15 February 2017
Pacific Edge Undertakes $8m Share Placement
Capital Investment To Assist The Push Through To Cashflow Positive Position
Cancer diagnostics company, Pacific Edge Limited (NZX:PEB), has undertaken a
$8.0 million share placement to institutional and other select investors in
New Zealand.
The placement was undertaken at no discount to market, with institutional and
other select investors subscribing for new shares at $0.50 cents per share,
the market price of Pacific Edge Limited shares traded on Tuesday 14 February
2017.
Pacific Edge is focused on building sales of its suite of innovative
Cxbladder bladder cancer diagnostic tests and has been gaining traction in
the USA market with a number of milestone achievements in the past year
including:
o Agreed cover and contract pricing with the Veterans Administration and
TRICARE;
o The successful completion of a large scale User Programme with healthcare
provider Kaiser Permanente with positive and compelling results;
o Continuing positive clinical validation of its Cxbladder technology in NZ
and the USA;
o The official USA launch of the third test in its suite of Cxbaldder tests;
and
o The recently announced release of a fourth test in New Zealand.
The company is generating increasing sales revenue, with a 162% jump in
operating revenue in the last financial year to 31 March 2016 to $4.98
million; and test throughput is increasing as greater numbers of urologists
trial and purchase Cxbladder tests. While the company has sufficient cash on
hand of approximately $9 million for its immediate growth requirements, the
new investment provides additional support for Pacific Edge to drive its
commercial growth.
Pacific Edge Chairman, Chris Gallaher, commented: "The strong support we
received for the share placement from institutional and other select
investors in New Zealand has allowed us to cost efficiently and effectively
strengthen our balance sheet as we continue to make good traction towards
attaining a cashflow positive position."
Pacific Edge is the only company in the world to have a suite of molecular
diagnostic tests in bladder cancer that address different needs throughout
the diagnostic and treatment pathway - from investigation of haematuria
through to the management of patients who have the disease and are coming
back to the clinic for evaluation of the recurrence of bladder cancer. The
company is focused on positioning its highly accurate, non-invasive and cost
effective Cxbladder technology as the preferred diagnostic tool for
clinicians and urologists, and is seeing increasing demand and uptake from
both private and public healthcare providers.
Pacific Edge CEO David Darling said: "While we are still in the early stages
of our commercial journey, we are now starting to see some real progress,
particularly in the United States. We have been investing into our USA
infrastructure and the development of multiple new products for the past two
years, including a CLIA certified and CAP accredited laboratory, an
experienced specialist sales team and the USA launch of three of our four
Cxbladder tests.
"We believe our existing infrastructure and resources are appropriate for our
medium term growth goals and anticipate capital requirements for our growth
strategy in FY17 will be at a similar level to FY16. The additional funds
will be used to progress and expedite our commercial goal of getting to a
cash flow positive position as fast as possible, with our focus squarely on
the USA."
Pacific Edge advises that, as at the date of this release, it is in
compliance with its continuous disclosure and financial reporting
obligations.
ENDS
For more information contact:
David Darling
Chief Executive Officer
Pacific Edge Ltd
P: +64 (3) 479 5800
OVERVIEW www.pacificedge.co.nz www.pacificedgedx.com
Pacific Edge Limited (NZX: PEB) is a New Zealand publicly listed, cancer
diagnostic company specialising in the discovery and commercialisation of
diagnostic and prognostic tests for better detection and management of
cancer. The company is developing and commercialising its range of Cxbladder
bladder cancer tests globally through its wholly owned central laboratories
in New Zealand and the USA. The company''s products have been tested and
validated in international multi-centre clinical studies.
Pacific Edge has three proprietary, novel, accurate, molecular diagnostic
products in-market providing actionable results, and better detection and
management of urothelial cancer. Cxbladder Detect and Cxbladder Triage are
available through the company''s dedicated CLIA certified laboratories for
customers in New Zealand, Australia and the USA. Cxbladder Monitor launched
in New Zealand in December 2015 and is anticipated being available in the US
in 2016.
ABOUT Cxbladder Triage www.cxbladder.com
Cxbladder Triage combines the power of the genomic biomarkers with additional
phenotypic and clinical risk factors to accurately identify patients with
haematuria who have a low probability of bladder cancer and may not require a
more extensive urological evaluation. Cxbladder Triage is a tool for use by
clinicians and physicians in primary evaluation of patients with haematuria
and is intended to reduce the need for an expensive and invasive work-up in
patients who have a low probability of having urothelial carcinoma.
ABOUT Cxbladder Detect www.cxbladder.com
Cxbladder Detect enables the non-invasive detection of bladder and other
urinary tract cancers from a small volume of a patients'' urine. Cxbladder
Detect was launched in 2013 in the USA and is commercially available in New
Zealand, Australia and the USA as a Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) from the
company''s CLIA certified laboratories. Cxbladder Detect provides clinicians
with a quick, cost effective and accurate measure of the presence of the
cancer as an effective adjunct to cystoscopy.
ABOUT Cxbladder Monitor www.cxbladder.com
Cxbladder Monitor, the third test in the Cxbladder portfolio for urologists,
is a proprietary, non-invasive, molecular diagnostic test that combines
genomic biomarkers measured from a small quantity of a patient''s urine, with
patient specific clinical factors to better monitor bladder cancer patients
for recurrence. Bladder cancer has a recurrence rate of 50-80% and requires
life-long surveillance. Cxbladder Monitor accurately identifies patients with
a prior history of urothelial cancer (UC) whose Cxbladder Monitor score shows
that they have a low probability of recurrent urothelial carcinoma. Cxbladder
Monitor is designed to be used as the preferred adjunct test to cystoscopy in
the management of patients for ongoing evaluation of recurrent bladder
cancer.
Refer to www.cxbladder.com for more information.
End CA:00296789 For:PEB Type:PLACE Time:2017-02-15 09:07:25