I too attended the SPL AGM and was bit disappointed in the...

I too attended the SPL AGM and was bit disappointed in the presentation and the Board responses to questions.
( I hold SPL as a long term growth stock).

The presentation by the CEO (which took up most of the meeting) tried to cover the full breadth of SPL’s activities from distribution contracts to early stage research, it was very wordy but to me lacked focus or any sense of what were the company’s strategic priorities, short term mid-term long goals etc.

Re questions, firstly the CEO was asked why VivaGel had not been launched in Australia this year as had been previously advised– at the 2017 AGM the CEO had said that the product was approved for use in Australia, that Aspen was already drawing up extensive marking plans and the mistakes of the condom marketing would not be repeated. The company was still saying mid this year that there would be a 2018 launch.

Dr Fairley’s answer was that TGA processes for approving packaging and labelling were really slow and the launch had to be timely, she had been told – I assume by pharmacists- for example that any new product that wasn’t Xmas orientated couldn’t be launched in December. That last point really struck me as somewhat naive– I would have thought this is not sort of product that women are going to into the high street pharmacy, explain their problem to the staff over the counter and get directed to right shelf spot! I know that general practitioners who do the pap smears and discuss these intimate problems would be delighted to advise on a suitable proven treatment product if they know what is available. The pharmacists will stock very quickly if people ask for it by name. I hope the marketing plans are a based on the realities of Australian health care and that that we won’t have rerun of the shambles of the condom marketing but I fear the worst.

The second response from the Chair and CEO to continual questioning on failure to deliver was that we shouldn’t be worried about what happens in Australia as it is so small compared to the huge markets elsewhere. This seems an odd approach as you could make a case for sorting the logistics of promotion production distribution etc one country at a time and Australia would be a good starting.
It is also remarkably similar to the response to questions about the invisibility of the condoms last year – we were told this was no longer an important focus and there were much bigger opportunities. I therefore suspect that SPL has not put the required resources into getting Vivagel on to the Australian market in the nominated time frame.

My own overall view is that SPL has potentially great products and future and is worth holding but to realise that potential the Board needs a new chairman who will get some proper strategic direction into the company (ie one who does more than tell us endlessly what a great CEO, Board and staff SPL has) and either a new CEO or a serious player to look after commercialisation and leave Jackie to look after the clinical trials. To me it sounds very similar to the problems at Mesoblast – see recent press comments by Alex Waislitz