PEB pacific edge limited

Ann: ADDRESS: PEB: Special Meeting of Shareholders - 26 February 2016

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    • Release Date: 26/02/16 11:19
    • Summary: ADDRESS: PEB: Special Meeting of Shareholders - 26 February 2016
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    					PEB
    26/02/2016 11:19
    ADDRESS
    NOT PRICE SENSITIVE
    REL: 1119 HRS Pacific Edge Limited
    
    ADDRESS: PEB: Special Meeting of Shareholders - 26 February 2016
    
    CHAIR COMMENTARY
    
    WELCOME
    
    Good morning and welcome to today's Special Meeting of Pacific Edge
    shareholders.  Thank you all for being here today.
    
    I am Chris Swann, the chairman of the Pacific Edge Board. With me today is
    David Darling, the Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Edge.
    
    I declare that a quorum is present and the meeting has been duly convened.
    The Notice of Special Meeting, which includes the explanatory notes, has been
    circulated to all shareholders and I intend to take it as read.
    
    We will start today's meeting with voting on the resolution noted in the
    Notice of Meeting and then David will provide a brief update on our progress
    in the year to date.
    
    PURPOSE OF THE SPECIAL MEETING
    
    The purpose of today's meeting is to approve an increase in the total pool of
    director's fees payable per annum from $198,000 to $275,000. This is an
    increase of $77,000.
    
    The purpose of the increase is to allow for the payment of $77,000, the
    amount of the increase, as directors' fees to newly appointed, US-based,
    independent director, David Levison.
    
    It is important to note that there will be no increase in fees paid to all
    other Pacific Edge directors. The managing director does not receive
    director's fees.
    
    We regularly review the mix of directors on our Board to ensure we have the
    appropriate skills and experience to help our company grow and achieve our
    strategic goals.
    
     The United States is our primary growth opportunity and we have been
    actively seeking a US-based and experienced director, preferably someone with
    experience of the US  regulatory and reimbursement environment, to assist in
    the rollout of our growth strategy in this region.
    
    We recognise that there is a disparity between the market rates paid in the
    US and New Zealand for suitably qualified directors. It is standard in the US
    for directors to be offered remuneration with both fees and Options.
    Accordingly, in order to attract a suitably qualified US person, the Company
    needs to make a competitive offer in line with US market rates.
    
    The Board has taken advice and determined that the appropriate fee for a US
    based director is $77,000 per annum. An offer has made to David Levison on
    this basis, subject to obtaining shareholder approval of today's resolution.
    
    DAVID LEVISON
    
    We are delighted to have someone of David's experience and calibre accept our
    invitation to join our Board.
    
    David is highly respected within the industry and his hands on experience in
    building a successful diagnostics company in the US, as well as his indepth
    knowledge of commercial diagnostic products in the US healthcare market, will
    be of great value to our company as we look to expand our presence in this
    region.
    
    RESOLUTION
    
    I would now like to move to voting on the resolution as notified in the
    Notice of Special Meeting, that being "That pursuant to clause 25 of the
    Company's Constitution and NZX Listing Rule 3.5.1 the maximum aggregate
    amount per annum payable by the Company to its Directors be increased to
    $275,000."
    
    Are there any matters for discussion or questions?
    
    I would like to move this motion. Do I have a seconder? Thank you.
    
    Voting on the resolution will be by way of poll and will include postal votes
    and proxy votes received by the due date.
    
    Please use the voting paper you received in the mail or were given when you
    registered for this meeting. If you do not have a voting paper, you will be
    able to request one when the voting takes place.
    
    Only shareholders, proxy holders or corporate representatives of a
    shareholder may vote on today's resolutions.
    
    Please complete your voting paper by ticking "FOR", "AGAINST" or "ABSTAIN" in
    the appropriate place on the form and ensure you have signed the form.
    Please do not tick the "DISCRETION" box.
    
    If you have any difficulty, or do not have a voting paper, please raise your
    hand and someone will assist you.
    
    Once everyone has finished voting, the share registrar will collect the
    voting papers.
    
     << 3 minute pause>>
    
    Thank you. The results of today's voting will be posted to the NZX as soon as
    practicable.
    
    PROXIES AND POSTAL VOTES
    
    For your information, the Company has received approximately 156 million
    proxy and postal votes, with 82% of those in favour of the resolution.
    
    I would now like to hand over to David Darling, Pacific Edge's CEO, to
    provide a short update of our progress in the year to date.
    
    CEO COMMENTARY
    
    OUR BUSINESS IS TRACKING WELL AND WE ARE GROWING OUR REVENUE
    
    We have seen some good traction in the last few months as we continue to
    rollout our high growth strategy.
    
    A major highlight has been the launch of our third new product, Cxbladder
    Monitor.
    
    This test has been designed to be used by clinicians for patients as part of
    their ongoing surveillance regime, to quickly and accurately identify those
    who have a low probability of having recurrent cancers.
    
    It provides ongoing reassurance to clinicians and their patients that the
    cancer hasn't returned, or alternatively, can support the case for further
    urological investigation.
    
    It follows on from our first two products - Cxbladder Triage which rules out
    patients who have a low probability of having cancer; and Cxbladder Detect is
    used specifically to detect cancer.
    
    The new product takes us one step closer to being able to provide a 'one-stop
    shop' of accurate non-invasive tests for urologists... and we are now the
    only cancer diagnostics company in the world to offer three proprietary
    molecular diagnostic products for the detection and management of bladder
    cancer and designed to meet different clinical needs.
    
    USA HEALTHCARE MARKET
    
    The USA is our primary market and offers a massive opportunity for our
    company, with millions of potential test opportunities. We are making good
    progress on a number of important initiatives in this region.
    
    We have now achieved our target of 18 specialist sales people covering 19
    sales regions, following a focused recruitment programme over the last ten
    months. Their primary role is to build relationships with targeted urologists
    and encourage them to trial our product through a User Programme.
    
    As said, we launched Cxbladder Triage into the States in the last year and we
    are now preparing for the launch of our third product, Cxbladder Monitor.
    
    There is a growing awareness of our Cxbladder technology and we are able to
    build on existing relationships with urologists when introducing new products
    to market.
    
    Recruitment of patients for the Kaiser Permanente User Programme is
    progressing well and we are on track to complete the Programme in 2016.
    
    Kaiser Permanente is one of the United States largest not-for-profit health
    insurers and providers, serving more than 10 million members. If our product
    is accepted by their urologists, it will provide access to millions of
    potential test opportunities.
    
    We are also continuing to progress our discussions with the Veteran's
    Administration and the Centre for Medicare and Medicaid Services. We need to
    follow the regulatory processes to gain access to these organisations, and
    this can take time.  Pleasingly, we are well down the track and hope to have
    approvals in the near future.
    
    Medicare provides medical and health-related services to tens of millions of
    elderly people in the USA and represents approximately 40% of our potential
    market.
    
    The Veteran's Administration provides patient care and other services to the
    8.8 million US veterans and their families and has an annual budget of US$152
    billion.
    
    For the Veteran's Administration, we are nearing completion of the process
    for registration on the Federal Supply Schedule. Once this happens, we can
    then start engaging with their urologists and providing them with access to
    our Cxbladder tests. This is a very large target customer currently not
    available to us commercially until we have completed the FSS registration.
    
    OTHER MARKETS
    
    As well as the US, we are also focused on growing our presence in other
    targeted markets.
    
    In February, we announced a new commercial partnership in Australia with
    Tolmar.
    
    Tolmar is a specialised uro-oncology company which markets medicine and
    provides support to men with prostate cancer. Their specialised team of eight
    skilled sales people work closely with urologists on a daily basis and will
    now be providing sales and marketing for our Cxbladder products as well.
    This is a great step forward for our company in Australia and we look forward
    to seeing increasing trial and use of our tests in this country.
    
    In New Zealand, we are continuing to work very closely with clinicians and
    encourage uptake of our technology. We have been working very closely with
    the National Health Committee to make Cxbladder part of the standard of care
    in New Zealand.
    
    Last year, we began investigations into South East Asia and these continue.
    We are building a beach head in Singapore to provide entry into this region,
    and have a User Programme currently underway with a leading hospital, to gain
    data specific to Singapore.
    
    STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH
    
    We will achieve our high growth ambitions by:
    o Creating more products;
    o Expanding our presence in both existing and new international markets;
    o Creating more sales channels such as our ecommerce site;
    o Building our customer base through our proven User Programme strategy; and
    o Recruiting and empowering high calibre people.
    We are making good progress and I look forward to keeping you updated as we
    achieve our goals.
    
    I will now pass you back to the Chairman to close the meeting.
    
    MEETING CLOSE
    
    Is there any other business shareholders would like to discuss with regard to
    today's presentation or our progress?
    
    Thank you for your attendance. I now call the meeting closed.
    End CA:00278406 For:PEB    Type:ADDRESS    Time:2016-02-26 11:19:46
    				
 
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