongoing", "may","will", "project", "should","believe", "plans", "intends'' and similarexpressions are intended to identify forward-looking information orstatements. The forward-looking statements and information are basedon certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company.Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions onwhich such forward-looking statements and information are based arereasonable, undue reliance should not be placedon the forward-looking statements and information because the Companycan give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.
Since forward-looking statements and informationaddress future events and conditions, by their very nature theyinvolve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differmaterially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factorsand risks. Factors which could materially affect such forward-lookinginformation are described in the risk factors in the Company's mostrecent annual management's discussion and analysis that is availableon the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers arecautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Theforward-looking statements included in this news release are expresslyqualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statementsand information contained in this news release are made as of the datehereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly orrevise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as aresult of new information, future events or otherwise, unless sorequired by applicable securities laws.
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