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PEB Investor Update – March 2022

Investor Presentation29 March 2022PEBHealthcare

INVESTOR
MARCH 2022

U PDATE

IN THIS EDITION

•CEO’s update - A running start

•Hiring: Building out the team

•T

ests: Northern Health active

•Upgrade: New lab on track

•Conferences: Telling our story

•Subscribe to our customer

newsletter: The Cxbladder Bulletin

It is a great pleasure to be writing
to you for the first time as the

Chief Executive of Pacific Edge.

I officially stepped into the

role at Pacific Edge’s Dunedin

head office on 17 January - after

relocating home from the US and

two (let’s say challenging) weeks

in MIQ with my wife and our two

young children.

However, I have made a

running start. Shortly after my

appointment was announced at

the end of October last year, I

began consulting to Pacific Edge

from Boston in the US, where I had

just finished as Chief Commercial

Officer of Eurofins-Transplant

Genomics, a transplant diagnostics

company.

Since then, I have been working

with Pacific Edge’s teams across

the world to understand the finer

details of the business.

My goal has been to assess

the ‘current state’ of the company

and the strategies to move to

the ‘desired state’ of cementing

Cxbladder as the standard of care

in the diagnosis and management

of urothelial cancer.

TALENT AND COMMITMENT

It has been an intensely rewarding

period since arriving in Dunedin

and getting to know the strengths

of my team.

Consequently, I feel tremendous

excitement for Pacific Edge’s

future as we look to marry

technological leadership with

commercial leadership to advance

our Cxbladder diagnostic tests

into our two urothelial cancer

markets: haematuria evaluation

and surveillance for recurrence of

disease. I have also been impressed

by the familial spirit within the

company and the commitment to

making a meaningful difference in

cancer treatment and improving

the quality of life for millions of

patients.

“I feel tremendous

excitement for

Pacific Edge’s future”

Pacific Edge’s achievements,

particularly in the pivotal US

market, are significant.

The decision by US national

healthcare insurance administrator

CMS to accept and reimburse

patients for Cxbladder and

our collaboration with Kaiser

Permanente, the US’ largest

integrated healthcare provider,

have rightly grabbed the headlines.

However, these successes

are founded on the company’s

steady behind-the-scenes

progress building a wide network

of partnerships with key opinion

leaders (KOLs) in the urothelial

cancer community, including

independent urology groups,

academic centres, research

hospitals and other care providers.

They have also relied on our

development of a significant

repository of peer-reviewed clinical

evidence supporting the validation

and utility of our products.

While in the US I met with the

PacificEdge USA operations, sales,

marketing teams. I also spent time

with the healthcare providers

and the clinicians on the frontline

of urothelial cancer diagnosis,

the people and organisations

prescribing and paying for the

Cxbladder tests used every day.

Now, back home in New

Zealand, I am extending my

understanding of our operations in

this part of the world. A key focus

has been on how we have achieved

such widespread adoption and

support for Cxbladder here and the

lessons relevant to adoption of our

FROM THE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

DR PETER MEINTJES

A RUNNING START

Pacific Edge Limited Investor Update | March 2022

2

DEAR SHAREHOLDERS,

technology in fledgling markets
such as Australia, Southeast Asia

and potentially further afield.

While it is still early days, this

work has identified for me some

clear early opportunities. For

instance, we are now looking

at ways to strengthen the

relationships between our product

development and clinical science

teams in New Zealand and our in-

market teams working alongside

healthcare providers and clinicians,

here and offshore.

Such cooperation can ensure

our research efforts are finely

attuned to specific in-market

needs and expectations. It can

also build a better understanding

of our operational capabilities and

therefore help the in-market teams

to deliver the best solutions.

Additionally, the treatment of

bladder cancer is unique in that

its diagnosed and managed by

urologists rather than specialist

oncologists and so we are

exploring a range of initiatives to

better engage with KOLs.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

Pacific Edge continues to make

progress on the objectives we

identified at the time of the capital

raising last year: the acceleration

of growth into the US market;

further leveraging our first mover

advantage in the detection and

management of bladder cancer

and driving into new markets.

The extent of the recruitment

over the last three months (see

‘Hiring’ below) is evidence of the

strategy in action.

We are, as expected,

seeing continued

growth in test volumes

We are, as expected, seeing

continued growth in test volumes.

Pleasingly, these include tests for

the Melbourne-based Northern

Health (see ‘Test volumes’ below),

which last year committed to using

Cxbladder Monitor to help manage

patients undergoing surveillance

following treatment. We are also

making good progress upgrading

our Dunedin clinical laboratory,

which is on track to open in April.

(See our ‘Upgrade’ feature below).

I am looking forward to

updating shareholders on these

developments and our priorities

when we release our full year

results for the year to 31 March

2022 towards the end of May.

MARKET SENTIMENT

Finally, the sharp shift in global

share market sentiment since

the start of the year and the

retracement of the Pacific Edge

share price, no doubt will not have

escaped your notice.

While we are intensely focused

on the creation and recognition of

shareholder value, the Pacific Edge

executive team and board firmly

share my view that our efforts

must be directed towards what

we can control. That is: building

long-term sustainable value in a

rapidly growing business; making

prudent use of the capital you

have entrusted to us to drive that

growth and finally keeping you well

informed of the progress that we

are making.

I believe it is against these

broad objectives that you should

assess Pacific Edge’s progress, and

my leadership.

I am looking forward to working

with and meeting you in person in

the coming months.

Yours sincerely,

DR PETER MEINTJES

ABOUT DR PETER MEINTJES

Dr Peter Meintjes brings to Pacific Edge extensive

global diagnostics, biotechnology, and commercial

leadership expertise. He also has a track record for

commercialising new and disruptive biotechnologies

and driving rapid business growth across multiple

territories including the US and Europe.

Prior to joining Pacific Edge, Peter was Chief

Commercial Officer at the Massachusetts-based

Eurofins-Transplant Genomics, a transplant

diagnostics company. In that role he led the

commercialisation of the company’s suite of tests for

biomarkers of organ rejection, including the flagship

product TruGraf®, the only biomarker test for kidney

transplant recipients approved for reimbursement by

US national health insurance system administrator, the

Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Prior to Eurofins-Transplant Genomics he spent

six years with the Budapest, Hungary-based Omixon,

a global molecular diagnostics company focussed

on pre-transplant organ and recipient compatibility

testing. With Omixon, he occupied senior roles in both

Hungary and the US, ending his tenure after three

years as Chief Executive Officer.

Peter started his business career in New Zealand

with the Auckland-based Biomatters, a bio-informatics

company, after completing undergraduate and

graduate study at Auckland University culminating in

him gaining a PhD in biological sciences in 2008.

He is aged 40 is married to Adrienn and has two

children Leo, 2 and Jack, 1.

Pacific Edge Limited Investor Update | March 2022

3

Northern Health, Pacific Edge’s
first major customer in Australia,

began sending samples to our

Dunedin laboratory in February

adding yet another stream of tests

to global volumes.

Northern Health provides

healthcare services to the rapidly

growing suburbs in Melbourne’s

outer north through four campuses

across the region, with over

5,700 professional staff. It agreed

to begin using Cxbladder in

December last year and we are

delighted that they have so swiftly

moved to sending commercial

samples.

Initially urologists at Northern

Health are using Cxbladder

Monitor to help manage patients

undergoing surveillance following

treatment of their bladder

cancer. The test is helping

urologists to identify those

patients that can safely forego

or defer a cystoscopy at their

next scheduled hospital visit. The

agreement with Northern Health

also envisages the organisation

using Cxbladder Triage.

Pacific Edge will provide an

update on group test volumes

when it releases its results for the

year to 31 March 2022 at the end of

May.


HIRING: BUILDING OUT THE TEAM

TESTS: NORTHERN HEALTH ACTIVE

Pacific Edge is building out its global team as it

drives t

o realise the significant potential for its

technology a

round the world.

The current recruitments are aimed at extending our

first mover advantage in the detection and

management of bladder cancer, continuing to grow in

the US market, and expand the Asia and Pacific

markets.

The majority of the

new employees and hires

currently in progress are in the pivotal US market

where we are recruiting customer-facing positions in

the sales team. These hires are targeted at

accelerating the progress made to date with

healthcare provider

s and urologists and driving

higher test throughput and reimbursement.

As we continue to grow our customer-facing

teams, we’re also increasing our support capability.

Key hires include the addition of a new Clinical Trials

Associate to accelerate and structure our research

programmes as we push for the inclusion of Cxbladder

tests in clinical guidelines. We have also bolstered our

Digital Marketing, Operations, Technology, and

Finance Support teams to ensure we can deliver on

the service standards our customers expect and assist

our Sales team as they make the case for Cxbladder

around the world.

Meanwhile, recognising the ongoing need to recruit

young talent into the company, and continuing our

well-established internship programme in partnership

with Callaghan Innovation and Chiasma, we took on

three interns from the University of Otago over the

summer.

We’re pleased to confirm that one of them, Finn

Dusterwald (pictured), a recent graduate with an

honours degree in microbiology, and a postgraduate

diploma in genetics, has now accepted a full time role

with the product development team.

Pacific Edge Limited Investor Update | March 2022

4

With the COVID-19 pandemic
waning, Pacific Edge’s sales teams

are looking forward to the return

of urology conferences around the

world to tell the Cxbladder story.

The conferences offer Pacific

Edge unmatched opportunities

to engage with the clinicians that

order our diagnostic tools to

assess and manage their patients’

care. However, over the last two

years most conferences were held

virtually or were cancelled. This

left the 30-strong Pacific Edge

sales team relying on less effective

approaches such as virtual or one-

on-one in-clinic meetings.

“Conferences are an

ideal forum to engage

with clinicians”

David Levison, Executive

Chairman of Pacific Edge’s

operations in the pivotal US

market, says conferences are

the ideal forum to engage with

clinicians on how Cxbladder can

help them deliver better urothelial

cancer care and management.

“Events such as these take

urologists away from the daily

pressures of their clinical practice.

The relaxed and informal setting

gives them opportunities to focus

on the latest developments in their

field and discuss them with their

colleagues and leading clinicians.

“It is in settings such as

these where they have time and

are most open to learn more

about new technologies such as

Cxbladder. Meanwhile, they offer

us an opportunity to see many

clinicians in a short period of

time,” Levison says.

Engaging with clinicians to

highlight the body of evidence

supporting the use of Cxbladder

is pivotal to changing clinical

practice and is a crucial element of

the Cxbladder commercialisation

strategy.

The other leg of the strategy is

engaging with healthcare funders

and providers to reimburse and

adopt the technology. However,

Levison says it is better to engage

with providers and funders, with

a few exceptions, away from the

crowds of urology conferences.

Pacific Edge’s 30-strong team

is planning to exhibit and attend

over 50 conferences, across the

US, Southeast Asia, and Australasia

this year.

The biggest event on the

calendar is the American

Urological Association annual

meeting, this year to be held in

New Orleans in the middle of

May. Thousands of urologists,

oncologists, researchers’

educators, and healthcare

professionals and companies from

around the world will be attending.

Levison says attendance at the

AUA meeting is essential, given its

significance. However, often it is

the focused meetings like the state

and regional AUA sessions where

the interactions with clinicians

can be more interactive. In these

smaller meetings competition

for clinicians’ time is less intense,

Levison says.


The upgrade to our Dunedin

clinical laboratory to future proof

our testing and research and

development capabilities is on

track for completion in April. The

new lab, located at our offices in

the Centre for Innovation, provides

space for the expected increase

in test volumes and allows for

the evolution we see in cancer

diagnostic technologies.

UPGRADE: NEW LAB ON TRACK

CONFERENCES: TELLING OUR STORY

Pacific Edge Limited Investor Update | March 2022

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If you’d like to hear more
about Cxbladder, including

product news, case studies,

clinical trial updates, and

connected publications,

we invite you to subscribe

to our 6-weekly Customer

Newsletter, the Cxbladder

Bulletin.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR MORE?

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CXBLADDER BULLETIN

VISIT US ONLINE:

www.pacificedgedx.com

www.cxbladder.com

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

www.facebook.com/PacificEdgeLtd

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www.twitter.com/PacificEdgeLtd

www.twitter.com/Cxbladder

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CONTACT US:

87 St David Street

PO Box 56,

Dunedin

New Zealand

T: +64 3 479 5800

E: investors@pacificedge.co.nz

Pacific Edge Limited Investor Update | March 2022

6

A

BOUT US

Pacific Edge is a cancer diagnostics company. We specialise in the discovery of diagnostic and prognostic

tests for the better detection and management of cancer. Our expertise extends from discovery to market,

and includes cancer genetics, bioinformatics, clinical path

ology, molecular oncology, technology

commercialisation a

nd marketing. Our products are based on proprietary genetic databases used to identify

diagnostic biomarkers for cancers. We specialise in building commercial cancer tests from these proprietary

biomarkers.

To subscribe, email us at

investors@pacificedge.co.nz

Data sourced from publicly available filings. Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@nzxplorer.co.nz. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.