EXHIBIT 99.2 TRANSCRIPT OF CONF. CALL
Published on August 16, 2016
C O R P O R A T E P A R T I C I P A N T S
Scott Powell, Vice President, Investor Relations
Cameron Reynolds, President and Chief Executive Officer
David Kratochvil, Chief Financial Officer
C O N F E R E N C E C A L L P A R T I C I P A N T S
Bruce Jackson, Lake Street Capital Markets, LLC
Brian Marckx, Zacks Investment Research
Jan David Wald, The Benchmark Company, LLC
Yi Chen, H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC
P R E S E N T A T I O N
Operator:
Good day, and welcome to the VolitionRx Limited Second Quarter 2016 Earnings and Business Update Conference Call. Todays conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Scott Powell, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Scott Powell:
Thank you, and welcome everyone to todays earnings conference call for VolitionRx Limited. This call will cover Volitions financial and operating results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2016, along with a discussion of our key upcoming 2016 and 2017 milestones. Following our prepared remarks, we will open up the conference call to a question-and-answer session. Also on our call today are Mr. Cameron Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. David Kratochvil, Chief Financial Officer of Volition.
Before we begin our formal remarks, Id like to remind everyone that some of the statements on this conference call may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that concern matters that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected in the forward-looking statements.
Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, aims, targets, believes, seeks, estimates, optimizing, potential, goal, suggests, and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate to the effectiveness of the Companys bodily-fluid-based diagnostic tests as well as the Companys ability to develop and successfully commercialize such test platforms for early detection of cancer. The Companys actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements due to numerous risks and uncertainties. For example, if we fail to develop and commercialize diagnostic products, we may be unable to execute our plan of operations.
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Other risks and uncertainties include the Companys failure to obtain necessary regulatory clearances or approvals to distribute and market future products in the clinical IVD market; a failure by the marketplace to accept the products in the Companys development pipeline or any other diagnostic products the Company might develop; the Company will face fierce competition and the Companys intended products may become obsolete due to the highly competitive nature of the diagnostics market and its rapid technological change; and other risks identified in the Companys most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as well as other documents that the Company files with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Companys business based, in part, on assumptions made by Management. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this conference call, and except as required by law, the Company does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.
Nucleosomics®, NuQ® and HyperGenomics® and their respective logos are trademarks and/or service marks of VolitionRx Limited and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referred to on this conference call are the property of their respective owners.
Id now like to turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Cameron Reynolds, who will discuss our second quarter 2016 financial results and our clinical and operational objectives for 2016 and 2017. Cameron?
Cameron Reynolds:
Thank you, Scott. Thank you, everyone, for joining Volitions second quarter 2016 earnings conference call. Id like to thank you all for taking an interest in Volition at this very exciting time for us. I will start with a review of the important Q2 events. Volition continues to make excellent progress with our clinical trials, showing the depth and adaptability of our Nucleosomics® technology.
In prostate cancer, we announced results from a 537-patient clinical trial conducted with the Surrey Cancer Research Institute at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom. A single NuQ® assay, biomarker assay, detected 71% of early stage I prostate cancers at a 93%-specificity. This is significantly higher than the most common blood tests currently used to detect prostate cancer, the Prostate Specific Antigen, otherwise known as PSA, which is reported to detect only 53% of prostate cancers at a 73%-specificity. We plan to commence additional trials in prostate cancer in the future. In pancreatic cancer, we announced a large, 750-patient clinical trial with the world renowned German Cancer Research Center which is better known as DKFZ to access Volitions proprietary Nucleosomics® platform for noninvasive detection of pancreatic cancer.
We expect results from this retrospective study in late 2016 or early next year 2017. Also, in conjunction with the University of Copenhagen, we published a new study in the Scandinavian Journal of Clinical and Laboratory Investigation that confirms the stability of circulating cell-free nucleosomes as biomarkers in cancer. These findings are very significant, because for accurate results in any blood test, it is important to confirm that the results of the test are the same regardless when and how the sample is taken.
The results highlight another key step in the path to commercialization of our first product, because they show that patients do not need to fast prior the sample is being collected, nor the NuQ® results meaningfully change over the course of a day or even a whole month for a patient.
We also made significant progress towards the commercialization of our blood test for colorectal cancers in both U.S. and Europe. In April, we announced the CE marking of two additional blood-based diagnostic assays for the detection of colorectal cancer. The biomarker assays, NuQ®V001 and NuQ®T003 identify and analyze fragments of chromosomes called nucleosomes circulating within the blood for the presence of cancer signatures. We have now CE marked three NuQ® biomarker assays, which again is another important step towards the commercialization of our first products in Europe.
We have also made some important expansions to our team. Last month, we announced the appointment of Dr. Edward Futcher to our Board of Directors. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of London and has extensive experience in engineering and management in emerging technology companies. His background makes him a valuable asset and a resource as we prepare the first product for launch.
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In April, we also announced the appointment of Louise Day as Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. Louise will lead Volitions communications and develop the Companys branding and global marketing strategy in preparation for the initial market entry of its NuQ® blood test for cancer. She brings tremendous product experience from her past work with companies such as Zeneca and Reckitt Benckiser.
For the quarter ended June 30, the second quarter of 2016, we had a very strong cash position with $14.5 million in cash and equivalents compared with $17 million as of March 31, and $5.9 million at the end of last year. We have kept very close controls on cost, despite the high level of activity in a wide range of areas and milestones reached; something which we are very proud of.
Looking forward to milestones for 2016 and 2017, we have targeted many important clinical and commercial milestones. We aim to receive additional CE marks on assays and commercial launch of our first product in Europe in early 2017. Well obtain more key IP in several countries including the U.S., as we continue to protect shareholder value. We will announce one or more clinical trials in pancreatic cancer or lung cancer and we aim to present results in ongoing trials including the Bonn University study of the 27 most prevalent cancers. We also aim to present final results from our 4,800 retrospective symptomatic population trial, as well as the first tranches of the prospective 14,000 colorectal study with Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark.
Importantly, we will offer additional clarity on our EU commercialization strategy, including upcoming milestones and the timelines for European market access and sales of NuQ® for CRC. We also aim to initiate our first U.S. FDA trials.
This has been an exciting first-half of 2016 for the Company and were looking forward to moving into commercialization stage in early 2017 for the launch of our first product in Europe. With approximately 150 million Europeans of screening age, this is a very exciting opportunity for us.
We achieved another important milestone this quarter with two additional CE marks, which again just closer to commercialization in Europe. With a very strong cash position, we believe we are sufficiently capitalized and well-positioned to execute on this commercialization strategy this year.
Now, very importantly, with respect to our first commercial product launch, this has moved forward well over the summer, and we expect to make announcements during September and October to discuss this in greater detail. We plan to discuss more about the specific role our product is expected to play in the screening regime for specific countries and our market entry strategies during the coming months. We have already begun our branding and labeling processes for this product and have also engaged a branding agency to assist us with our first product launch.
We aim to have this product CE marked by the end of this year 2016, making it saleable in early 2017 in all 28 EU countries.
We are very proud of our clinical and commercial accomplishments in the first-half of 2016, and look forward to completing these numerous aforementioned milestones throughout 2016 and 2017.
Thank you all very much for your interest in Volition and for joining our second quarter 2016s earnings conference call today, at this very exciting time for our Company. We would now like to open up the call to take your questions. Operator?
Operator:
Thank you. The question-and-answer session will be conducted electronically. If you would like to ask a question, please press star, followed by the digit one. If youre using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Once again star, one at this time to ask a question, and we will pause for just a moment.
Our first question well hear from Bruce Jackson with Lake Street Capital Markets.
Bruce Jackson:
Hi, good morning, and congratulations on all the progress this quarter.
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Cameron Reynolds:
Thank you, Bruce. Yes, its been a good one.
Bruce Jackson:
So, if we could just talk about the timeline or the pathway for getting the first commercial test on the market. I believe so first question is, have you set the panel test yet for the colorectal cancer test? Second, if you have, how many markers are in it and how many do you have to have CE marked by the end of the year? Then, with the launch in early 2017, are we talking Q1? Those are my first three questions.
Cameron Reynolds:
So the short answer to the first question is yes, weve chosen the panel. We are not disclosing what that is now. We want to well save the thunder for September and October for the product, sales, the marketing, the branding, as you know, Bruce, there are some big conferences in September and in October in Europe for the product side. So, well be announcing all of that, what the product is, what the branding is, and the reasons we think it will sell, in that timeline.
But, yes, we aim to have the panel CE marked this year, which I think is achievable. Thats currently our guess-shot and I think it is achievable. Weve already started the branding process and the product. So, we will be beginning discussions with potential clients and customers this year.
As you know, Louise Day has joined us and she has been very hard at work on all of that. So, we are talking very early. If we do get it CE marked this year, which I believe we will; if not, it will be very early in 2017. We are not just at the starting line then. Were doing a lot of preparatory work, so we can really hit the ground running in 2017. So certainly Q1, I can see no reason why it wouldnt begin by then. But I would certainly hope and think we will have it CE marked this year. If not this year, it will be early next year and well start right away.
Bruce Jackson:
Okay, great. Then, one other question on the U.S. regulatory strategy, where do we stand with that right now?
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, good question. Dr. Terrell has been devoted to them actually a few weeks ago. As you probably remember, weve taken on Jason as our Chief Medical Officer for the U.S. and he is heading up the investigation of the 510(k) as well as the process to the PMA for the product pipeline, which were building now. He has done a lot of work on identifying CROs and the 510(k)s that are needed.
I think our strategy is exactly the same as we discussed last time, which is well look to the 510(k)s in adjunct in one or several cancers to start with and then PMAs in one or two of the bigger cancers as a screening test. But, he has done a lot of work on that. Well announce those outcomes when we make some final decisions on what that will look like in the coming months.
But, he has done a tremendous amount of work. He has done an excellent job and were really making sure we get that right. So, well make announcement of that once we make some final decisions.
Bruce Jackson:
Okay, yes, just with the FDA specifically, have you had any conversations with them yet?
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Cameron Reynolds:
We have not. Now, we really want to get it right - as you know with the FDA its got to be correct - we want to make a very good impression right off the bat. So, we focused our efforts in the product pipeline on this first European product, which we will have some news very shortly, as we discussed, in September and October. The U.S. process, were still working hard on making sure we get it right but we will approach the FDA when we have a near final package and were not quite there yet, so the answer is no.
Bruce Jackson:
Okay. Thats it for me. Ill hop back in queue.
Cameron Reynolds:
Thank you very much, Bruce. Have a great day.
Operator:
Next well hear from Brian Marckx with Zacks Investment Research.
Brian Marckx:
Good morning, Cameron.
Cameron Reynolds:
Good morning. How are you?
Brian Marckx:
Good. Given that the significant part of your initial commercialization plan in Europe is being covered under the national healthcare programs, Im wondering if you can kind of talk about what the process is thats involved in being covered under some of the programs there and what are kind of the major criteria that they will look for to determine whether your test will be covered under the programs?
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, absolutely. Weve looked at this quite a lot, and obviously, its a very large market with 28 different countries and over 600 million people in the different countries. Each market is a little bit different. We focused our efforts on countries where we have a natural advantage; most obvious would be United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Holland and Denmark. Obviously, we have a close relationship with the government programs there.
So, we have begun to have a plan of attack, so to speak, from which of those to go to and what process. In essence, it means in the larger countries you have one client which makes up 90% of the business. So, if you do manage to get into one of those groups, you get a very large order from scratch. Weve also taken on to Decideum last year, who are our market access specialist and theyve been tremendously helpful in providing information country by country.
But, our aims and the plan is, as it was last quarter, which is to target a small number of countries which have slightly varied systems in each, and well be making a lot of announcements as to the specifics for those as I discussed in the conference in September and October. We have looked at a lot of detail. Well be announcing a lot more detail than we have. But thats the overall strategy, using our consultants.
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Louise Day has a tremendous experience in products in the Europe as well, and were taking on some great people to help us with that. Having been around as long as we have and worked in as many cancers as we have with lot of different governments, we have a lot of in-depth knowledge. As probably aware, quite a few of our team members are British whove worked NHS and have good experience with that.
Our Chief Scientific Officer has also worked with World Health Organization. So, he is very familiar with lot of different things. So, in between all of that, well announce the product details, our estimation of the market size and an idea of what that would look like, if the product is successful in the next couple of months, as I said in September and October. But weve put a lot of thought into it and I think everyone will be very happy with our plans when we announce them. That would be my expectation.
Brian Marckx:
Cameron, I assume that clinical evidence is certainly going to be one of the major criteria that are going to be involved in the decision-making process
Cameron Reynolds:
Absolutely.
Brian Marckx:
and potentially the price, I guess. Is there anything else that kind of stands out as something that you need to meet to get covered under these programs?
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes there will actually, and that will be covered in the first product launch in the product pipeline. Weve thought about it very long and hard. Of course, as you say, its got to be accurate to make sense of the actual programs. We put a lot of thought into what the product should look like in the first one of the ranking the first cab off the rank if you will in the product pipeline we have. Its not as always, because obviously as it perhaps, you think it would be, but we have done a lot of thought and I think weve reached a very good conclusion as to the first product which well be announcing.
But it comes down to accuracy, it comes down to price. I think one thing which we have, which is very unique is we have the ability to kind of do a lot of different things, given the very low cost of our products thats very cost-effective and very adaptable as you talked about. Sometimes the easiest way into market is as an adjunct to a current testing program, so you dont have to throw the table over, if you will, to get a good chunk of revenue.
I think, if you look at our major competitors, when you are in the hundreds or $500, $600, you really only have one choice, and thats to be start marketing as a sort of frontline screening test. So, we have a lot of options, weve looked at lot of them with a very, very good well-experienced team and were making those announcements, but I think we made some very good decisions and well announce them in September/October.
Brian Marckx:
Okay, good. Wondering if you can comment what your thoughts are on USPSTF guidelines that were updated recently covering Epigenomics procolon tests, and what that might mean for NuQ®, if and when they come to the U.S. market?
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Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, its always an issue now, and I guess, as you know, the USPSTF had issues with both Exact and in level some of Epigenomics. But similar, I mean, for things like specificity and to some degrees, price considering what the problem is. So, I think we are ok, we have a lot of people looking at that very carefully.
I dont want to make off the cuff comments to service part of that. Weve obviously looked at it very carefully. But we are engaging the best consultants we can find in the United States and were using very top-notch CROs to work with on the trials, which we aim to have. So, well come out with that. But we do have something which is different from the others. I think, obviously, Exact had to make their own biosphere, because their test is complicated and expensive. Its not something we run in normal clinical procedures. It can never really be an adjunct. It can never and Epigenomics has its own issues. It needs a lot of blood. Its not that accurate particularly accurate early, as I am sure youre aware.
So, we have something so we certainly want to look at the others for the paradigm we are in. But, I think we also have a different system, a whole different approach. Our overall approach is to be very cost effective, to be as accurate as we can, and really be a part of lot of different things rather than a quite an expensive test that starts as a standalone.
I think given that, I think if anyone was to look at the balance sheet of the companies in the space, they tend to lose hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars before they become successful. We certainly aim not to do that. Weve spent about $25 million, if I was to do as a rough outline up until now, and I think we can make revenue in a very smart and very nimble way to really get the balance sheet strong without having to do it the way the other companies have. That will require a slightly different approach from the other companies.
That includes what the USPSTF have said, Preventive Services Task Force. But that includes a lot of discussions with clinicians and doctors, looking to be parts of systems before we overturn them and create a whole new paradigm. So, well be making a lot more announcements about that, but thats the general strategy we have.
Brian Marckx:
Potentially, this suggests when they update their guidelines in the future, and NuQ® is on the U.S. market, that potentially they update the guidelines including your tests as well.
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, that would certainly, absolutely.
Brian Marckx:
Yes, okay. Thanks, Cameron.
Cameron Reynolds:
Thank you for your time, Brian.
Operator:
Well move onto Jan Wald with Benchmark.
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Jan David Wald:
Good morning, and again, congratulations on the progress youve made.
Cameron Reynolds:
Jan, thank you very much. Its been a busy summer. Luckily the weather in here has been terrible so its been fine being at work.
Jan David Wald:
Probably a busier fall.
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, no, its going to be conference season right through September, October, November, so its going to be busy one.
Jan David Wald:
Well, I guess, just inyouve selected your set of assays for the European CE mark. Could you talk a little bit about what the accuracy is? What the sensitivity and specificity of the suite of assays is?
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, we will be making full announcement of that in the September, October timeframe, once weve packaged it all up with the branding, so well be announcing all of that in September and October. I dont want to steal the thunder from the product launches. But, we think its a very viable product and we think its got a very good market for the product and that all will be announced.
But, I dont want to steal the thunder in mid-August earnings call. Weve done a lot of work on it. Well be announcing the sensitivity, specificity, the aim of the product, the branding and the first markets we are targeting in Europe very soon.
Jan David Wald:
Okay, and will you have an investor call when you announce those things?
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, we will.
Jan David Wald:
Okay.
Cameron Reynolds:
Absolutely.
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Jan David Wald:
I guess, in terms of reimbursement in Europe, going to well, youre going to target, I guess, a few countries at the start. But CE mark, lets say, end of this year or first quarter of next year, when should we expect reimbursement to happen so that you can really begin to commercialize?
Cameron Reynolds:
Well be making some predictions. I dont want to make it off-the-cuff now, because obviously thats a very important question for guidance. I think what well know in September/October timeframe and well be able to announce is the target market where were targeting, the size of that market and the countries we will be targeting initially and the size of those markets.
I think you probably have to wait until later in the year until we have a good feel as to which ones of those will or wont be part of the story in the short to medium term. But yes, so expect some news on that later, but I dont think it would be wise for us to make those predictions now. I think it will probably be when we announce the product and what it is and its accuracy, well start to have a better idea.
But, I would expect to be making more outlines of the market size itself and what the product is and the branding in the short-term. Then, I guess, it is analysts job to try to join the dots in the short-term. But we expect to make guidance but we want to make sure that its reasonably accurate before we make predictions, and I dont think we could accurately predict that today. But well give some good guidances to market and the rest of it, the market size.
Jan David Wald:
Okay. I guess, just for my sake and then I apologize to others if this is really redundant, but would you go over what you take as adjunctive use? How its going to be used with other tests or things just sort of where are we sound clear on what that means?
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, absolutely. I think, youre probably familiar every single cancer currently has some sort of diagnostic from the reasonably good to the appalling, and currently every system is kind of set for that cancer. So, typically what you try to do is become part of a system to help with the clinician to make a decision in conjunction with the current test, rather than just trying to replace it right off the bat.
Now, I think, were certainly aiming to replace a lot of current systems. Clinicians are quite naturally quite conservative. It takes them a few years and you need a lot of data for them, I mean, Exact, I mean, on how long; and theyre still selling 40,000 kits a quarter, 50,000 whatever it is. It takes a long time. If you look at something like CA 19-9 in take pancreatic cancer, just one example. We estimate, I mean, there are tens of millions of them sold. So, if you can be cumulative with the current biomarker, its a lot less risky for a doctor to use it in conjunction with rather than just replace what theyve been using for a long time.
Then we certainly would expect that once that comes with your marker, youve got a few years of good sales. Then you can look to replace the current marker rather than being in conjunction with it. But, I think its a much more easy way into the market. If you think of it this way, also Exact in some respect there is an adjunct to FIT. If you look at their results, the FIT is a very important part of their test. So, theyre in essence an additive to FIT. But, if you look at other cancers, CEA is used in colorectal quite a bit and weve done our results in colorectal often with CEA.
If you look at CA 19-9, in ovarian its CA-125, they are all used for different reasons and often for a lot of reasons. So, what you look to do is make our test with that useful, so its the lowest risk option to the clinician to actually use our test in the first instance. By that, I think, I mean, as you can see we burned just a few million a quarter. We dont need a lot of revenue to become successful so we dont have to raise hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars like some companies to implement our program.
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So, wed like to become part of systems, and given our small resources, I think thats the smart way of going in the short-term, while we become the dominant test in the medium term.
Jan David Wald:
So, you think you will be able to do that without having to do clinical studies to show that you actually provide a benefit if its used adjunctively, or is it just enough to say here is our specificity and sensitivity, and along with this they have you just feel better about the results?
Cameron Reynolds:
Pretty much all of our trials in the last couple of years or a very large number of them have included the current biomarker in them. If you look at in colorectal, weve got data from the colonoscopies from FIT, from CEA. If you look in pancreatic, weve added in CA 19-9. If you look at lung, were also looking at trials that include low dose tomography just to see how we mix with it. So, absolutely you need to have current data with head-to-head, and its in conjunction before we you can haveyou cant just guess and think oh, (inaudible) together. You absolutely need to do them together in the same population, which is exactly what weve done in a lot of the cases.
Jan David Wald:
Okay, and just so I dont go wild on this, my experience is that it takes a year to a year-and-a-half to get reimbursement once something is approved in Europe. Is that a timeline that I should be thinking about or is it going to be shorter than that?
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, youre certainly correct in assuming thats currently a reasonable timeline. I mean we may be shorter than that. We are certainly hitting the ground, running. But, I think if youre looking for a benchmark for what other groups have taken that would be reasonable. I think we do have something which is different which will be quite saleable, but, yes, it always takes longer and costs more as a couple of very wise investors said early on.
We aim to be a Company with a product pipeline, which we have and actually pushing that product pipeline into use, which makes us a whole different sort of Company. But obviously it does take time. But what were very careful of is we are keeping a very tight control of cash, as you can see from our burn rate.
I mean, for a Company which is launching a product, which is running a range of clinical trials and a lot of regulatory work to be ready - if you look at the difference in cash, it is $2.5 million from the last quarter. Its a remarkable feat not to be burning tens of millions like other companies. So, if it does take a little bit longer, it wont be taking a huge amount of capital.
Jan David Wald:
Yes, youve done a great job managing your finances. Thanks a lot.
Cameron Reynolds:
Thank you. We are all big shareholders, so its very important to us.
Jan David Wald:
Again, congratulations on the quarter.
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Cameron Reynolds:
Thank you.
Operator:
As a reminder it's star, one if you would like to ask a question. Next we will move to Yi Chen with H.C. Wainwright.
Yi Chen:
Thank you for taking my questions. Can you give us any some thoughts or expectations regarding the potential sales ramp or revenue expectation in Europe during 2017?
Cameron Reynolds:
Hi, Yi, how are you? Yes, I think as I earlier discussed, basically well outline in September what the overall market is for the product which well be targeting, the countries which well be targeting, and roughly the size of the market if they were successful. I think from what Jan just said before, its very tough to know right now.
We will be starting those discussions this year. We have some lined up and well have some discussion this year. But right now I think it will be a little reckless to try to predict exactly which ones of those will or wont do, in what order. But its a considerable market, and I would certainly hope to have some revenue next year, but its tough to predict exactly how its going to go. But, I think we have a good product lined up I believe, and I believe that will become a lot clearer in September/October, when we make those announcements. But, I dont think we are going to be announcing predictions for revenue- well be very bright man to predict that in the short-term, because of the uncertainties.
But, what I can say is we have a very good idea. We have a good plan. I believe we have a good product, and I believe its an immediate need. So, I am hopeful, but you dont really know until youve cracked into it. So, Id expect an update sometime in the first quarter or second quarter of next year to basically see how its going, but in the short-term I dont think thats something were comfortable doing.
Yi Chen:
Thank you. Just a quick-up follow-up, do you have can you provide us with any idea regarding a potential the size of potential sales team and what kind of selling and marketing expenses should we expect in 2017?
Cameron Reynolds:
Yes, good question. Ill give you both kinds of answers. I think some people have sort of always expected us to have an Exact sized sales force, which is tens of millions, I think the budget is $30 million a quarter. Thats certainly not even within 100 miles of what we intend to have.
I do not expect our burn rate to be up in any way near a large multiple next year for all of this. We have the key Management person currently on board and currently in our burn rate, Louise Day, who has tremendous experience in this area. Weve taken on the Decideum as our consultants who have very good experience in Europe and theyve given us a great background work.
I would see it much more as several key people we hired to target those countries, and were not going to be targeting 28 countries from day-1. That would be tough to do. Well be targeting a handful of key countries, anyone of which if we were to get would be a very significant amount of revenue.
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So, think of it more as a handful of executives. Again, were not going to be producing the antibodies ourselves. Were not producing the kits ourselves. So, there is no need for a massive facility. We have announced and we will be moving into some slightly larger facilities in Belgium, actually a lot larger. But the cost again is very low and is like everything weve done, weve extremely careful, extremely cost-effective.
So, yes, if you think of it on the zero to, I guess, a level of tens of millions a quarter, think of it as a handful of people at the very most, and that would be in the back-half of next year. At the moment, were handling it internally with the ways of our consultants and our Belgium team, obviously, speak French; some of the francophone countries and have been very helpful.
Weve also given Gaetan Michel who is our CEO in Belgium, a product management role and he has been very helpful and he will be very active in helping us marketing the product along with Louise. So, the short answer is it will not be a large increase at all I believe.
Yi Chen:
Thank you.
Cameron Reynolds:
Thank you. Thank you, Yi. Have a good day.
Operator:
There are no further questions. I would like to turn the call back over to Cameron Reynolds for any additional or closing remarks.
Cameron Reynolds:
Thank you, everyone, I know its the middle of August. I very much appreciate you all being on the line and hearing of our plans of the product pipeline and our launch. I think its going to be a very exciting September, October, November for us. Im really looking forward, as I previously said on the call we will be making further calls with more details on the product and the market and the branding in the coming months.
I really hope you can also make that call. I hope you all appreciate the work we have, and I think as we did it, its going to be a good way forward for us. Thank you very much for your time.
Operator:
That will conclude todays call. We thank you for your participation.
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ViaVid has made considerable efforts to provide an accurate transcription. There may be material errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the reporting of the substance of the conference call. This transcript is being made available for information purposes only.
1-888-562-0262 1-604-929-1352 www.viavid.com