GeneNews Announces Letter to Shareholders from CEO

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Jan 05, 2018, 10:01 ET

TORONTO, Jan. 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - GeneNews Limited (TSX:GEN) ("GeneNews" or the "Company") released a Letter to Shareholders updating current activities and outlining its corporate strategy for 2018, as follows:

Dear Shareholders,

Our objective to help reduce the incidence of late stage cancers through early detection continues to be strengthened. This premise is what the Company is being built on.

To that end, in 2017, we started writing a new chapter in the story of GeneNews:

We resumed full testing at Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory, our CLIA and CAP certified laboratory.
The Company has continued to enroll new practices, bringing Small Clinical Practice enrollment above the 2000 mark.
We launched the MyCancerRisk™ Program to help physicians educate patients about their cancer risk and began a pilot program with High Risk Patient Populations. A major component of this program is to collect key data and track outcomes from early interventions which will prove invaluable to their health plan design, coverage decisions and cancer prevention programs. Rollout of this program began in Q4 of 2017.
Large Healthcare Systems - We continued our work with JTS Health Partners to build strategic partnerships in value-based care, hospitals and large healthcare systems. We have multiple large healthcare systems with whom we are working on implementing the use of our early cancer diagnostic tests. We expect to launch programs with these systems in the first quarter of 2018.

One such opportunity is a top ten healthcare system with multiple hospitals, primary care clinics, and an outreach program that encompasses thousands of physicians across 5 states.
Direct to Consumer Initiative - One of the most exciting developments of the year is the ramp-up of our operations and infrastructure for the execution of a Telemedicine model. This plan will allow us to connect the thousands of patients who reach out to us each year, with national networks of Telemedicine Physicians and 8,000 draw-sites to dramatically improve patient access to our tests. As part of the plan's execution, we are building an IT infrastructure that will allow us to report results electronically to physician networks and process patient payments online to generate immediate revenue.

The Next Frontier - 2018 - Data as an Asset

At the heart of the company's mission to improve health outcomes, is our ability to provide physicians and their patients with actionable clinical data for cancer risk assessment. In 2017, GeneNews began the process of collecting and sharing aggregated data in an effort to build a data-driven product to help practices and healthcare systems better understand their patient populations and build more effective programs to improve patient compliance with cancer screening, preventive health programs, and early interventions. During 2018 we expect to expand this effort as we initiate research programs with key Cancer Research Centers. Data as an asset will continue to be key strategy for us as we enter 2018.

Financing Activities

Whilst balancing turnaround of the company with financing activities, truly aggressive growth of the company has been hampered by needing to carefully manage finances. This has started to resolve.

In late 2017, GeneNews announced the signing of the Milost Global Subscription Agreement (the MESA), securing US$10 million in equity and debt financing. The Initial US $500,000 Equity Draw Down has commenced and is anticipated to close this month.

Funding is currently coming from revenue from sales, convertible notes done with existing shareholders and Directors, and from GEM, as needed.

Additionally, the company is starting to attract attention from a diverse group of interested parties and will build this out more formally during 2018.

Priorities for 1H/2018

Aggressively expand the programs under MyCancerRisk to the High Risk Patient Populations and their employers. Pilot program data showed 34% of those tested had a raised risk result for cancer. Full program testing is scheduled to begin Q1.
Implement the direct-to-consumer program with the 8,000+ draw sites and Telemedicine Physician Networks. Full rollout in Q1.
Initiate test utilization with Large Healthcare Systems. Planning for test implementation is running in parallel with contract completion. Objective is to have test introduction logistics completed with signature of agreements. Planned for Q1.
Continue to expand Small Clinical Practice base and upgrade Billing and revenue collection system.

We now have four distinct revenue streams:

High Risk Patients - cash price collected immediately
Telemedicine - cash price invoiced to Networks with payment within 45 days
Large Healthcare Systems - fixed price per test invoiced and paid within 45 days
Small Clinical Practices - standard billing to insurers/CMS. Process being significantly upgraded.

We believe we have the right strategy, have the right deals being put into place, the right products to make a difference, and can now begin to realize the company's full potential.

As a management group, we thank you for your continued support, and look forward to building a successful company together.

Kind regards,

James R Howard-Tripp
Chairman and CEO

SOURCE GeneNews Limited