Clinical Cell Culture beefs up management in Q2, switches focus to sales
Perth-based skins and burns treatment developer Clinical Cell Culture Ltd (ASX: CCE) said today that its net cash outflow for the quarter to end June was $A2.8m, which had left $A8.6m in the bank.
The firm said in its quarterly report to the stock exchange that its focus was now firmly on selling its innovative products.
The Australian listed biomedical company, which recently moved its headquarters to Cambridge to spearhead its sales drive, develops and distributes tissue-engineered products for the treatment of wounds and other skin defects.
It said its cash use rate was as expected and indeed its share price was unchanged on the news. It shares have been in the doldrums lately, suggesting the market will be closely watching its sales efforts.
The recent quarter was significant for the firm. Bob Atwill (pictured) was appointed as CEO in May to focus on sales penetration into approved markets, and financial management was strengthened when Andrew Cannon joined as CFO and director. Company founder Fiona Wood rejoined the Board (co-founder Marie Stoner is also on the Board) to help in managing the regulatory approval process in the US and build C3’s reputation in investor markets.
Sales kick in
Mr Atwill, who shares his time between Canberra and Cambridge, said he was extremely encouraged by the feedback from surgeons and distributors he had met since he joined the firm.
"One of my first priorities was to understand the key issues faced by the distributors impacting on market penetration. We are now providing more targeted support to get better sales penetration across each of our product lines”.
Its products are approved for sale in major markets such as the UK, Germany, Italy, Australia and Japan where distributors are in place and there are already sales of its three key products - ReCell, CellSpray and CellSpray XP. In the second quarter, total revenue was $A0.33m, also in line with forecast.
ReCell is a unique medical device used by surgeons in repairing a wide range of skin defects using the patient’s own cells.
CellSpray is a suspension containing cultured skin cells for use in treating burns and scars. Cells are harvested from a small biopsy and cultured in C3’s laboratory for between 5 and 7 days and then reapplied to the wound. Traditional technologies take around 21 days to culture small sheets of skin.
CellSpray XP is a rapid version of CellSpray that is available within 48-hours of a biopsy being taken and is generally applied to wounds that must be treated urgently.
FDA
C3 said it is working with the Food and Drugs Administration to get approval for the sale of ReCell in the US. The required clinical trial program is on its planned track and approval is expected by Q3 2007.
27th July 2006
