Ann: Ryoncil Highlighted at Tandem Transplantation Meetings, page-103

We all need to be patient to get to where we want to be with this stock. It is not the same as expecting the company to do a better job to launch a product.

For those comparing Ryoncil to any other random drug, or treatment, consider this:

1. Meso has told investors that they have inventory already built, and the FDA has approved that inventory for immediate use. That removes the need to build inventory, a pretty important step in any launch
2. Meso has communicated that their launch will focus on a select number of transplant centers which do the majority of the pediatric transplants in the USA. This removes the need to have a massive sales force.
3. Meso comments frequently about the working relationship they developed with the team at the FDA. All that would have indicated to them that the approval was likely.
4. The FDA press announcement about the launch means the approval was known or likely known.
5. The Ryoncil website was up and running within a day - kudos to them.
6. Meso hired a dedicated commercial leader to lead the launch
7. The treatment was being made available FREE of CHARGE to people who needed it, a clear indication that the means to administer the treatment was known by many - no need to train.
8. Since approval there presumably has been patients who would otherwise have qualified for compassionate use who would have expressed a desire to get the product. Were they treated free of charge or were they turned away because everything necessary to charge them were not setup.
9. For months before approval, Meso continually reiterated that they had a launch plan. Yet two months in and they are still talking about developing a launch plan.

I could go on and on.

I know the members of the cult will think these questions are heresy, but they are the questions any true investor should be asking.

I have frequently made reference to the concept of crossing the chasm, a concept expounded by Geoffrey Moore in his famous book by the same name. In this context it relates to Mesoblast moving from a development stage biotech to a commercial stage biotech. So many things change when this happens. The investor base change from mostly speculators and some investors to more investors. The expectations are also different, as are the skills required on the part of the company to realize that desired outcomes. No longer will investors care only about development milestones and results of trials etc, but revenue will become even more critical. Funding of the company also changes - in a development stage company, there is an expectation that funding will be done by existing shareholders mostly through various cash raising schemes. In a commercial stage company, it is the revenue and profits from selling products that will fund future development of products in the pipeline.

I will cut it there. Suffice to say, investors outside this forum likely expected a more clear execution of a product launch than what we are getting. There are some who are thinking that it is slow and are prepared to be patient. However, there are some who think absence of sales information could be an indication that there is no demand. Some might also be interpreting this delay as a lack of commercialization skills on the part of leadership. Those aren't things to overlook.

Unlike some, I don't think SI needs to go for us to be successful. But we need to see some serious indications that they are thinking about how to BOTH sell products and develop products at the same time. The indications so far is that they need to upgrade their selling skills. Despite what we think, products don't all sell themselves. It takes people and connections to sell them.