What onearth has gone wrong with this company? AnteoTech has in its SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test, one of the top five POC tests in the world for accuracy and speed. It received the CE Mark in early April, and it was launched as the first test for the EuGeni platform in May. The Queensland Government had awarded it a $1.4m grant, and one of its senior Ministers attended the launch. We looked set to go, at last!
What hashappened since then? Well, quite a lot for its Life Sciences Division and the company as a whole: additional scientific staff to work on the Flu A&B and sepsis tests, decisions and actions for inhouse manufacturing, additional Board and Advisory Board members, and of course at this time a large number of distributors signed up, with more to follow, together with some overseas representatives.
But noreported sales! The only one I have heard of is to a PNG mine. No minimum order quantities from distributors, no financial upfront commitment from them, just promises to sell. Yes, we’ve heard often that we need TGA approval to sell here in Australia, and we’ve also learned that the TGA tick is an important influence on overseas jurisdictions, where each distributor is charged with securing those approvals. We now understand that the decision to delay going for early TGA approval was a mistake – I accepted the reasoning back then pre-Delta, that our scientific resources were better deployed in supporting overseas jurisdiction approvals, but that was a tactical error.
I acceptalso that the roadmap through this pandemic has been ill-defined, much of thetrack being made as we go along, so it has been so much harder to plan. But there is much that is still not going right – for example, I am aware from my contacts with a number of shareholders, of some trial opportunities that they have introduced to the Company, where delays in follow-up have contributed to those sites adopting competitive RATs for their trials - indicating lack of resources, low priority, concentration on the long-term objectives?
Yes, therehave been real obstacles – getting hold of suitable test samples back lastDecember, the VTM (viral transport medium) clouding of test results, bar-codingissues with Operon production, changing and tightening of regulatoryrequirements: these are all very real hurdles, but hurdles similar to those facedby other companies in this fast-changing market that are out there now makingmillions in sales! But not us. The slow lane for us; the fable of the tortoise and the hare is endemic courses through our veins. Never mind that the market is all over the place, desperate for solutions – no, we’ll stay the course, with our eyes on the long-term prize of enduring revenue from our suite of planned tests for the EuGeni platform. What, we can’t walk and chew gum at the same time?
Oh sure,some posters have written “what’s the problem? TheBoard and management have taken the SP 1c to 26.5 c over 2 years”; true, but without the SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test, the SP would be languishing at 2 cents. (BTW, I thought the claim in the last Investor Stream presentation of our comparatively low cost in developing and bringing to market a POC test, ignored completely the years of work and learning and investor dollars that preceded the work on the AnteoTech RAT.)
Theproblem is actually quite simple; AnteoTech appears unable to grasp the immediate opportunities while concentrating also on the long-term goals.
Someposters must have been unduly exposed in their work and other lives, to superficialsales people, or perhaps watch too much TV. So they think that all sales people are all gloss and no substance, and that "steady as she goes" is the way to go: first, selling is not automatically a dirty word; second, effective selling and quality presentation to decision makers is absolutely essential; to think that a quality product that is new and up against established markets, can sell itself, is naïve.
Myearliest sales job was of home photographs – lasted two days and earned twoquid. A couple of years later, selling toy koalas into the retail trade. Next, into teaching, followed by a delightful career in IT; technical, sales support, and later with my own company, consulting education, and with it, the essential business of convincing clients – that is, selling. The principles are the same: have good products, know your products with their strengths and weaknesses, and know the competition likewise; be genuine, act with integrity. Critically, be articulate, get to the nub of the issues, be persuasive.
Just receiveda text from a fellow-shareholder, with this comment from a broker: “sources tell me that ADO are being beaten to the punch across the board. Market perception. It is what it is.”
Evennow as I write on the last day of September, we do not have a senior marketingexecutive on the team.
Wecannot continue to limp along like this. Some things must change. In my next post, I will argue that fundamental strategic thinking is part of the problem.
