Medtech company Chordate Medical has developed a drug-free treatment technique for chronic migraine and chronic nasal congestion (rhinitis). The treatment is called Kinetic Oscillation Stimulation (KOS) and is based on vibrations in the nasal cavity that provide a neuromodulatory effect.
Starting the year with a strengthened cash position
In the year-end report for 2022, Chordate Medical reports net sales of SEK 108 for the full year and a negative operating profit of SEK 517 million. During the fourth quarter, sales amounted to SEK 27,9 and at the end of the year, the cash balance amounted to just over SEK 20 million.
To strengthen the cash flow, Chordate Medical implemented a rights issue which added SEK 37,3 million before issue costs. The company thus has the financial resources to continue with the ongoing market introductions and build on the company value ahead of a future exit.
11 clinics are up and running in Italy
Chordate Medical's products are currently being introduced in Finland, the UK, Germany, Italy, Israel and Saudi Arabia primarily through marketing consultants, but also through distributors. In Italy, rhinitis treatment is offered at 11 clinics around the country, from Tradate and Verona in the north to Bari in the south. The plan is to increase the number of clinics further during 2023.
In addition, the company's Italian distribution partner works Vedise Hospital introducing KOS as a treatment for chronic migraine. This work is expected to benefit from subgroup results from the migraine study PM007 which was presented last year and which showed that KOS has a statistically significant effect.
»The positive results from the migraine study have given further impetus to this work. Italy is an important market for us, partly because it is one of Europe's largest medtech markets and partly because we expect KOS to be offered for both chronic rhinitis and chronic migraine in the country soon. This makes Italy a strong example of proof-of-concept for us.« – Anders Weilandt, CEO Chordate Medical
China and Saudi Arabia
Chordate Medical was also recently able to announce that a product registration application has been submitted in China for the rhinitis treatment. The registration process is being handled by Chordate Medical's joint venture company Changyong Medical Technology which is jointly owned with the Chinese company Nanos MedicalThe parties are now awaiting a response to the application from the Chinese authorities in order to determine the next step in the project.
Chordate Medical is also making progress in Saudi Arabia where the drug authority has approved an application for registration of Janin Medical Company as the company's authorized representative. The approval means that the company can once again deliver products in both the migraine and rhinitis indications in Saudi Arabia. According to the company, they have a number of orders from customers who have been waiting for the approval.
Anders Weilandt talks about the goals for 2023
In 2023, Chordate Medical will continue to focus on sales and marketing in selected markets. The company will also continue to work on projects to achieve market approval in the US and China. In addition, it is conducting two additional migraine studies – PM009, which is an open-label pilot study in patients who do not respond to CGRP inhibitors, and PM010, which is a post-market surveillance study to evaluate the long-term results of the treatment.
BioStock contacted the company's CEO Anders Weilandt to learn more about the activities in 2023, as well as the recently published report.
In the year-end report, you report relatively low sales for Q4 2022. What is needed to get sales going?
– Sales in 2022 and also the fourth quarter had not yet recovered from the total standstill caused by Covid-19. As in Sweden, all healthcare in our focus markets is struggling to pay off the accumulated healthcare debt generated by the pandemic. Of course, the change of distributor in Saudi Arabia had an impact as activity slowed down when the previous distributor was laid off.
– Now all that is behind us and we look forward to the results changing, not least since we added marketing consultants in additional countries during the autumn.
If you read your latest press releases, you seem to be focusing a lot on treating rhinitis in Italy and China, among other places. Isn't migraine your primary focus right now?
– We have a very clear focus on migraine. The licensing project in China has been going on for a long time and only applies to rhinitis for the time being.
You have not yet presented final results from the PM007 migraine study. Can we expect results before the summer?
– It is likely that we can get approval for publication of the scientific article within six months, and then we can report on the results in their entirety.
In the report, you also talk about Chordate Medical's focus areas for 2023. What milestones in these areas are you looking forward to achieving?
– We will reach sales in some of our selected markets to a level where we should be able to talk about measurable market shares, even if it will start at low levels.
– The studies PM009 and PM010 should have started, but we probably won't have time to deliver the first results before the summer. But possibly not too long after the summer.