Transcription of The Stock Network Interview with EBR Systems (ASX:EBR), President and CEO John McCutcheon
Lel Smits: EBR Systems has entered a pivotal commercial phase following FDA approval of its WISE-CRT system, the world’s only wireless cardiac pacing device for heart failure. With first US implants completed, reimbursement secured and commercial momentum building into this year, EBR is scaling adoption across key centres. I’m joined today by President and CEO John McCutcheon to discuss commercial progress, clinical expansion and what comes next for EBR Systems.
John, welcome back to the Stock Network.
John McCutcheon: Thanks, Lel. It’s really great to be here. I appreciate it.
Lel Smits: It’s great to have you on. And look, following FDA approval in April last year and initial US launch, how would you characterize the commercial progress through the first quarter of this financial year in terms of really the implant growth, also centre expansion and physical adoption?
John McCutcheon: So Lel, it couldn’t have gone any better.
We’re really excited. We’re ahead of a lot of our KPIs that we measure. One is the number of sites contracting.
That’s really important. It’s kind of a precursor and a lead to future growth. So that’s been really above our expectations.
Some hard numbers is we did 18 commercial cases in the fourth quarter of last year. And in the first two months of this year, we were already up to 25 cases. So that’s without even counting March.
So you can see the kind of growth where we’re appreciating now. And it’s all looking very, very positive.
Lel Smits: That is great to hear. That’s exactly what people want to hear, that it couldn’t have gone any better. When it comes to reimbursement really and unlocking the scale, how important are these reimbursement pathways in terms of accelerating hospital adoption and also supporting the broader commercial rollout of the Y’s CRT system?
John McCutcheon: Yeah, the NTAP and TPT pass-through payments are really important. As most people listening to this probably know, we have a fairly high selling price.
And so that needs to be supported by these pass-through payments. All of the contracts that we’re signing are at list price. So we’re getting that maximum payment.
And it’s really important for the hospitals and the physicians and patients to be able to afford it. So it’s clearly part of our successful launch. Great.
Lel Smits: And John, I know you’ve been exceptionally busy since we last spoke when it comes to the market reception and clinical engagement. I know it’s been a very strong engagement across investor and medical conferences, but what feedback exactly are you hearing from clinicians? And also, how do you find that’s translating into adoption?
John McCutcheon: Yeah, it’s so fun right now because the doctors are very excited about it. I have anecdotes where the doctors are coming up to me and it’s almost as if they’re selling me on how great this is.
Like, John, do you understand how important this is? So I’ve been in MedTech for quite a while. You can see by my gray hair, I’ve been at this for some time. I’ve never had an experience where the doctors are telling me how important the product and the technology is for them and their patients.
So it’s really special and really fun for me to experience.
Lel Smits: Well, John, I’m thrilled to hear it. Appreciate the update from EDR Systems and look forward to hearing the developments ahead as well.
John McCutcheon: Great. Thanks, Lel.
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