InspireMD, Inc. (NSPR) on Q1 2021 Results - Earnings Call Transcript
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Good morning and welcome to the InspireMD First Quarter 2021 Financial Results and Corporate Update Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. Participants on this call are advised that the audio of this conference call is being broadcast live over the internet and is also being recorded for playback purposes. A webcast replay of the call will be available approximately one hour after the end of the call through May 25, 2021. I would now like to turn the call over to Scott Gordon, President of Core IR, the Company's Investor Relations firm. Please go ahead sir.
Scott Gordon: Thank you, Chad and good morning everyone. Thank you for joining us for the InspireMD first quarter 2021 financial results and corporate update conference call. Joining us today from InspireMD are Marvin Slosman, Chief Executive Officer of Inspire, and Craig Shore, Chief Financial Officer. During this call, management will be making forward-looking statements, including statements that address InspireMD's expectations for future performance or operational results, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Forward-looking statements involve risks and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. For more information about these risks, please refer to the Risk Factors described in InspireMD's most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, the Form 8-K filed with the SEC today, and InspireMD's press release that accompanies this call, particularly, the cautionary statements in it. The content of this call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of today, May 11, 2021, except as required by law, InspireMD disclaims any obligation to publicly update, or revise any information to reflect events or circumstances that occur after this call. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Marvin Slosman, Chief Executive Officer. Marvin, please go ahead.
Marvin Slosman: Thank you, Scott and thank you all for joining the call on webcast today. The first quarter of 2021 was a very productive period for InspireMD with persistence and tireless focus on executing our milestones, ranging from expanding our already unmatched clinical body of evidence, global expansion, commercial growth and development of new pipeline offerings. Our execution strategy remains sound and our mission remains the same. To demonstrate that CGuard EPS with its unique and proprietary design is the most advanced treatment of carotid artery disease or CAD and stroke prevention above all other stent systems in the market, and to establish CGuard as the carotid device of choice amongst physicians across multiple clinical specialties that treat carotid artery disease. Revenue performance for the first quarter showed improvement, although with some residual effects of the pandemic, as many of our served geographies continue to struggle with full access to elective procedures, but we expect revenue to normalize as we move through the year. Of the many milestones we achieved during the first quarter, we believe one of the key events was the shareholder approval for a reverse split of our stock. We worked hard to accomplish a 1:15 reverse stock split, reducing the number of outstanding shares from 118 million to 7.9 million shares, which took effect at the close of trading on April 26, 2021.
Craig Shore: Thank you, Marvin and to everyone for joining today. Here are some key financial highlights for the first quarter of 2021. Total revenue for the three months ended March 31, 2021 was $1,006,000, a decrease of 2.7% compared to $1,034,000 during the three months ended March 31, 2020.
Operator: And the first question is from Ben Haynor with Alliance Global Partners. Please go ahead.
Benjamin Haynor: Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for taking the questions. First from me, can you talk a little bit more about the input that you expect from the Scientific Advisory Board? I noticed you got that Dr. Rosenfield as Chair? Can you talk about what type of input that you see them providing, kind of how that will help advance CGuard and then anything on the other product development that they may be able to help out with? I know, they haven't all been named yet, but just looking for more color on that?
Marvin Slosman: Sure Ben, thanks for the question. Yes, I think the SAB has been long overdue in terms of getting a formal group together. And we have a cross discipline, a great cross discipline group, both interventionalist as well as surgeons that we're building a nice team. That will help advice the company both in pipeline opportunities that we're building within the organization to make sure that they're relevant and valid and provide that clinical utility that we believe. But I think it's just a great barometer to make sure that we're right on track, both proactively as well as in our development cycles to make sure that when our products are announced and do come to market, that they're relevant and meaningful and have an immediate commercial impact. So we're really pleased to have this group as supporters on board with us, and it's a very practical forum to use for us.
Benjamin Haynor: And you guys have sure punched above your weight so to speak in attracting a lot of these folks that are kind of name brands for the right term, but highly respect certainly to the company, and to further your development. So that's great. And the pipeline of new products, and making sure that they're relevant, valid providing clinical utility, like you mentioned. When might we start to hear more specifics on what do you guys are working on?
Marvin Slosman: Yes, Ben I think hopefully, we're going to be able to talk more specifics over the next quarter or so. We certainly want to make sure that we have everything lined up accordingly. And the development process has been going remarkably well. We're getting some validated feedback.
Benjamin Haynor: Okay, great. And then, just thinking about kind of the expense line items and the R&D activities related to the CGuardian trial hasn't really shown up too much yet, in the reported numbers. But, kind of what should we be looking for in terms of, magnitude of a step up and when that might occur?
Marvin Slosman: Criag, you want to take this one?
Craig Shore: Can you just repeat it a little I wasn’t following 100%?
Benjamin Haynor: Yes, no problem. So as far as R&D goals not a lot of the CGuardian trial has shown up, the reported numbers. What should we be looking for, and kind of in terms of magnitude, and when that step up will occur - both the magnitude and the timing of the step up, that will occur as you get into the trial?
Craig Shore: Okay. So, as Marvin said, we're expecting our first patient to be recruited sometime in the summer. So most of our expenses will be obviously - most of our expenses have to do with the recruitment of patients. So we should see a pickup in expenses in Q2, following Q3, then next year, throughout the full year, and then we should start to see them coming back to normal sometimes in 2023, as we finish enrollment in the one-year follow-up.
Benjamin Haynor: Okay, that makes sense. And then, finally from me, there's another player in the credit stenting market that's out there. They've recently spoken of kind of refocusing their efforts on physicians that have already been trained on their procedures. It looks like about three quarters or more of the procedures that are being done are being done by doctors who are trained over a year ago, which I did. But it kind of seems like some of the doctors that we talked to, they get to a fairly complex procedure. Do you think that's difficult to, kind of broad the - get adoption of and how do you guys see kind of the CGuard procedure stacking up in comparison to the T-CAR procedure that's out there?
Marvin Slosman: Sure, Ben good question. We are fundamentally a stent driven and focused company. And we believe that ultimately, the stent is the difference maker in terms of clinical performance and patient outcomes. And we will continue to remain focused on that. Regardless of delivery system, ultimately, we don't want to discriminate with one sector of physician group. We want to appeal to all of them, and make sure that we have delivery systems that are consistent with what they choose to use. But ultimately, our goal is to make sure that CGuard is the focus, and that that the stent, the residual stent is really what matters. So, we will continue to build systems and mechanisms that allow CGuard to be placed. And we'll continue to focus on outcomes and evidence that show, superior clinical results for patients. So I think ultimately, that's the goal is to continue to make CGuard ubiquitous across every discipline and every specialty, that chooses to do carotid artery stenting and I think that's fundamentally the difference that we have.
Benjamin Haynor: Okay. So in other words is that, your view of the world is it's the stent that is what matters rather than how it gets delivered?
Marvin Slosman: I think that's clear and consistent and we certainly want to create mechanisms for delivering the stent and give people options. And we will continue to work on optimizing those, but ultimately, our business is based on CGuard and based on the stent, correct.
Benjamin Haynor: Okay, got it. Well, thanks for taking the questions. Congrats on the progress, gentlemen, and looking forward to the upcoming uplisting.
Marvin Slosman: Great, thanks Ben, thanks for your questions.
Craig Shore: Thank you.
Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the question and answer session of the call. I will now return the call to Marvin Slosman for closing remarks.
Marvin Slosman: Great, thank you. I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to join the call today and the ongoing support for InspireMD. We are fundamentally a stronger company today than ever before. And I'm very proud of the extraordinary efforts that our team has gone through in expanding and creating an exciting future for the company. And thank you for joining.
Operator: And thank you sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect your lines.
Marvin Slosman: Thank you.
