Pacific Edge Rings The Bell On Two Decades As An NZX Listed Company

Pacific Edge today rang the bell on two decades of its shares trading on the NZX Main Board.

At a ceremony at NZX’s offices in Auckland attended by Pacific Edge and NZX people, investors, analysts and the media, the company celebrated its growth, the evolution and increasing sophistication and clinical utility of its cancer diagnostic capabilities, the support of its shareholders and the commitment of its people over its two decades as an NZX listed company.

Pacific Edge Chief Executive Dr Peter Meintjes said: “From its listing on the NZX on 12 February 2003 at a market capitalization of $1.2 million Pacific Edge has grown in capability and experience to become a member of the benchmark S&P NZX 50 index of New Zealand’s leading companies.

“We have evolved from an academic-founded startup discovering diagnostic biomarkers across a range of cancers to a company that subsequently specialized in urine-based bladder cancer diagnostics, and more recently transitioned to become an industry-leading oncology diagnostics company in the US, the world’s largest healthcare market.

“With the signing of the landmark commercial contracts with the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the US’ largest integrated healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente, in 2020, we are now driving the adoption of our Cxbladder suite of genomic bladder cancer tests with a focus on the US.

“These significant achievements have been underpinned by our strong research and innovation capability; a comprehensive clinical evidence program that is focused on generating the data sets necessary to change clinical practice and drive the inclusion of our tests in globally relevant clinical guidelines; and a commercial operations team focused on healthcare payor coverage and building clinician awareness Cxbladder’s clinical utility and driving its adoption.

“Our achievements have also relied on the listing of our shares on the NZX Main Board. As a public company we have had ready access to the equity capital necessary to overcome the challenges we have faced over two decades of operations. The listing has also given us a public profile that has bolstered our reputation with all our stakeholders, from clinicians to healthcare payors and our investors.

“It has been an exciting story from the beginning, but increasing in complexity as we navigate the nuances of the US healthcare market since setting up operations in Hershey, Pennsylvania in 2013.

“The US, which represents the largest single opportunity for Pacific Edge, has several large government insurers, for example, Medicare, Medicaid and the Veterans Association, over 6,000 private healthcare insurers, a mixture of private practice, community urology, and state and private hospital systems. The US also has the most mobile patient population in the world - where individuals regularly change their healthcare providers and insurers.

“Despite this complexity, we continue to observe growing recognition among clinicians of the clinical utility of Cxbladder through the strength of our clinical evidence, the experience and expertise of our commercial team and the determination with which we apply ourselves across all teams within the organization. We thank the NZX, our shareholders, and all our people for their ongoing support.”

NZX Chief Executive Mark Peterson said: “NZX is delighted to celebrate this important milestone with Pacific Edge and to have supported it through what has been an exciting and challenging journey over the last two decades.

“Pacific Edge has shown that this country’s capabilities in the healthcare and biotechnology sectors can be world beating and the role NZX can play in supporting New Zealand innovators to realize their potential on a global stage. We wish the company well and are looking forward to sharing in its continued success.”

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