Company Interview / Cyclopharm's US milestone

James McBrayer from Cyclopharm (ASX: CYC) shares exciting news as the company signs an interim deal to provide its diagnostic lung ventilation agent, Technegas, to 120 US Veterans Affairs hospitals. This agreement grants national access and prepares for a broader federal supply contract.

Technegas, an Australian innovation, sees enhanced relevance today thanks to AI and better imaging. It's pivotal for diagnosing pulmonary embolisms and is utilised across respiratory conditions like COPD and asthma. The product is essential for veterans exposed to toxins.

James acknowledges Australia's biotech appeal, with strong R&D and universities driving innovation. Cyclopharm plans further US expansion, leveraging its existing international presence. The focus remains on execution and market penetration, with high hopes for revenue growth and shareholder value.

Full unedited transcript below:

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Meanwhile, Seacliff has inked an interim agreement to supply its technical products to the US Veterans Health Administration. The agreement, giving 120 Veterans Affairs hospitals access to techniques used in respiratory diagnostics. Lapham, also receiving its first technical order from the US Department of Defense. And to discuss more on this, we are joined by James McBrayer, who is Seacliff Arms CEO. James, great to have you with us. Just take a step back and tell us a little bit about what you're doing here. Well, well, thank you for having me, Juliette. Um,

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técnicas is a is a diagnostic lung ventilation imaging agent. It's available in 66 countries around the world. We only just received us FDA approval, uh, recently. And more importantly, we received reimbursement as of July 1st. This contract that we've just signed with the Veterans Administration allows us access at a national level to the VA's throughout the United States. So that's obviously a huge push into it. So it's an interim agreement and 120 hospitals. What does that mean in terms of supercharging revenue I guess as well. Sure. So the interim agreement is is the is a stepwise process that the federal government in the US requires. So the interim agreement allows hospitals now to access our product, which leads to a broader, uh, contract. That's called a federal supply agreement, FSS and that will even broaden the from 120 to close to 140 different locations. What that means

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for for solar farm. We'll start to implement the technology within those systems in early 2025. And so just how pivotal is this technology? I assume it's come a long, long way in the past couple of years. Um, Juliette Técnicas, it was an Australian invention. It's more relevant today than it ever, ever has been. And it's being leveraged off of enhancements in AI and better imaging technology. We're best known for diagnosing pulmonary embolisms or blood clots in the lung. But with this leveraging off this other technology, we're seeing it in across the whole realm of respiratory medicine, interventional studies, COPD, asthma, a whole range. Anything that you can think of are products being used in respiratory. So it's obviously incredibly important in preventative medicine as well. It's used primarily as for for diagnostics and and patient management more and more with respect to the importance of what happens in the

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VA. There's a big push within the VA for veterans, particularly, that has been exposed to toxic exposure over their their service life and where our product when it comes to pulmonary fibrosis and COPD, our product is, is ideal for diagnosing and maintaining a watchful eye over those veterans. What is the next step after the interim agreement? So the interim agreement allows hospitals to start purchasing straight away right. So for us the next step in parallel with that, um, it's that next, next phase of of entering into the PFS contract with the VA, but they can start ordering us from us immediately. And just to my earlier point, what does this mean in terms of looking at future revenue growth. This is part of the larger, uh, our larger strategy in the US. I mean, we're already installing systems in in the US right now, everywhere that técnicas is available outside the US because it's new, we're new to that market.

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We're seen as the agent of choice. And we expect that to continue as we implement our, our, our technology in that market. Now, you mentioned that técnicas was invented in Australia. I'm hearing an American accent. How with your hat on from corporate America innovative. Do you see Australia in the biotech health space. It's a it's a great question. I mean we're we're an ideal location for research and development. A lot of companies in our in the biotech sector like Australia, uh, you know, we're seeing a lot of smaller biotechs come to Australia rather than listing in the US. It's a stepwise, uh, but, you know, we've got great universities here. Uh, you know, the this came out of the Anu, uh, in the late 80s that that think tank there. And we took it internationally from, uh, from day one. Do you think that there is a need as well for, for further research and development in universities to ensure that we remain innovative and cutting edge? I

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think, you know, the government and we've been a beneficiary of of the research and development, uh, tax incentives along the way. And that's we've we're very grateful for that. I think where, you know, from a government perspective, I think it's that next step. Once we've developed technology, often it goes offshore not only from, you know, development point of view, but actually manufacturing. I think that's where we could see some, some opportunities in leveraging this, this great resource in that we have already. What about the likelihood of getting to, um, emerging countries as well. The potentially need this technology as well. Well, we're already in 66 countries around the world. You know, we're in every major nuclear medicine department that you can think of outside the US, and we're chipping away at the US. Uh, as we speak right now, we see a benefit actually in the US in that in those markets that were already established, a lot of those physicians trained in the US, so they haven't seen technic. While we might have been established in those

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markets, they've not seen it on the ground in the US. And that translates back to their country. So we'll see a couple of things happen with the US. We'll see growth in those those other markets outside the US just from that transference of of knowledge. And then the other thing we'll see is to is, um, you know, técnicas if you look plug that into a search engine, you'll see hundreds of papers. And we are already hearing that even at some of our early installations, that the clinicians are excited about it. They're already starting to put publications together. So we just spreads the word and obviously such a huge market to penetrate. What else is part of your US strategy? Well, I mean, for us and for our shareholders, they've been waiting on the US for a very long time. So that is our absolute it's execution, execution execution for us. And with that, what happens to your share price given the penetration into the US market. And I know that you can't control the market, but I imagine the market is very responsive to a us, um, implication here, a bigger,

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broader picture. You know, for us, I mean, we, we enjoy very good margins everywhere else around the world. The US is even a better margin scenario for us. So and that's why we've had such loyal shareholders over a very long period of time. We're, we're thinly, thinly traded because we have such, such belief in the technology. So we're, we're glad that we're in the US finally for them and for us, it's about execution and driving the technology and more importantly, getting access to us patients with with this groundbreaking technology.