NASDAQ:AWH Aspira Women's Health Q2 2024 Earnings Report $0.08 -0.01 (-12.49%) As of 04/16/2025 Earnings HistoryForecast Aspira Women's Health EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.28Consensus EPS -$0.32Beat/MissBeat by +$0.04One Year Ago EPS-$0.28Aspira Women's Health Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$2.42 millionExpected Revenue$2.60 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$180.00 thousandYoY Revenue GrowthN/AAspira Women's Health Announcement DetailsQuarterQ2 2024Date8/12/2024TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateMonday, August 12, 2024Conference Call Time4:30PM ETUpcoming EarningsAspira Women's Health's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 at 8:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Aspira Women's Health Q2 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrAugust 12, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Aspira's Women's Health Incorporated Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the call for your questions. As a reminder, this call is being recorded today. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that forward looking statements are defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 will be made during this call, including statements relating to Aspira's expected future performance, future business prospects and future events or plans. Operator00:00:43Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, Actual outcomes and results are subject to risks and uncertainties and could differ materially from those anticipated due to the impact of many factors beyond Aspirus Women's Health Control. The company assumes no obligations to update or supplement any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Participants are directed to the cautionary note set forth in today's press release as well as the risk factors set forth in ASPYRA's most recent Annual Report on Form 10 ks and quarterly report on Form 10 Q filed with the SEC for a description of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward looking statements. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Nicole Sanford, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:01:54Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to our Q2 2024 earnings conference call. With me today is our President, Doctor. Sandy Milligan. I will begin with an overview of our strategy, execution and operations, followed by an update from Sandy on product development. I will then review our financials before opening the call for questions. Speaker 100:02:15The most important development for the quarter was the launch of the longitudinal mass monitoring application for Overwatch following the publication of powerful new data at the beginning of May. This is the latest development in our effort to expand both the clinical utility and commercial opportunity for our OVA suite portfolio of ovarian cancer risk assessment blood tests for women within the ANNEXO mass. The launch of the longitudinal monitoring application means that we have achieved our goal of offering a life changing suite of blood test, the first and only tool of its kind available anywhere in the world. This is a major accomplishment and one that we share with the many long term shareholders who have believed in the company and supported us on this important journey. Let's reflect on the addressable market for our tests over the past few years to set the stage for our future growth. Speaker 100:03:03OVA1 plus the only test that was commercially available when I joined the company in early 2022 has a total addressable market of between 200,000,400,000 tests per year in the United States. We increased that to more than 1,200,000 with the launch of the initial assessment application of Overwatch in December of 2022. Now with the launch of the longitudinal monitoring application this quarter, we believe the total addressable market for our OVA suite test is between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 tests per year. This is a 10 fold increase in the revenue potential for the tests that have already been trusted by healthcare providers more than 200,000 times. Speaker 200:03:41It is important to keep Speaker 100:03:42the dramatically increased addressable market in mind as we review our performance for the Q2 and look out to the rest of 2024 and beyond. You may recall that we began a refresh of our commercial strategy and program elements in the second half of twenty twenty three with the goal of identifying people, process and technology enhancements as well as refining our market messaging to increase both impact and reach. The refresh was completed and fully implemented in the Q1 of 2024. And as a result, I believe we are well positioned to take advantage of the expanded adjustable market for our test. Moreover, the ENHANZE commercial organization is more efficient and cost effective than ever, which is critical to our cost containment goals. Speaker 100:04:25I'm happy to report that we have seen positive momentum resulting from our refresh efforts with sequential growth during the first half of twenty twenty four. Our total OVA suite test volume in the second quarter hit a new company high watermark of 6,470 1 with more than 20% of that volume coming from the Overwatch test. We achieved this test volume with 17% fewer full time field salespeople when compared to the Q2 of 2023. By comparison, we had an average of 16 field salespeople in the first half of this year compared to 21 field salespeople for the same period last year, resulting in an impressive 29% increase in volume for field sales representative to 769 tests. We added an additional 2 field sales people in the Q3 and expect the enhanced commercial programs along with the expanded application of the Overwatch test and the powerful new data published in May to support rapid success in these territories. Speaker 100:05:24Our primary focus now is to drive adoption of our OvaSweet test portfolio to become the universal standard of care for every woman diagnosed with adnexal mass. There are many important initiatives underway, including working with partners to have our tests added to the protocols for adnexal mass care, which we expect to come together in the 3rd and 4th quarters of this year. Our commercial success and growth also rely on our ability to increase coverage and reimbursement for our OvaSweet products, and I'm proud of the progress we have made. On the commercial plan side, we recently contracted with Anthem plans in California and the Northeast states, adding 8,000,000 covered lives. We expect the Anthem Central and Virginia geographic regions to complete contracting before the end of 2024, which would add an additional 16,000,000 lives. Speaker 100:06:10Also of note, we have added Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois and Superior Plan Texas so far this year. On the Medicaid side, we added Maryland and Kentucky in the 2nd quarter, bringing the total number of states covering 1 or more of our OVA suite tests to 9, including the critical states of California, New York and Illinois. Medicare and Medicare Advantage reimbursement for Overwatch has also increased meaningfully in the first half of twenty twenty four. Despite these achievements, we know we have more to do to convert additional payers. The study we published in May was instrumental in helping to swing momentum our way. Speaker 100:06:47The data clearly demonstrated the benefit of adding Overwatch to a physician's clinical assessment in women presenting with a donexal mass. We've created a model to help payers quantify the potential savings that can result from a reduction in surgical interventions on low risk patients if the Overwatch test is used. We believe the potential savings while dependent on circumstances are both significant and compelling. To further accelerate our reimbursement progress, we have initiated a comprehensive analysis of national, regional and integrated delivery network payers with the assistance of an experienced third party consultant. The objective of the project is to gather specific and direct insight regarding evidence requirements we must meet to support broader coverage and reimbursement for Overwatch. Speaker 100:07:33The first phase of the study, which we expect to complete in the Q3 of 2024, consists of interviews with senior stakeholders to identify evidentiary and other gaps we must fill. These findings will be incorporated into a clinical utility study that we expect will help expand commercial coverage for Overwatch and OVA1 plus while also informing our market access and reimbursement strategies for future product launches. Now it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Sandy to talk about product development. Then I will come back on to discuss our operating performance and balance sheet position. Sandy? Speaker 200:08:08Thank you, Nicole. In my role as President, my focus continues to be the acceleration of our research and product development program. I'm pleased with the progress we have made in the Q2, which I'll share with you today. As Nicole mentioned, we announced the publication of 2 overwatched focused manuscripts in May. Together, these peer reviewed publications demonstrate the potential for significantly improved physician triaging of malignancies for surgery over their clinical impression alone and supported the use of Overwatch as an ovarian cancer risk serial assessment tool. Speaker 200:08:44This data demonstrates that Overwatch could substantially reduce surgeries for low risk patients performed out of concern for malignancy risk, especially for asymptomatic and premenopausal women. Indeed, Overwatch may have reduced the number of surgeries in women with low risk of malignancy by 62% in all patients and 77% in premenopausal women. With the added feature of serial mass monitoring, Overwatch can be drawn at provider prescribed intervals for active surveillance of an adnexal mass determined by initial clinical assessment as indeterminate or low risk. This is the strongest clinical support for Overwatch and its value proposition for physicians and patients to date. Let me turn now to our product development update with a brief overview of our progress on EndoCheck, our protein based test that has been shown to identify certain endometriosis located on the ovary, including endometrioma. Speaker 200:09:44Following a robust discussion with healthcare providers upon our presentation of EndoCheck data at the Society For Reproductive for Reproductive Investigation Annual Scientific Meeting in February, we believe that the EndoCheck protein biomarker signature will significantly contribute to a test with broader endometriosis application as well as offer insights to improve the understanding of this devastating and complex disease. We are currently processing nearly 400 samples collected in our endometriosis clinical study and expect to have new data for analysis during the Q3. With this data in hand, we will have the opportunity to further assess the commercial application of the test and expand our outreach to potential development partners. This may include pharma companies with drug therapies and development that could potentially utilize Endocheck as a research focused test to identify or track patient response to drug therapies in ongoing clinical trials. We are also considering how the addition of an EndoCheck score to our OVA Watch test report would allow healthcare providers to assess the risk of both ovarian cancer and endometrioma for women presenting with an indexal mass. Speaker 200:10:56We believe this may have a positive impact on clinical utility, provider adoption and pricing of the test. Clearly, we have work to do in deciding how best to proceed with EndoCheck and for now have focused the majority of our development resources towards our molecular testing portfolio. With that, let me turn to OvaMDx, which is being developed in collaboration with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. We have completed assay analytical feasibility on an FDA approved PCR system, a critical milestone which confirms the ability to perform a test that utilizes the microRNA technology discovered by Dana Farber on a commercially viable diagnostic platform. Our next phase, which is currently underway, is the design and assay verification process, which we expect to provide additional data prior to the end of 2024. Speaker 200:11:49As we have shared previously, we believe that this test will have the power to improve sensitivity for early stage ovarian cancer, as well as broader detection for various histological subtypes, solidifying our position as the leader in non invasive ovarian cancer testing for women with adnexal masses. As we complete development steps for the OvaMDx program, we will leverage the learnings and experience in developing a microRNA and protein biomarker test into the development of our broad general endometriosis blood test that leverages proteins from EndoCheck and proprietary micro RNAs identified through our research agreement with Dana Farber. We are working to establish analytical feasibility and the selection of micro RNAs and protein candidates as part of the ongoing test design for this broader endometriosis test. Now that the FDA has finalized its role to regulate lab developed tests, we are in the process of determining the regulatory pathway and related requirements for our in development molecular tests for both ovarian cancer and endometriosis. We do not anticipate the new role to have any impact on our ability to offer our existing products, including the longitudinal testing application of Overwatch, nor do we anticipate the regulation to cause a significant extension of our prior development or launch timeline for the combination microRNA and protein biomarker test. Speaker 200:13:16We continue to focus on identifying non dilutive sources of funding for our R and D activities, including funding from multiple research grants. Our development related to our in process molecular tests are groundbreaking. We believe that related research has created new grant opportunities, which we intend to aggressively pursue. In addition, we are waiting for a funding decision on a sizable grant opportunity, which requires confidentiality until such decision is made. Regardless of the outcome, the application processes have helped us consolidate to a compelling and data driven development and commercialization strategy to bring to potential development partners. Speaker 200:13:56Another potential source of non dilutive funding is through our research biobank where our recent analysis showed that we have as many as 70,000 serum, plasma and whole blood samples available for secondary research. In July, we executed a number of small material transfer agreements with 3rd parties who intend to utilize the samples for validation of gynecological disease value for the purchase material and realizing another opportunity for non dilutive cash through sample disposition. We also believe that there may be opportunities to work with foundations to identify additional academic and research activities in women's health that could benefit from access to our sample bank. Finding the right path for this initiative is complex and requires a strategic approach, but we have made tremendous progress in 2024. With that, let me now turn it back to Nicole for an update in our financials. Speaker 200:14:56Nicole? Speaker 100:14:58Thank you, Sandy. Ovisweep revenue for the Q2 was $2,400,000 a 13% increase sequentially from the Q1 and flat to the Q2 of 2023. 2nd quarter product volume of 6,471 increased 11% sequentially and 3% year over year. Overwatch tax volume contributed significantly to overall growth, increasing 24% sequentially and 48% year over year. As I discussed earlier, the contribution of Overwatch to the overall growth is critical given the test large addressable market of between 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 tests per year. Speaker 100:15:37Our overall average unit price this quarter was $3.74 a slight increase sequentially compared to $3.69 in the 1st quarter, but down 5% from 396 in the second quarter last year. It's important to note that our AUP in the prior year reflected an adjustment for a change in estimate required under generally accepted accounting principles based on actual collections compared to previously recognized revenues. After adjusting for this impact, our Q2 of 2023 AUP for all products would have been $3.81 per test, just over 1% higher than this year. Overall, we are pleased to see Overwatch's AUP converging with OVA1 plus Overwatch AUP of $3.48 in the 2nd quarter reflects a 3% increase sequentially, a 7% increase compared to the Q2 last year and a 34% increase compared to the first half of twenty twenty three. Margins this quarter decreased slightly to 59% compared to 62% last year as we saw an increase in product costs, including higher shipping costs. Speaker 100:16:41We are currently exploring options to better control shipping and other costs as we look ahead to 2025. Gross margin for the 6 months is largely consistent with the prior year. On the operating side, research and development expenses for the quarter increased 37% year over year as we saw an increase in collaboration costs with our research partner for the molecular test portfolio. This includes reagents and other Q2 of the prior year, primarily due to an increase in personnel costs with the addition of strategic account leaders, marketing professionals and inside sales people. G and A costs decreased 20% this quarter compared to last year, mainly due to a decrease in personnel and consulting costs. Speaker 100:17:31During the Q2, our cash used in operations was $3,700,000 down 16% sequentially and a slight increase of 9% compared to last year. One cause of the increase in cash used over the prior year was related to our decision to pay bonuses to our staff, including a small amount that had been outstanding since 2022. These individuals have dedicated themselves to our mission and the retention is critical for the achievement of our strategic goals. Our cash as of June 30, 2024 was approximately $962,000 After adjusting for gross proceeds of the subsequent pipe and warrant inducements that were completed in July, our ending cash would have been approximately $5,000,000 In August, we entered into a new $4,500,000 at the market facility with H. C. Speaker 100:18:17Wainwright. This facility, which will be available to the company following a 60 day standstill under the warrant inducement agreement replaces a prior arrangement of Cantor Fitzgerald, which had been suspended for some time. We believe H. C. Wainwright offers a better significantly lower cost of capital. Speaker 100:18:39We are updating our guidance for cash used in operations for 2024 to be between $13,000,000 $14,500,000 down from the $15,000,000 to $18,000,000 we guided towards at the beginning of the year. We believe that our in flight initiatives, including grant funding, sample sales and partnership opportunities and the availability of our newly executed ATM facility will be sufficient for us to fund operations in the near term. Today, we also announced that Sandy and I have opted to change our base compensation for the remainder of the year. Each of us will be receiving additional equity in exchange for a 20% reduction in cash based salary. We continue to believe that our stock is significantly undervalued. Speaker 100:19:18We want to be in a position to be rewarded alongside when the capital markets catch up with the company's immense potential. While this year has presented many challenges, we remain steadfastly focused on our mission to improve health outcomes for millions of women, while positioning ourselves for long term success. We have the only blood test on the market for the accurate assessment of the risk of malignancy for all patients that have been diagnosed with an ANNEXO mask, and we are leading the way in the development of non invasive tests in endometriosis. I continue to be bullish on our prospects and I'm proud that we have kept our promises to patients, physicians and our shareholders to the best of our ability. Before I open for questions, I have an exciting personnel update. Speaker 100:20:01This week, the Board appointed John Colasci, an experienced financial executive as our Interim Chief Financial Officer effective August 15. John brings a passion for our mission and decades of experience to the role. He has served in senior level roles, including Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Financial Strategy and Innovation Advisors as well as founder to several businesses. John's expertise in solving challenges like those facing Spira at our critical stage of growth will undoubtedly help to position us for future success. His first priority will be the refinement of our capital and liquidity strategy as well as expanding our shareholder base. Speaker 100:20:37With that, I would now like to open the call for questions. Operator? Operator00:20:42Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer The first question comes from the line of Ross Osborne with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:21:18Hi. Thanks for taking our questions and congrats on the progress. So starting up on the quarter, really strong volume quarter. Would you parse out growth between increasing utilization by existing customers versus attracting new docs to this part of your portfolio? Speaker 100:21:36Hey, Ross. Thanks for the question. Thanks for joining. I think it's been pretty consistent across both categories, to be honest with you. So we continue to bring on new providers and continue to see growth in existing provider adoption. Speaker 100:21:53Okay, great. That's good Speaker 300:21:54to hear. And then regarding your comments around FDA's oversight versus historical LUT, Realize you don't think the classification is going to impact your current offerings, but do you still plan to submit a watch for FDA approval? And if we walk through that process again, please? Speaker 100:22:16Yes. Sure. Ros, it's Sandy. I don't know if you want to take that. Yes, jump in. Speaker 200:22:19Yes, sure. Absolutely. So, Ross, we've been considering whether or not to move forward with Overwatch and get it FDA cleared this year as we initially thought while we were anticipating the LDA regulation LDT regulation to come sometime this year. At this point, we're holding because we do want to accumulate And as you're probably aware, companies have until well, we can leave it forever because Overwatch is was released before the LDT regulation came into effect. But if we do want to clear it, we've got the opportunity to do so. Speaker 200:22:59With the new products, we can release as an LDT, and then we just have to clear before mid-twenty 28. Speaker 100:23:07Okay, perfect. Speaker 300:23:08And then lastly, on John Colassee, nice to see the interim appointment. Will he be considered for a full time hire? Speaker 100:23:19At this point, he's only been brought in as an interim, but certainly we will keep all of our options open for long term, as we obviously will need to have a CFO for the long term. Speaker 300:23:32Okay, great. Thanks for taking our questions. Operator00:23:36Thank you. Thanks, Rob. Next question comes from the line of Do Kim with Water Tower Research. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:23:45Hi, thanks for taking my questions and congrats on the quarter. Just on Overwatch, just wanted to know how you're thinking about its growth as physicians implement longitudinal monitoring. Do you envision more of like a steady growth rate or could we potentially see a step up in growth as the retest occur? Speaker 100:24:09Thanks for the question, portfolio, a big part of that has been that as we introduce new products, we would be launching them into a warm market, meaning providers that are already familiar with our testing and trust it and have used it in the past. So I believe that we will see a faster ramp up for Overwatch than we saw when we launched OVA1 plus But we did see, if you look back over historical, we have seen nice steady growth in OVA1 since it was launched. So I expect it to be at least the same, but I do believe it will be much faster. Speaker 400:24:57Good to know. And just anecdotally, have you gotten any feedback on the level of physician enthusiasm about the publications and for mass monitoring with Overwatch? Speaker 100:25:13The reception has actually been very positive. I believe that since we launched Overwatch, one of the things that providers were really interested in learning more about is how it benefits pre versus postmenopausal women and asymptomatic versus symptomatic women. And in both cases, we were able to provide information that show the utility of the test for potentially reducing surgical intervention on women with benign masses, so in all of those categories. So for premenopausal women, we're clearly maintaining their ovaries for as opposed to prophylactically removing them out of fear of malignancy is a really important goal. And also for asymptomatic women who, a mass was identified incidentally through another diagnosis or another kind of identification through transvaginal ultrasound or some other when you're looking for something else. Speaker 100:26:20Hopefully, that's clear. But these are 2 categories where we have heard in the that doctors really wanted to understand how Overwatch would help them in those particular populations. And the new data along with the launch of the longitudinal monitoring application has been very warmly received as a result because we've brought forward some additional information that helps them to understand the utility of the test. Speaker 400:26:46Okay, great. That's all great signs. Thanks for taking my questions. Speaker 100:26:51Thank you. Operator00:26:53Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Laura Sriv with Alliance Resource Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:27:02Hi. Thank you for taking the questions and congratulations again on the growth this quarter. Thanks, Brian. So with the longitudinal monitoring feature now implemented to Overwatch and you also mentioned the potential to add in the EndoCheck score to OVA suite. What do you see here as the next steps? Speaker 500:27:20And do you have any current plans to further enhance OVA suite? Speaker 100:27:26The next step for, thanks for the question by the way. Next step for longitudinal monitoring, it's all about adoption. So we're really going back to physicians who have used one of our OVA suite tests in the past and making sure they understand the expansion of the test for longitudinal monitoring. And in terms of improving OVA suite or enhancing OVA suite, we do think there is a possibility this was actually discussed on our earlier R and D webinar that we held with Doctor. Elias, our partner at Dana Farber, Brigham and Women's actually talked about the benefit that he could see in being able to give the physician an opportunity to rule out ovarian cancer and either rule in or rule out and sort of to be determined with EndoCheck score endometrioma and bringing to the table an even higher value proposition for a single test. Speaker 100:28:27So the next step, as Sandy mentioned, is we are running some additional experiments and check endo check testing on samples we brought in from our clinical study and we'll have additional data in the Q3 to really help us to crystallize a vision for commercializing that product. But certainly, regardless of any decision we make about enhancing overwatch with the EndoCheck score, the research that we're doing right now will be very instrumental in the design and the development of the EndoMDx test. Speaker 500:29:09Got it. Lots to look forward to. And then maybe another question for Doctor. Milligan. It was mentioned in the past, the ongoing research on the digital PCR droplet PCR platform. Speaker 500:29:21So what is this platform overall encompass? And what are some of the opportunities you see here as well as any other plans on leveraging it commercially speaking? Speaker 200:29:30So right now, we're just looking at it for our microRNA. We do think it has an advantage over some of the other platform, especially with the throughput in the multivariate sense. Any deep particular scientifically, I'd need to connect you with our scientist, Todd Pappas. But we are very satisfied to date with our the performance that we're seeing on that commercial platform. Speaker 500:29:58Got it. Thank you for taking the questions. Operator00:30:03Thank Next question comes from the line of Andrew Brackmann with William Blair. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:30:16Hi, everyone. This is Maggie on for Andrew. Thanks for taking our questions. Maybe just to start here, can you give us maybe a little bit more color on how you're thinking about that clinical utility study for Overwatch? Just anything in terms of size, timing or endpoints that might be helpful to be keeping an eye out for? Speaker 100:30:38Yes. So the first phase hi, Maggie. Thanks for joining. The first phase of the study is to get some additional clarity from the decision makers at the payers about what the gaps are for clinical data that would allow them to move forward with an enhancement to their medical policy for our pets. So we're going to be doing data gathering at the front end that will help to answer some of those questions. Speaker 100:31:04I'm not trying to be cagey here, but it is important for us to first find out what exactly is it that they need to see. Candidly, there's not going to be a single answer. We know that, right? You're dealing with maybe 50 to 100 different payers in the commercial space, 20 of them matter a lot, another 20 quarter matter as well, but maybe not as much as that top. So we have to prioritize the views of the larger opportunities for the test in terms of payer input. Speaker 100:31:39So the main objective is to do it quickly, so that we can very quickly answer those questions. How long is it going to take for us to gather the data? How much how long will it take? How much will it cost? And who will likely be responsive. Speaker 600:31:57Got it. Thank you. And just with the reduced cash burn guide and recent funding, can you just update us on your thoughts around your ability to further boost the balance sheet? What is your visibility into non dilutive financing that you discussed earlier in the call? And then when you expect to have updates there? Speaker 600:32:16And then do you view the implied quarterly burn of about $30,000,000 as sustainable going forward, particularly with the product and innovation pipeline you have? Speaker 100:32:29Sure. So in terms of non dilutive financing, we've moved the ball forward quite a bit this quarter in terms of looking at the opportunity to monetize important assets that we have, including the biobank and data. That's something that's taking quite a while to get to the point where it is, which essentially required a full physical inventory and collection of the appropriate legal documents, etcetera. But also importantly, looking for the right partners, because this is an opportunity not just to bring in non dilutive financing, but also an opportunity to look for partners that we can sort of lock arms with to either expand our commercial offering to include other tests or to look for people who can kind of work and collaborate with us on our development. So that was an important very important few steps forward from this quarter. Speaker 100:33:27In addition, we have been applying to lots of different grant opportunities. As Sandy mentioned. Many of them require confidentiality throughout the decision making process, so I can't comment too much on that. Other than to just say we've just made such great progress on the molecular test portfolio, we're at a point in time where going out and asking for additional grant funding makes a lot of sense, very different place where we're standing today with that microRNA protein metadata combination of value versus where we've been in the past. So it makes great sense for us to go out and look for those opportunities. Speaker 100:34:11The second part of the question that you didn't answer? Speaker 600:34:14Yes, keep going. Sorry. Speaker 100:34:16No, I'm just trying to remember. I think you asked the second question, unless I answered it. Speaker 600:34:22No, no. It was just Speaker 100:34:23on Oh, sustainability. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Yes. So if you look back over the last two and a half years where I've been in this role, we have reduced our cash burn every quarter, quarter over quarter, year over year. Speaker 100:34:40It's the first time in many, many, many quarters where we had a slight increase. And as I mentioned, there were some really specific investments that we made in the Q2 that we believe were worth the increase in spend. But my goal is to continue to reduce that quarterly burn. I have demonstrated an ability to do that and I intend to continue to do that with the help of my new CFO. Speaker 600:35:08Great. Thanks so much. Speaker 100:35:11Thank you. Operator00:35:12Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the floor over to Nicole Sanford for closing comments. Speaker 100:35:24Well, thank you everyone so much for joining us today. We look forward to continuing our execution and providing another update at our next quarterly earnings call. So thank you everyone. Operator00:35:37Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallAspira Women's Health Q2 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Aspira Women's Health Earnings HeadlinesAspira Women's Health Stock Triggers Heavy Retail Buzz On Nasdaq DelistingApril 18, 2025 | msn.comAspira Women's Health Inc. to Begin Trading April 17th On OTC Under the Symbol "AWHL"April 17, 2025 | gurufocus.comTrump’s Bitcoin Reserve is No Accident…Bryce Paul believes this is the #1 coin to buy right now The catalyst behind this surge is a massive new blockchain development…May 4, 2025 | Crypto 101 Media (Ad)Aspira Women's Health Inc. to Begin Trading April 17th On OTC Under the Symbol ...April 17, 2025 | gurufocus.comAspira Women's Health Inc. Announces Receipt of Delisting Notification from NasdaqApril 16, 2025 | gurufocus.comAspira Women's Health: Aspira Appoints Three New Directors, Executes $2.0 Million Equity Purchase AgreementApril 8, 2025 | finanznachrichten.deSee More Aspira Women's Health Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Aspira Women's Health? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Aspira Women's Health and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About Aspira Women's HealthAspira Women's Health (NASDAQ:AWH), Inc. engages in the provision of bio-analytic and diagnostic services. Its product, OVA1, is a serum test for identifying women of having malignant ovarian tumor. Its bio-analytical solutions helps physicians diagnose, treat, and improve gynecologic health outcomes for women. 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There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Aspira's Women's Health Incorporated Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Following management's prepared remarks, we will open the call for your questions. As a reminder, this call is being recorded today. Before we begin, I would like to remind everyone that forward looking statements are defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 will be made during this call, including statements relating to Aspira's expected future performance, future business prospects and future events or plans. Operator00:00:43Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, Actual outcomes and results are subject to risks and uncertainties and could differ materially from those anticipated due to the impact of many factors beyond Aspirus Women's Health Control. The company assumes no obligations to update or supplement any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Participants are directed to the cautionary note set forth in today's press release as well as the risk factors set forth in ASPYRA's most recent Annual Report on Form 10 ks and quarterly report on Form 10 Q filed with the SEC for a description of factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in forward looking statements. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Nicole Sanford, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:01:54Thank you, operator, and welcome, everyone, to our Q2 2024 earnings conference call. With me today is our President, Doctor. Sandy Milligan. I will begin with an overview of our strategy, execution and operations, followed by an update from Sandy on product development. I will then review our financials before opening the call for questions. Speaker 100:02:15The most important development for the quarter was the launch of the longitudinal mass monitoring application for Overwatch following the publication of powerful new data at the beginning of May. This is the latest development in our effort to expand both the clinical utility and commercial opportunity for our OVA suite portfolio of ovarian cancer risk assessment blood tests for women within the ANNEXO mass. The launch of the longitudinal monitoring application means that we have achieved our goal of offering a life changing suite of blood test, the first and only tool of its kind available anywhere in the world. This is a major accomplishment and one that we share with the many long term shareholders who have believed in the company and supported us on this important journey. Let's reflect on the addressable market for our tests over the past few years to set the stage for our future growth. Speaker 100:03:03OVA1 plus the only test that was commercially available when I joined the company in early 2022 has a total addressable market of between 200,000,400,000 tests per year in the United States. We increased that to more than 1,200,000 with the launch of the initial assessment application of Overwatch in December of 2022. Now with the launch of the longitudinal monitoring application this quarter, we believe the total addressable market for our OVA suite test is between 2,000,000 and 4,000,000 tests per year. This is a 10 fold increase in the revenue potential for the tests that have already been trusted by healthcare providers more than 200,000 times. Speaker 200:03:41It is important to keep Speaker 100:03:42the dramatically increased addressable market in mind as we review our performance for the Q2 and look out to the rest of 2024 and beyond. You may recall that we began a refresh of our commercial strategy and program elements in the second half of twenty twenty three with the goal of identifying people, process and technology enhancements as well as refining our market messaging to increase both impact and reach. The refresh was completed and fully implemented in the Q1 of 2024. And as a result, I believe we are well positioned to take advantage of the expanded adjustable market for our test. Moreover, the ENHANZE commercial organization is more efficient and cost effective than ever, which is critical to our cost containment goals. Speaker 100:04:25I'm happy to report that we have seen positive momentum resulting from our refresh efforts with sequential growth during the first half of twenty twenty four. Our total OVA suite test volume in the second quarter hit a new company high watermark of 6,470 1 with more than 20% of that volume coming from the Overwatch test. We achieved this test volume with 17% fewer full time field salespeople when compared to the Q2 of 2023. By comparison, we had an average of 16 field salespeople in the first half of this year compared to 21 field salespeople for the same period last year, resulting in an impressive 29% increase in volume for field sales representative to 769 tests. We added an additional 2 field sales people in the Q3 and expect the enhanced commercial programs along with the expanded application of the Overwatch test and the powerful new data published in May to support rapid success in these territories. Speaker 100:05:24Our primary focus now is to drive adoption of our OvaSweet test portfolio to become the universal standard of care for every woman diagnosed with adnexal mass. There are many important initiatives underway, including working with partners to have our tests added to the protocols for adnexal mass care, which we expect to come together in the 3rd and 4th quarters of this year. Our commercial success and growth also rely on our ability to increase coverage and reimbursement for our OvaSweet products, and I'm proud of the progress we have made. On the commercial plan side, we recently contracted with Anthem plans in California and the Northeast states, adding 8,000,000 covered lives. We expect the Anthem Central and Virginia geographic regions to complete contracting before the end of 2024, which would add an additional 16,000,000 lives. Speaker 100:06:10Also of note, we have added Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois and Superior Plan Texas so far this year. On the Medicaid side, we added Maryland and Kentucky in the 2nd quarter, bringing the total number of states covering 1 or more of our OVA suite tests to 9, including the critical states of California, New York and Illinois. Medicare and Medicare Advantage reimbursement for Overwatch has also increased meaningfully in the first half of twenty twenty four. Despite these achievements, we know we have more to do to convert additional payers. The study we published in May was instrumental in helping to swing momentum our way. Speaker 100:06:47The data clearly demonstrated the benefit of adding Overwatch to a physician's clinical assessment in women presenting with a donexal mass. We've created a model to help payers quantify the potential savings that can result from a reduction in surgical interventions on low risk patients if the Overwatch test is used. We believe the potential savings while dependent on circumstances are both significant and compelling. To further accelerate our reimbursement progress, we have initiated a comprehensive analysis of national, regional and integrated delivery network payers with the assistance of an experienced third party consultant. The objective of the project is to gather specific and direct insight regarding evidence requirements we must meet to support broader coverage and reimbursement for Overwatch. Speaker 100:07:33The first phase of the study, which we expect to complete in the Q3 of 2024, consists of interviews with senior stakeholders to identify evidentiary and other gaps we must fill. These findings will be incorporated into a clinical utility study that we expect will help expand commercial coverage for Overwatch and OVA1 plus while also informing our market access and reimbursement strategies for future product launches. Now it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Sandy to talk about product development. Then I will come back on to discuss our operating performance and balance sheet position. Sandy? Speaker 200:08:08Thank you, Nicole. In my role as President, my focus continues to be the acceleration of our research and product development program. I'm pleased with the progress we have made in the Q2, which I'll share with you today. As Nicole mentioned, we announced the publication of 2 overwatched focused manuscripts in May. Together, these peer reviewed publications demonstrate the potential for significantly improved physician triaging of malignancies for surgery over their clinical impression alone and supported the use of Overwatch as an ovarian cancer risk serial assessment tool. Speaker 200:08:44This data demonstrates that Overwatch could substantially reduce surgeries for low risk patients performed out of concern for malignancy risk, especially for asymptomatic and premenopausal women. Indeed, Overwatch may have reduced the number of surgeries in women with low risk of malignancy by 62% in all patients and 77% in premenopausal women. With the added feature of serial mass monitoring, Overwatch can be drawn at provider prescribed intervals for active surveillance of an adnexal mass determined by initial clinical assessment as indeterminate or low risk. This is the strongest clinical support for Overwatch and its value proposition for physicians and patients to date. Let me turn now to our product development update with a brief overview of our progress on EndoCheck, our protein based test that has been shown to identify certain endometriosis located on the ovary, including endometrioma. Speaker 200:09:44Following a robust discussion with healthcare providers upon our presentation of EndoCheck data at the Society For Reproductive for Reproductive Investigation Annual Scientific Meeting in February, we believe that the EndoCheck protein biomarker signature will significantly contribute to a test with broader endometriosis application as well as offer insights to improve the understanding of this devastating and complex disease. We are currently processing nearly 400 samples collected in our endometriosis clinical study and expect to have new data for analysis during the Q3. With this data in hand, we will have the opportunity to further assess the commercial application of the test and expand our outreach to potential development partners. This may include pharma companies with drug therapies and development that could potentially utilize Endocheck as a research focused test to identify or track patient response to drug therapies in ongoing clinical trials. We are also considering how the addition of an EndoCheck score to our OVA Watch test report would allow healthcare providers to assess the risk of both ovarian cancer and endometrioma for women presenting with an indexal mass. Speaker 200:10:56We believe this may have a positive impact on clinical utility, provider adoption and pricing of the test. Clearly, we have work to do in deciding how best to proceed with EndoCheck and for now have focused the majority of our development resources towards our molecular testing portfolio. With that, let me turn to OvaMDx, which is being developed in collaboration with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. We have completed assay analytical feasibility on an FDA approved PCR system, a critical milestone which confirms the ability to perform a test that utilizes the microRNA technology discovered by Dana Farber on a commercially viable diagnostic platform. Our next phase, which is currently underway, is the design and assay verification process, which we expect to provide additional data prior to the end of 2024. Speaker 200:11:49As we have shared previously, we believe that this test will have the power to improve sensitivity for early stage ovarian cancer, as well as broader detection for various histological subtypes, solidifying our position as the leader in non invasive ovarian cancer testing for women with adnexal masses. As we complete development steps for the OvaMDx program, we will leverage the learnings and experience in developing a microRNA and protein biomarker test into the development of our broad general endometriosis blood test that leverages proteins from EndoCheck and proprietary micro RNAs identified through our research agreement with Dana Farber. We are working to establish analytical feasibility and the selection of micro RNAs and protein candidates as part of the ongoing test design for this broader endometriosis test. Now that the FDA has finalized its role to regulate lab developed tests, we are in the process of determining the regulatory pathway and related requirements for our in development molecular tests for both ovarian cancer and endometriosis. We do not anticipate the new role to have any impact on our ability to offer our existing products, including the longitudinal testing application of Overwatch, nor do we anticipate the regulation to cause a significant extension of our prior development or launch timeline for the combination microRNA and protein biomarker test. Speaker 200:13:16We continue to focus on identifying non dilutive sources of funding for our R and D activities, including funding from multiple research grants. Our development related to our in process molecular tests are groundbreaking. We believe that related research has created new grant opportunities, which we intend to aggressively pursue. In addition, we are waiting for a funding decision on a sizable grant opportunity, which requires confidentiality until such decision is made. Regardless of the outcome, the application processes have helped us consolidate to a compelling and data driven development and commercialization strategy to bring to potential development partners. Speaker 200:13:56Another potential source of non dilutive funding is through our research biobank where our recent analysis showed that we have as many as 70,000 serum, plasma and whole blood samples available for secondary research. In July, we executed a number of small material transfer agreements with 3rd parties who intend to utilize the samples for validation of gynecological disease value for the purchase material and realizing another opportunity for non dilutive cash through sample disposition. We also believe that there may be opportunities to work with foundations to identify additional academic and research activities in women's health that could benefit from access to our sample bank. Finding the right path for this initiative is complex and requires a strategic approach, but we have made tremendous progress in 2024. With that, let me now turn it back to Nicole for an update in our financials. Speaker 200:14:56Nicole? Speaker 100:14:58Thank you, Sandy. Ovisweep revenue for the Q2 was $2,400,000 a 13% increase sequentially from the Q1 and flat to the Q2 of 2023. 2nd quarter product volume of 6,471 increased 11% sequentially and 3% year over year. Overwatch tax volume contributed significantly to overall growth, increasing 24% sequentially and 48% year over year. As I discussed earlier, the contribution of Overwatch to the overall growth is critical given the test large addressable market of between 2,000,000 to 4,000,000 tests per year. Speaker 100:15:37Our overall average unit price this quarter was $3.74 a slight increase sequentially compared to $3.69 in the 1st quarter, but down 5% from 396 in the second quarter last year. It's important to note that our AUP in the prior year reflected an adjustment for a change in estimate required under generally accepted accounting principles based on actual collections compared to previously recognized revenues. After adjusting for this impact, our Q2 of 2023 AUP for all products would have been $3.81 per test, just over 1% higher than this year. Overall, we are pleased to see Overwatch's AUP converging with OVA1 plus Overwatch AUP of $3.48 in the 2nd quarter reflects a 3% increase sequentially, a 7% increase compared to the Q2 last year and a 34% increase compared to the first half of twenty twenty three. Margins this quarter decreased slightly to 59% compared to 62% last year as we saw an increase in product costs, including higher shipping costs. Speaker 100:16:41We are currently exploring options to better control shipping and other costs as we look ahead to 2025. Gross margin for the 6 months is largely consistent with the prior year. On the operating side, research and development expenses for the quarter increased 37% year over year as we saw an increase in collaboration costs with our research partner for the molecular test portfolio. This includes reagents and other Q2 of the prior year, primarily due to an increase in personnel costs with the addition of strategic account leaders, marketing professionals and inside sales people. G and A costs decreased 20% this quarter compared to last year, mainly due to a decrease in personnel and consulting costs. Speaker 100:17:31During the Q2, our cash used in operations was $3,700,000 down 16% sequentially and a slight increase of 9% compared to last year. One cause of the increase in cash used over the prior year was related to our decision to pay bonuses to our staff, including a small amount that had been outstanding since 2022. These individuals have dedicated themselves to our mission and the retention is critical for the achievement of our strategic goals. Our cash as of June 30, 2024 was approximately $962,000 After adjusting for gross proceeds of the subsequent pipe and warrant inducements that were completed in July, our ending cash would have been approximately $5,000,000 In August, we entered into a new $4,500,000 at the market facility with H. C. Speaker 100:18:17Wainwright. This facility, which will be available to the company following a 60 day standstill under the warrant inducement agreement replaces a prior arrangement of Cantor Fitzgerald, which had been suspended for some time. We believe H. C. Wainwright offers a better significantly lower cost of capital. Speaker 100:18:39We are updating our guidance for cash used in operations for 2024 to be between $13,000,000 $14,500,000 down from the $15,000,000 to $18,000,000 we guided towards at the beginning of the year. We believe that our in flight initiatives, including grant funding, sample sales and partnership opportunities and the availability of our newly executed ATM facility will be sufficient for us to fund operations in the near term. Today, we also announced that Sandy and I have opted to change our base compensation for the remainder of the year. Each of us will be receiving additional equity in exchange for a 20% reduction in cash based salary. We continue to believe that our stock is significantly undervalued. Speaker 100:19:18We want to be in a position to be rewarded alongside when the capital markets catch up with the company's immense potential. While this year has presented many challenges, we remain steadfastly focused on our mission to improve health outcomes for millions of women, while positioning ourselves for long term success. We have the only blood test on the market for the accurate assessment of the risk of malignancy for all patients that have been diagnosed with an ANNEXO mask, and we are leading the way in the development of non invasive tests in endometriosis. I continue to be bullish on our prospects and I'm proud that we have kept our promises to patients, physicians and our shareholders to the best of our ability. Before I open for questions, I have an exciting personnel update. Speaker 100:20:01This week, the Board appointed John Colasci, an experienced financial executive as our Interim Chief Financial Officer effective August 15. John brings a passion for our mission and decades of experience to the role. He has served in senior level roles, including Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Financial Strategy and Innovation Advisors as well as founder to several businesses. John's expertise in solving challenges like those facing Spira at our critical stage of growth will undoubtedly help to position us for future success. His first priority will be the refinement of our capital and liquidity strategy as well as expanding our shareholder base. Speaker 100:20:37With that, I would now like to open the call for questions. Operator? Operator00:20:42Thank you. We will now be conducting a question and answer The first question comes from the line of Ross Osborne with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Speaker 300:21:18Hi. Thanks for taking our questions and congrats on the progress. So starting up on the quarter, really strong volume quarter. Would you parse out growth between increasing utilization by existing customers versus attracting new docs to this part of your portfolio? Speaker 100:21:36Hey, Ross. Thanks for the question. Thanks for joining. I think it's been pretty consistent across both categories, to be honest with you. So we continue to bring on new providers and continue to see growth in existing provider adoption. Speaker 100:21:53Okay, great. That's good Speaker 300:21:54to hear. And then regarding your comments around FDA's oversight versus historical LUT, Realize you don't think the classification is going to impact your current offerings, but do you still plan to submit a watch for FDA approval? And if we walk through that process again, please? Speaker 100:22:16Yes. Sure. Ros, it's Sandy. I don't know if you want to take that. Yes, jump in. Speaker 200:22:19Yes, sure. Absolutely. So, Ross, we've been considering whether or not to move forward with Overwatch and get it FDA cleared this year as we initially thought while we were anticipating the LDA regulation LDT regulation to come sometime this year. At this point, we're holding because we do want to accumulate And as you're probably aware, companies have until well, we can leave it forever because Overwatch is was released before the LDT regulation came into effect. But if we do want to clear it, we've got the opportunity to do so. Speaker 200:22:59With the new products, we can release as an LDT, and then we just have to clear before mid-twenty 28. Speaker 100:23:07Okay, perfect. Speaker 300:23:08And then lastly, on John Colassee, nice to see the interim appointment. Will he be considered for a full time hire? Speaker 100:23:19At this point, he's only been brought in as an interim, but certainly we will keep all of our options open for long term, as we obviously will need to have a CFO for the long term. Speaker 300:23:32Okay, great. Thanks for taking our questions. Operator00:23:36Thank you. Thanks, Rob. Next question comes from the line of Do Kim with Water Tower Research. Please go ahead. Speaker 400:23:45Hi, thanks for taking my questions and congrats on the quarter. Just on Overwatch, just wanted to know how you're thinking about its growth as physicians implement longitudinal monitoring. Do you envision more of like a steady growth rate or could we potentially see a step up in growth as the retest occur? Speaker 100:24:09Thanks for the question, portfolio, a big part of that has been that as we introduce new products, we would be launching them into a warm market, meaning providers that are already familiar with our testing and trust it and have used it in the past. So I believe that we will see a faster ramp up for Overwatch than we saw when we launched OVA1 plus But we did see, if you look back over historical, we have seen nice steady growth in OVA1 since it was launched. So I expect it to be at least the same, but I do believe it will be much faster. Speaker 400:24:57Good to know. And just anecdotally, have you gotten any feedback on the level of physician enthusiasm about the publications and for mass monitoring with Overwatch? Speaker 100:25:13The reception has actually been very positive. I believe that since we launched Overwatch, one of the things that providers were really interested in learning more about is how it benefits pre versus postmenopausal women and asymptomatic versus symptomatic women. And in both cases, we were able to provide information that show the utility of the test for potentially reducing surgical intervention on women with benign masses, so in all of those categories. So for premenopausal women, we're clearly maintaining their ovaries for as opposed to prophylactically removing them out of fear of malignancy is a really important goal. And also for asymptomatic women who, a mass was identified incidentally through another diagnosis or another kind of identification through transvaginal ultrasound or some other when you're looking for something else. Speaker 100:26:20Hopefully, that's clear. But these are 2 categories where we have heard in the that doctors really wanted to understand how Overwatch would help them in those particular populations. And the new data along with the launch of the longitudinal monitoring application has been very warmly received as a result because we've brought forward some additional information that helps them to understand the utility of the test. Speaker 400:26:46Okay, great. That's all great signs. Thanks for taking my questions. Speaker 100:26:51Thank you. Operator00:26:53Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Laura Sriv with Alliance Resource Partners. Please go ahead. Speaker 500:27:02Hi. Thank you for taking the questions and congratulations again on the growth this quarter. Thanks, Brian. So with the longitudinal monitoring feature now implemented to Overwatch and you also mentioned the potential to add in the EndoCheck score to OVA suite. What do you see here as the next steps? Speaker 500:27:20And do you have any current plans to further enhance OVA suite? Speaker 100:27:26The next step for, thanks for the question by the way. Next step for longitudinal monitoring, it's all about adoption. So we're really going back to physicians who have used one of our OVA suite tests in the past and making sure they understand the expansion of the test for longitudinal monitoring. And in terms of improving OVA suite or enhancing OVA suite, we do think there is a possibility this was actually discussed on our earlier R and D webinar that we held with Doctor. Elias, our partner at Dana Farber, Brigham and Women's actually talked about the benefit that he could see in being able to give the physician an opportunity to rule out ovarian cancer and either rule in or rule out and sort of to be determined with EndoCheck score endometrioma and bringing to the table an even higher value proposition for a single test. Speaker 100:28:27So the next step, as Sandy mentioned, is we are running some additional experiments and check endo check testing on samples we brought in from our clinical study and we'll have additional data in the Q3 to really help us to crystallize a vision for commercializing that product. But certainly, regardless of any decision we make about enhancing overwatch with the EndoCheck score, the research that we're doing right now will be very instrumental in the design and the development of the EndoMDx test. Speaker 500:29:09Got it. Lots to look forward to. And then maybe another question for Doctor. Milligan. It was mentioned in the past, the ongoing research on the digital PCR droplet PCR platform. Speaker 500:29:21So what is this platform overall encompass? And what are some of the opportunities you see here as well as any other plans on leveraging it commercially speaking? Speaker 200:29:30So right now, we're just looking at it for our microRNA. We do think it has an advantage over some of the other platform, especially with the throughput in the multivariate sense. Any deep particular scientifically, I'd need to connect you with our scientist, Todd Pappas. But we are very satisfied to date with our the performance that we're seeing on that commercial platform. Speaker 500:29:58Got it. Thank you for taking the questions. Operator00:30:03Thank Next question comes from the line of Andrew Brackmann with William Blair. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:30:16Hi, everyone. This is Maggie on for Andrew. Thanks for taking our questions. Maybe just to start here, can you give us maybe a little bit more color on how you're thinking about that clinical utility study for Overwatch? Just anything in terms of size, timing or endpoints that might be helpful to be keeping an eye out for? Speaker 100:30:38Yes. So the first phase hi, Maggie. Thanks for joining. The first phase of the study is to get some additional clarity from the decision makers at the payers about what the gaps are for clinical data that would allow them to move forward with an enhancement to their medical policy for our pets. So we're going to be doing data gathering at the front end that will help to answer some of those questions. Speaker 100:31:04I'm not trying to be cagey here, but it is important for us to first find out what exactly is it that they need to see. Candidly, there's not going to be a single answer. We know that, right? You're dealing with maybe 50 to 100 different payers in the commercial space, 20 of them matter a lot, another 20 quarter matter as well, but maybe not as much as that top. So we have to prioritize the views of the larger opportunities for the test in terms of payer input. Speaker 100:31:39So the main objective is to do it quickly, so that we can very quickly answer those questions. How long is it going to take for us to gather the data? How much how long will it take? How much will it cost? And who will likely be responsive. Speaker 600:31:57Got it. Thank you. And just with the reduced cash burn guide and recent funding, can you just update us on your thoughts around your ability to further boost the balance sheet? What is your visibility into non dilutive financing that you discussed earlier in the call? And then when you expect to have updates there? Speaker 600:32:16And then do you view the implied quarterly burn of about $30,000,000 as sustainable going forward, particularly with the product and innovation pipeline you have? Speaker 100:32:29Sure. So in terms of non dilutive financing, we've moved the ball forward quite a bit this quarter in terms of looking at the opportunity to monetize important assets that we have, including the biobank and data. That's something that's taking quite a while to get to the point where it is, which essentially required a full physical inventory and collection of the appropriate legal documents, etcetera. But also importantly, looking for the right partners, because this is an opportunity not just to bring in non dilutive financing, but also an opportunity to look for partners that we can sort of lock arms with to either expand our commercial offering to include other tests or to look for people who can kind of work and collaborate with us on our development. So that was an important very important few steps forward from this quarter. Speaker 100:33:27In addition, we have been applying to lots of different grant opportunities. As Sandy mentioned. Many of them require confidentiality throughout the decision making process, so I can't comment too much on that. Other than to just say we've just made such great progress on the molecular test portfolio, we're at a point in time where going out and asking for additional grant funding makes a lot of sense, very different place where we're standing today with that microRNA protein metadata combination of value versus where we've been in the past. So it makes great sense for us to go out and look for those opportunities. Speaker 100:34:11The second part of the question that you didn't answer? Speaker 600:34:14Yes, keep going. Sorry. Speaker 100:34:16No, I'm just trying to remember. I think you asked the second question, unless I answered it. Speaker 600:34:22No, no. It was just Speaker 100:34:23on Oh, sustainability. Yes, yes, yes. Yes. Yes. So if you look back over the last two and a half years where I've been in this role, we have reduced our cash burn every quarter, quarter over quarter, year over year. Speaker 100:34:40It's the first time in many, many, many quarters where we had a slight increase. And as I mentioned, there were some really specific investments that we made in the Q2 that we believe were worth the increase in spend. But my goal is to continue to reduce that quarterly burn. I have demonstrated an ability to do that and I intend to continue to do that with the help of my new CFO. Speaker 600:35:08Great. Thanks so much. Speaker 100:35:11Thank you. Operator00:35:12Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the floor over to Nicole Sanford for closing comments. Speaker 100:35:24Well, thank you everyone so much for joining us today. We look forward to continuing our execution and providing another update at our next quarterly earnings call. So thank you everyone. Operator00:35:37Thank you. This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by