NASDAQ:ECOR electroCore Q1 2024 Earnings Report $7.57 +0.02 (+0.26%) Closing price 04/25/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$7.62 +0.05 (+0.71%) As of 04/25/2025 06:38 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast electroCore EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.53Consensus EPS -$0.50Beat/MissMissed by -$0.03One Year Ago EPSN/AelectroCore Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$5.44 millionExpected Revenue$5.18 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$260.00 thousandYoY Revenue GrowthN/AelectroCore Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2024Date5/8/2024TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, May 8, 2024Conference Call Time4:30PM ETUpcoming EarningselectroCore's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, May 6, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Wednesday, May 7, 2025 at 4:30 PM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by electroCore Q1 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 8, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Dan Goldberger. Operator00:00:06Thank you, sir. You may begin. Speaker 100:00:12Thank you all for participating in today's electroCore earnings call. My name is Dan Goldberger. I'm the Chief Executive Officer of electroCore and I'm also a member of the Board of Directors. Joining me today is Brian Posner, Chief Financial Officer. Earlier today, electroCore published results for the Q1 ended March 31, 2024. Speaker 100:00:36A copy of the press release is available on the company's website. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will make statements during the call that include forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this call that are not statements of historical facts should be deemed to be forward looking statements. All forward looking statements, including without limitation any guidance, outlook or future financial expectations or operational activities and performances are based upon the company's current estimates and various assumptions. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated or implied by these forward looking statements. Speaker 100:01:38Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these statements. For a list of the risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, please see the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ElectroCore disclaims any intention or obligation, except as required by law, update or revise any financial projections or forward looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. This conference call contains time sensitive information that is accurate only as of the live broadcast today, May 8, 2024. ElectroCore was founded in 2,005 to commercialize the use of our proprietary noninvasive vagus body, bringing information from the visceral organs to the brain. Speaker 100:02:40The autonomic functions in the brain and in the body, including neurotransmitter levels, inflammation levels and metabolism. Surgically implanted vagus nerve stimulators have been available from other companies for more than 40 years for chronic conditions like epilepsy and depression. So a large and growing database confirms the safety and efficacy of the technique. Building on that science, electroCore pioneered non invasive vagus nerve stimulation and our products are now available by prescription for certain headache conditions and without a prescription for general wellness and human performance. Operator00:03:23Our Speaker 100:03:23pipeline of potential future indications and products continues to grow as clinicians, researchers and wellness advocates conduct investigator initiated trials to become more familiar with the benefits of non invasive vagus nerve stimulation. We are thrilled to report a 6th consecutive record revenue quarter of $5,400,000 for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, a 96% increase over the prior year. That's a 5 year compound annual growth rate from Q1 2019 to Q1 of 2024 of greater than 67%. Moreover, this growth has been accomplished with 84% gross margins. Brian will discuss the financials in more detail later on. Speaker 100:04:15We launched our U. S. Prescription headache business in 2017, selling primarily to specialty pharmacies. Since then, our prescription headache business has grown worldwide, including sales that are covered by National Health Systems such as the VA hospital system in the United States and the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, cash pay sales and through certain managed care systems in the United States. We launched 2 new non prescription general wellness product lines last year. Speaker 100:04:49Truvega is a direct to consumer health and wellness brand and TaxDim is our brand for human performance for active duty military personnel. Both new brands exceeded our expectations in their 1st full year of sales and continue driving excitement about the future. The VA hospital system continues to be our largest revenue channel. You'll recall that our Gammacore prescription therapy is free to patients covered by Veterans Administration benefits, representing about 9,000,000 covered lives across approximately 1300 healthcare facilities. Sales in the VA channel grew 127% to $3,900,000 in the Q1 of 2024 from $1,700,000 during the Q1 of 2023. Speaker 100:05:39151 VA facilities have purchased prescription gammaCore products through March 31, 2020 4 as compared to 124 through March 31, 2023. The VA Hospital Administration Headache of Excellence or HCOE estimates approximately 600,000 patients are being treated for headache in the VA hospital system. Since we've dispensed approximately 5,300 gammaCore devices to veterans since 2022, we believe that represents less than 1% of the total addressable market within the VA system. We use several contracting mechanisms to support sales to individual VA facilities, including open market access, our FSS or Federal Supply Services contract and our nonexclusive distribution agreement with Lovell Government Services. Lovell is a service disabled veteran owned small business or SDVOSB offering medical and pharmaceutical goods and services to federal healthcare providers. Speaker 100:06:45During Q1 of 2024, sales through Level accounted for approximately 13% of ROVA sales. Truvega is currently positioned as a direct to consumer general wellness product for stress, relaxation, sleep and mental acuity. For the Q1 of 2024, TRUVAGA net sales were approximately $385,000 as compared to $147,000 during the Q1 of 2023. Our revenue industry calls a media efficiency ratio or MER, was approximately 2.49 in the Q1. In other words, we're spending $1 to generate $2.49 of revenue. Speaker 100:07:34Truvega return rates, which we continue to monitor closely, dropped slightly to approximately 8% of shipments. However, we model return rates at a more conservative 10% to 15%. Last month, we launched Truvega Plus, our 2nd Truvega product offering. Truvega Plus is a mobile app enabled general wellness product. The 1st few weeks of sales of Truvega Plus have again exceeded expectations and we are enthusiastic about the potential our new app enabled product provides for future iterations of our technology and engagement with consumers. Speaker 100:08:12Since launching Truvega Plus, we sold approximately 300 units and customers have conducted approximately 2,400 sessions using the product. Our media efficiency ratio has expanded to 3.21 since launch, driven by higher pricing and early adoption of Truvega Plus. Both Truvega products are available exclusively through our e commerce platform, www.truvega.com, And we are carefully managing our Truvega advertising spend, return rates and sessions as we offer 2 unique Truvega propositions for health and wellness. We believe that the Truvega business can scale nicely if we maintain or improve these metrics. TaxDIM for human performance is being sold to select Air Force Special Forces and Army Special Forces units for accelerated training, sustained attention, reduced fatigue and improved mood as defined by the Air Force Research Laboratory or AFRL. Speaker 100:09:16No prescription is required and more information is available at www.taxstim.com. For the Q1 ended March 31, 2024, we recorded $301,000 of TaxDIM sales as compared to $88,000 during the same period last year. The sales funnel for this product continues to grow as word spreads across active duty military units of the potential human performance benefits provided by TacxDIM. In parallel, we have developed a 2nd generation product known internally as TacxDIM Black in collaboration with AFRL and we continue to build prototypes for evaluation by our government research partners. Even though we have an impressive sales funnel for TacxDIM, we have stated before that revenue growth for this product line is likely to be lumpy as active duty units purchased in bulk for pilot deployment and we expect revenues for TaxDIM in the Q2 of 2024 to be flat to down sequentially due to the timing of such orders. Speaker 100:10:20Our prescription physician dispensed cash pay channel including GC Direct and G Concierge recorded revenue of 424 $1,000 during the Q1 of 2024, down slightly from $436,000 in the Q1 of 2023. We expect at least some of these customers to migrate to the Truvega brand as awareness grows, so we are modeling flat revenue from this category for the time being. There were 2023 cumulative revenue generating cash pay prescribers as of March 31, 2024, up from 1218 on March 31, 2023. Last year, we announced the distribution agreement with Jerns Healthcare LLC that we believe will add more than 12,500,000 covered lives within a select managed care health system. The business model with Journs is similar to how we work with the VA hospital system. Speaker 100:11:19Journs handles adjudications, billing and collections, while the electroCore ships directly to patients and provides in servicing and patient support. Our field sales team is responsible for building awareness among clinicians within those managed care systems. We continue to work with Journs on the implementation, including the expansion into new geographic territories and we recorded small recurring revenue from this relationship during the Q1 of 2024. Our field sales function is developing champions within the target managed care system and we think Jiren's could be a source of revenue growth in the second half of twenty twenty four and beyond. Revenue from channels outside the United States increased by 10% in U. Speaker 100:12:08S. Dollars to $449,000 in the Q1 of 2024 as compared to $410,000 for the Q1 of 2023. Revenue from channels outside the U. S. Increased approximately 14% in local currency for the Q1 of 2024 as compared to the Q1 of 2023. Speaker 100:12:28Most of our OUS revenue continues to be generated in the United Kingdom by prescription gammaCore sales funded by the National Health Service or NHS. Now I'd like to turn to our clinical progress. On April 30, 2024, we announced the results of our most recent Truvega Plus consumer study conducted earlier this year. The 39 subject, 30 day in home use test conducted by an independent third party research firm demonstrated that TRUVAGA plus helped its users improve sleep, focus, stress, energy and mood. Health assessment evaluations were reported after 7 30 days. Speaker 100:13:08Most notably, 82% of participants felt calmer and mentally healthier, 74% of participants felt they slept better, of which 72% reported they received between 30 minutes to 2 hours more sleep each night. After the study completed, 87% of users said they continue to use Truvega Plus for ongoing overall wellness benefits. 2 of our investigator initiated trials, the Acute Stroke Trial Novus in Leiden, Netherlands and Gait and Mobility and Parkinson's disease in Newcastle, UK have been fully enrolled and we expect to report top line data later this year. We'll continue to provide updates about our pipeline and other opportunities as they become available. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Brian for a review of our financials and other guidance items. Speaker 100:14:01Brian? Speaker 200:14:02Thank you, Dan. Net sales for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024 increased 96% as compared to the 3 months ended March 31, 2023. The increase of $2,700,000 due to an increase in net sales across major channels, including our prescription gammaCore medical devices sold in the U. S. And abroad. Speaker 200:14:26And revenue from the sales of our non prescription general wellness and human performance, Trivega and TaxBin brands. Gross profit increased by $2,200,000 for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, compared to the 3 months ended March 31, 2023. Gross margin was 84% for both periods. Total operating expenses in the Q1 ended March 31, 2024 were approximately $8,400,000 as compared to 8.5 $1,000,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. Research and development expense in the Q1 of 2024 was 399 $1,000 as compared to $1,800,000 in the Q1 of 2023. Speaker 200:15:17This decrease was primarily due to a significant reduction in investments associated with Travega Plus. Selling, general and administrative expense of $8,000,000 for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024 increased by $1,300,000 or 19 percent as compared to $6,700,000 for the comparable period in 2023. This increase was primarily due to our greater variable selling and marketing costs consistent with our increase in sales. GAAP net loss for the Q1 of 2024 was $3,500,000 or $0.53 per share as compared to the $5,900,000 net loss or $1.24 per share for the Q1 of 2023. This significant improvement was primarily due to the increase in net sales to $5,400,000 for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $2,800,000 during the same period of 2023. Speaker 200:16:21Adjusted EBITDA net loss in the Q1 of 2024 was 3 point of $5,100,000 in the Q1 of 2023. These improved results are primarily due to the 96% increase in Q1 2024 net sales over the Q1 of 2023. A reconciliation of GAAP net loss to non GAAP adjusted EBITDA net loss has been provided in the financial statement tables included in today's press release. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at March 31, 2024, totaled approximately $8,100,000 as compared to approximately $10,600,000 as of December 31, 2023. And now, I'll turn the call back over to Dan. Speaker 100:17:15Thank you, Brian. I'm very pleased with the continued momentum in our prescription headache and general wellness businesses. Our operating metrics, especially revenue and gross margin continue to beat internal expectations and I'm very enthusiastic about the company's long term prospects across all brands and product lines. The launch of Truvega Plus was received favorably by the market. The brand continues to show tons of potential as a direct to consumer general wellness offering and we will continue selling Truvega products through our e commerce site www.truvega.com. Speaker 100:17:51We'll explore additional channels and product offerings to increase the lifetime value of each customer as we go forward. The pipeline of interest from different branches of our active duty military continues to develop for our TacxDIM products. Sales of the TacxDIM brand continue to be irregular as active duty units purchased in bulk for pilot deployment longer term. We also believe that there may be civilian crossover as first responders, elite athletes, transportation workers, traders and e gamers become aware of the human performance benefits published so far. Demand for our prescription gammaCore therapy in the VA channel continues to grow based on clinical performance and our increased presence in the field. Speaker 100:18:36We have approximately 35 straight commission sales agents representing about 90, 1099 reps in the field managed by our small team territory business managers and supported by our customer experience team. This hybrid structure is very scalable as we deploy prescription gammaCore around the country. During the Q1 of 2024, our sales and marketing expense increased by approximately $1,400,000 over the Q1 of 2023, while sales grew by $2,700,000 signaling real leverage opportunities in the P and L. Further out, we are working towards establishing additional indications for prescription gammaCore to treat post traumatic stress disorder, opioid use disorder and other clinical opportunities. We had $8,100,000 of cash at March 31, 2024. Speaker 100:19:33We have dramatically reduced our R and D expense and we intend to maintain discipline around fixed operating expenses. We expect that commissions and media spend will scale with revenues and will remain at approximately 30% of related sales on a blended basis. Therefore, we expect that our cash used in operations will continue to decline sequentially as revenue increases. In summary, I believe the business is demonstrating operating leverage and that we will have a variety of strategic levers to pull to continue growing and or operating the business until we can generate positive cash flow from operations. As we continue through 2024 and beyond, we will focus on strategic initiatives including: number 1, continued growth in our U. Speaker 100:20:23S. Prescription headache business in both the VA and commercial channels Number 2, growth of our direct to consumer wellness business through sales of both our Truvega 350 and Truvega Plus products for general wellness, stress, mental acuity and sleep, driven by ongoing consumer marketing investments. 3, further development of the TaxDim brand and launch of TaxDim Black later this year for human performance in the active duty military and potential civilian crossover. Number 4, revenue through our distribution agreement with Jyrns Healthcare for the sale of prescription gammaCore within a select managed care health system and number 5, prescription gammaCore label extensions for a variety of indications over time. At this time, I'll turn the call over to the operator. Speaker 100:21:13Operator, please open the line for questions. Operator00:21:16Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer Our first question comes from Jeffrey Cohen with Ladenburg Thalmann. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 300:21:52Hi, Dan and Brian. How are you? Good. Hi, Chad. So, I guess firstly, could you talk about the channels and the mix that you anticipate on Truvega. Speaker 300:22:06I know that you placed a couple of 100 units thus far. How do you expect that to fold out as far as one versus the other? Speaker 100:22:17That's a great question. The Truvega 350 is offered at a significantly lower price than the Truvega Plus and the mix, it's early, right? We've only been offering the new product Truvega Plus for 3 full weeks now. And it's been a surprisingly successful. It's roughly fifty-fifty product mix for that 3 weeks. Speaker 100:22:47But I wouldn't try to draw any conclusions from the 1st 3 weeks. Speaker 300:22:56Got it. Okay. And then could you talk about the OpEx and the components? I know that R and D was down tremendously, which you identified as Truvega Plus development concluding, but what kind of follow-up on R and D and where should we see that for Q2 and beyond full year and then SG and A as well. Is that flattish from that increase from last year or it will continue to increase sequentially from that $8,000,000 in the Q1? Speaker 100:23:27So for R and D, internally, we're going to keep a lid on it for this year. We've got lots and lots of great product ideas and label extensions, but we want to drive to getting to cash positive and profitability. So we're modeling R and D at sort of $8,500,000 for I'm sorry, no, I misspoke, dollars 2,500,000 for the full year, right, less than half of last year. G and A, we expect it to be somewhat down from last year. We're continuing to look for opportunities to reduce expenses. Speaker 100:24:17But our marketing spend, either commissions in our prescription business or advertising spend in our consumer business are going to be scaling. And in our prepared remarks, we internally remodel our variable sales and marketing expense at about 30% on a blended basis. Speaker 200:24:41To add to what Dan said is the G and A part is seasonally high in the Q1 because of audit related costs, the auditors, the lawyers, Sarbanes Oxley, all the requirements of a public company. So the G and A part, which should be down in the remaining quarters. Speaker 300:25:03So Speaker 100:25:03to be clear, I misspoke. I want to be clear that we're modeling R and D at roughly $2,500,000 this year, not that higher number. I don't know why that popped in my head. I apologize. Speaker 300:25:16Not a problem. Thanks, Thanh. And then I guess lastly maybe talk about inventories currently and how they've been and how you expect that to play out over this year? I'm sure you're building up some inventory on Truvega Plus and perhaps Text and Black and reducing inventory on U. S. Speaker 300:25:37Commercial? Speaker 200:25:41Yes, I'll start and bottom line is we worked down a lot of inventory over the years. For the Q1, since I think Dan and I have been with the company, we don't have the caption long term inventory anymore, which is a function of revenue, right, and forecasted revenue. So we're very optimistic about the future. Dan, I don't know if you want to add anything about the supply chain for the new products or? Yes. Speaker 100:26:08The inventories were still running heavy on inventory as a multiple of daily sales because we're not very good at predicting product mix, for example, like you touched on, Jeff, with how many of the 350s are we going to sell versus the pluses. So we're keeping more inventory, more days of inventory. But as we gain more understanding of the business and specifically the product mix, I think we're going to be able to steadily reduce inventory as a multiple of day sales. Speaker 300:26:48Got it. Speaker 100:26:49Okay. Thanks for In other words, continue to generate cash from inventory. Operator00:27:02Our next question comes from Bruce Jackson with The Benchmark Company. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 400:27:09Hi, good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions. I want to start with the VA. How much of your VA revenue comes from the centers of excellence, the headache centers of excellence? Speaker 100:27:22That's a good question. We don't break that out in our public discourse. Doctor. David Cieco, who runs the Headache Centers of Excellence, I believe there are 20 of them around the country right now. The newest guidelines, best practices for managing complex headache have Gammacore as first line therapy. Speaker 100:27:53But we have not been breaking out by facility the revenue contributions. Speaker 300:28:00Okay. Speaker 400:28:02So Gammacore is the first one alternative for these centers. What do you think needs to happen in order to get greater uptake from VA system? Speaker 100:28:17So, great question. We think we're still less than 1% penetrated within the VA hospital system. Every facility is different and has to be treated as a different customer. But in general, we start off in neurology, which is where the complex headaches are treated. And our goal is to work through the facility to women's health, to pain management, to health and wellness and ultimately to primary care. Speaker 100:28:52And so within each facility, we have a lot of opportunities to go deeper. Headache is treated in the emergency room and is treated in primary care in greater numbers than by the specialist departments. Speaker 400:29:09Okay. And then last question is on the study that's being conducted in Newcastle. Is that for Parkinson's? And the release date for the data seems to have like moved out a bit. Is that just because of the standard data analysis and you're working with physicians who are very busy or there's some other factor involved there? Speaker 100:29:36We really don't know. I wish I knew more. This is an investigator initiated trial financed by the U. K. Ministry of Health and the European Union. Speaker 100:29:52The investigators are full time clinicians. They had the last patient, last visit in December, late December of 2023. And we're anxious to see the data they will share the data with us when they share the data with us. It's completely out of our control. Operator00:30:24Our next question comes from wayampakula Ramakanth with H. C. Wainwright. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 500:30:31Thank you. This is RK from H. C. Wainwright. A couple of quick questions. Speaker 500:30:40So the VA channel continues to grow and continues to grow at a very good clip. This quarter, as you said, you did close to 130% growth year over year. Though the number of centers grew only less than 30 centers compared to last year. So I understand some parts of it is probably the depth within certain centers. But how much assuming that you're not going to add more centers or not in big amounts from here onwards, how sustainable is this growth? Speaker 500:31:30And are there places in the current centers where you're not at all tapped and you're kind of asking your sales folks to go figure out these additional centers where you could commercialize gammaCore? Speaker 100:31:51Yes. RK, you're absolutely on the right track. It's far more efficient for us to go deeper into a facility where we have existing business for at least two reasons. The first is that the champion within the facility, he has a reason or she has a champion within the facility, he has a reason or she has a reason to be in the facility and can spend additional time calling on other prescribers within neurology, for example, but even more importantly, calling on other departments within the facility. So we're coaching our team to go deeper within the facilities that are already opened up. Speaker 100:32:44The other driver we have is just is old fashioned feet on the street. We are scaling the business with what I call 1099 reps, right? These are independent agents. They get paid straight commission. They probably have 2 or 3 or 4 other products in their bag that they are selling into the same customer, into the same facility. Speaker 100:33:13And as we have success, that success breeds success and it's becoming more and more efficient for us to recruit additional new 1099 reps. So we can scale the business in that direction as well just by having additional feet on the street. Speaker 500:33:34Thanks for that. And then, talking about some of these new indications that you're looking at and also the recent data that you released, I believe, on PTSD. When you look at the VA centers, these are the places where you would see these additional indications or commercializing for additional indications as an opportunity. How much of these how much of the feedback that you get from the VA hospitals are you kind of utilizing to think about new indications for Gammacore? And just on the PTSD itself, how soon do you think you can get that indication so that you can start commercializing for that as well? Speaker 100:34:32Yes. So great question. I get I'm very superstitious about the FDA process. So I'm not going to speculate about the timing of getting the additional the label extension. We are aware that there is off label prescription of Gammacore for PTSD in the VA hospitals, but also in our cash pay business. Speaker 100:35:04In the VA hospital system, we don't see the diagnosis. So we don't have a clear view as to what percentage of our prescriptions are for PTSD or Parkinson's or the other indications that we're working on, but we are aware that there is at least some off label prescribing going on. Speaker 500:35:34Okay. Thanks for that. On the tax ten business, you said that the Q2 could be flat. I understand that. But going into Q3, September happens to be the fiscal year for the government. Speaker 500:35:57So do you as you enter the next fiscal year, how are you thinking about growth? Can there be additional contracts coming through? Or is this a long drawn process? And it's really hard to read in terms of new contracts coming in, in the next fiscal year? I'm just trying to think about the cadence of I know you said it's very hard to predict the cadence of numbers, but at the same time, I'm just trying to get a feel for like what are the ways that can be push and pull on that number? Speaker 100:36:36Yes. So we're already getting, I'll call them contingent purchase orders and the contingency is around the DoD budget process. Things have settled down, but every time there was a continuing resolution in Congress, our purchasing contracting process came to a full halt. So we do have a funnel of these contingent purchase orders, but I have no visibility as to the timing of those contingent purchase orders and we're not going to try and give any revenue guidance around it until we know for sure that what the delivery and revenue recognition dates are going to be. Speaker 500:37:29Perfect. Thank you very much. Excellent quarter. Yes. Speaker 100:37:34Thank you. Operator00:37:47Our next question comes from Walter Schenker with AMZ Partners. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 600:37:57A series of unrelated questions. There is published data, this is on the military, on learning and on improved learning and on improved performance by drone pilots. Do you have any color that you can comment on what type of areas in the military are buying this or is it still lot just for what type of units or just some sense? Speaker 100:38:31Yes. So there's very little that we're allowed to say publicly, but several Army Special Forces battalions have acquired a significant number of handsets for pilot deployment, similar number of Air Force Special Forces units and then AMC, Air Mobility Command, which are the very large long distance transport aircraft that the Air Force deploys. Those are the 3 areas that are in pilot deployments at this point. Okay. Speaker 600:39:17Totally unrelated questions. You had briefly mentioned at some point and I do a plug about my wife that one of the benefits, although there are many benefits, we've done some stuff on gastroparesis Is that Gammacore may help or does help people with some stomach issues. You had mentioned some people might be using it off label in conjunction with the light wash drugs, which sometimes cause different stomach issues. Is that actually is there any material comment you can make on that or a couple of doctors have tried it or who knows. It's always good to have something related to weight loss by the way in this market. Speaker 100:40:07I can certainly use something. But so what you're describing is anecdotal commentary that we've heard from several of our customers, especially in the functional medicine, integrative medicine, cash pay practices where they're dealing with complicated patients and they are prescribing a lot of those new injectable weight loss drugs. Nothing that I would describe as scientific, certainly no prospective trials. But Speaker 600:40:43it's a Speaker 100:40:43lot of fun to hear the anecdotes that it's working as a combination therapy in weight loss and gastroparesis. Speaker 600:40:52And lastly, now that Trubaga Plus is, at least as I look at it, cleaner sale. You buy it, you've got it forever, You keep recharging it. You don't have to reload or anything. Have you thought about or where are you in possibly marketing it through other channels or other people beyond just your limited exposure on the Internet? I mean theoretically, again, it could be at a drug store, it could be at health nutrition stores, it could be QVC, you name it, lots of different places. Speaker 600:41:27So what are your thoughts about expanding beyond just you and the Internet? Speaker 100:41:33Yes. I really appreciate the opportunity to expand on it. And look, we think those are all very important 2025 initiatives. It's the first new product launch that the company has done in a long time with a new team of people. We wanted to keep a lid on it, so to speak, for the 1st 30, 60 days. Speaker 100:41:59Right now, it's going very smoothly. We haven't had any significant product problems. And so if we run another 30 days the way the first 30 days have gone, the return rates stay where they are, then I think you'll see us looking to more aggressively expand into a variety of other direct to consumer distribution channels, both brick and mortar as well as Internet sales. Speaker 600:42:34Okay. Thank you, Dan. Speaker 100:42:36Thank you, Walter. Appreciate your interest. Operator00:42:41Our next question is from Nicholas Sherwood with Maxim Group. Speaker 400:42:49My first question is, do you have any update on your agreement with Jyrns Healthcare? Speaker 100:42:58So the update and I think some of it was in our prepared remarks. Most of the work is now on our side to develop prescriber champions. The back office is in place and by back office, I mean the ability to have a prescription accepted at germs, adjudicated, they were fully loaded into their computer system. We have to we, our field sales team has to generate the demand and they're just getting started doing that and frankly having a lot fun doing it. We're getting excellent reception. Speaker 100:43:41You don't see it in the revenue yet, but I think we will before the end of the year. Speaker 400:43:48Awesome. Thank you for that color. And then switching gears to Truvega Plus, do you see any sort of I guess it's not necessarily like SaaS revenue, but do you see any sort of like recurring revenue coming from the app through in app purchases or subscriptions? Speaker 100:44:06Yes, that's in our product development pipeline for 20252026. It's absolutely the vision to do to take full advantage of the mobile app connectivity, not just for our products, but to interact with other health and wellness apps, with Apple Health. And then the data can also become a value proposition. So but not this year. Speaker 400:44:37Absolutely. And then one more, more of a high level question. You had partnered with the NFL this last season. Have you received any further interest from them or any other sports leagues or athletes that you can speak about at this time? Speaker 100:44:53So a lot of interest, nothing that I can speak about publicly. And specifically, the NFL research program, they won't even tell us which teams are using it, which is very frustrating as a football fan. Speaker 400:45:11Yes, maybe DraftKings doesn't want you to find out either, but looking at and finally just I think I may have missed these earlier, but what was the BDA DoD prescribing facility count and also the cash pay prescriber account? Speaker 100:45:31Yes, those handy, Brian. We're looking for our own numbers. 151 VA Facilities, up from 124. Prescription prescribers 2023, up from 1218. Speaker 400:46:08Awesome. Thank you so much and thank you for answering all my questions. I'll return to the queue. Speaker 300:46:12Of course. Speaker 100:46:13Thanks for your interest. Operator00:46:17We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Dan Goldberg for closing comments. Speaker 100:46:24Thank you, operator. We appreciate everybody joining today's call. Our employees continue working tirelessly to deliver products and therapies that improve the health and wellness of patients and customers alike. The team has done a great job of staying nimble, scaling the business, responding to the needs of our customers, launching a new product, and all of that has resulted in the accelerating growth that we just reported. I also want to say thanks to the healthcare professionals and their patients for their loyal support of gammaCore therapy and to the growing number of consumers who have adopted Truvega products as a tool to improve their general wellness. Speaker 100:47:06You all have a great day.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallelectroCore Q1 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) electroCore Earnings HeadlineselectroCore (NASDAQ:ECOR) Trading 14.6% Higher - Time to Buy?April 25 at 2:17 AM | americanbankingnews.comelectroCore announces new data presented on nVNSApril 17, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comNow I look stupid. Real stupid... I thought what happened 25 years ago was a once- in-a-lifetime event… but how wrong I was. Because here we are, a quarter of a century later, almost to the exact day, and it’s happening again. April 28, 2025 | Porter & Company (Ad)electroCore, Inc. Reports Positive Data on gammaCore® for Treating Concussive Symptoms in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury at 2025 IBIA World CongressApril 17, 2025 | quiverquant.comgammaCore Non-Invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation (nVNS) Shown to be Effective in Treating Concussive Symptoms Associated with Mild Traumatic Brain InjuriesApril 17, 2025 | globenewswire.comelectroCore to Participate at the Planet MicroCap ShowcaseApril 16, 2025 | globenewswire.comSee More electroCore Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like electroCore? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on electroCore and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About electroCoreelectroCore (NASDAQ:ECOR), a commercial stage bioelectronic medicine and wellness company, provides non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation technology platform in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The company is developing gammaCore, a prescription only handheld device intended for regular or intermittent use for the acute treatment of pain associated with migraine and episodic cluster headache, as well as for the treatment of hemicrania continua and paroxysmal hemicrania. It also develops Truvaga for the support of general health and wellbeing; and TAC-STIM for human performance. In addition, the company offers gammacore Sapphire, a portable, reusable, rechargeable, and reloadable prescription medical device for various primary headache conditions. electroCore, Inc. was incorporated in 2005 and is headquartered in Rockaway, New Jersey.View electroCore ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Markets Think Robinhood Earnings Could Send the Stock UpIs the Floor in for Lam Research After Bullish Earnings?Texas Instruments: Earnings Beat, Upbeat Guidance Fuel RecoveryMarket Anticipation Builds: Joby Stock Climbs Ahead of EarningsIs Intuitive Surgical a Buy After Volatile Reaction to Earnings?Seismic Shift at Intel: Massive Layoffs Precede Crucial EarningsRocket Lab Lands New Contract, Builds Momentum Ahead of Earnings Upcoming Earnings AstraZeneca (4/29/2025)Mondelez International (4/29/2025)PayPal (4/29/2025)Starbucks (4/29/2025)DoorDash (4/29/2025)Honeywell International (4/29/2025)Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (4/29/2025)Booking (4/29/2025)América Móvil (4/29/2025)Pfizer (4/29/2025) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. 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There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to your host, Dan Goldberger. Operator00:00:06Thank you, sir. You may begin. Speaker 100:00:12Thank you all for participating in today's electroCore earnings call. My name is Dan Goldberger. I'm the Chief Executive Officer of electroCore and I'm also a member of the Board of Directors. Joining me today is Brian Posner, Chief Financial Officer. Earlier today, electroCore published results for the Q1 ended March 31, 2024. Speaker 100:00:36A copy of the press release is available on the company's website. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that management will make statements during the call that include forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this call that are not statements of historical facts should be deemed to be forward looking statements. All forward looking statements, including without limitation any guidance, outlook or future financial expectations or operational activities and performances are based upon the company's current estimates and various assumptions. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or events to materially differ from those anticipated or implied by these forward looking statements. Speaker 100:01:38Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these statements. For a list of the risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, please see the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ElectroCore disclaims any intention or obligation, except as required by law, update or revise any financial projections or forward looking statements, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise. This conference call contains time sensitive information that is accurate only as of the live broadcast today, May 8, 2024. ElectroCore was founded in 2,005 to commercialize the use of our proprietary noninvasive vagus body, bringing information from the visceral organs to the brain. Speaker 100:02:40The autonomic functions in the brain and in the body, including neurotransmitter levels, inflammation levels and metabolism. Surgically implanted vagus nerve stimulators have been available from other companies for more than 40 years for chronic conditions like epilepsy and depression. So a large and growing database confirms the safety and efficacy of the technique. Building on that science, electroCore pioneered non invasive vagus nerve stimulation and our products are now available by prescription for certain headache conditions and without a prescription for general wellness and human performance. Operator00:03:23Our Speaker 100:03:23pipeline of potential future indications and products continues to grow as clinicians, researchers and wellness advocates conduct investigator initiated trials to become more familiar with the benefits of non invasive vagus nerve stimulation. We are thrilled to report a 6th consecutive record revenue quarter of $5,400,000 for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, a 96% increase over the prior year. That's a 5 year compound annual growth rate from Q1 2019 to Q1 of 2024 of greater than 67%. Moreover, this growth has been accomplished with 84% gross margins. Brian will discuss the financials in more detail later on. Speaker 100:04:15We launched our U. S. Prescription headache business in 2017, selling primarily to specialty pharmacies. Since then, our prescription headache business has grown worldwide, including sales that are covered by National Health Systems such as the VA hospital system in the United States and the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, cash pay sales and through certain managed care systems in the United States. We launched 2 new non prescription general wellness product lines last year. Speaker 100:04:49Truvega is a direct to consumer health and wellness brand and TaxDim is our brand for human performance for active duty military personnel. Both new brands exceeded our expectations in their 1st full year of sales and continue driving excitement about the future. The VA hospital system continues to be our largest revenue channel. You'll recall that our Gammacore prescription therapy is free to patients covered by Veterans Administration benefits, representing about 9,000,000 covered lives across approximately 1300 healthcare facilities. Sales in the VA channel grew 127% to $3,900,000 in the Q1 of 2024 from $1,700,000 during the Q1 of 2023. Speaker 100:05:39151 VA facilities have purchased prescription gammaCore products through March 31, 2020 4 as compared to 124 through March 31, 2023. The VA Hospital Administration Headache of Excellence or HCOE estimates approximately 600,000 patients are being treated for headache in the VA hospital system. Since we've dispensed approximately 5,300 gammaCore devices to veterans since 2022, we believe that represents less than 1% of the total addressable market within the VA system. We use several contracting mechanisms to support sales to individual VA facilities, including open market access, our FSS or Federal Supply Services contract and our nonexclusive distribution agreement with Lovell Government Services. Lovell is a service disabled veteran owned small business or SDVOSB offering medical and pharmaceutical goods and services to federal healthcare providers. Speaker 100:06:45During Q1 of 2024, sales through Level accounted for approximately 13% of ROVA sales. Truvega is currently positioned as a direct to consumer general wellness product for stress, relaxation, sleep and mental acuity. For the Q1 of 2024, TRUVAGA net sales were approximately $385,000 as compared to $147,000 during the Q1 of 2023. Our revenue industry calls a media efficiency ratio or MER, was approximately 2.49 in the Q1. In other words, we're spending $1 to generate $2.49 of revenue. Speaker 100:07:34Truvega return rates, which we continue to monitor closely, dropped slightly to approximately 8% of shipments. However, we model return rates at a more conservative 10% to 15%. Last month, we launched Truvega Plus, our 2nd Truvega product offering. Truvega Plus is a mobile app enabled general wellness product. The 1st few weeks of sales of Truvega Plus have again exceeded expectations and we are enthusiastic about the potential our new app enabled product provides for future iterations of our technology and engagement with consumers. Speaker 100:08:12Since launching Truvega Plus, we sold approximately 300 units and customers have conducted approximately 2,400 sessions using the product. Our media efficiency ratio has expanded to 3.21 since launch, driven by higher pricing and early adoption of Truvega Plus. Both Truvega products are available exclusively through our e commerce platform, www.truvega.com, And we are carefully managing our Truvega advertising spend, return rates and sessions as we offer 2 unique Truvega propositions for health and wellness. We believe that the Truvega business can scale nicely if we maintain or improve these metrics. TaxDIM for human performance is being sold to select Air Force Special Forces and Army Special Forces units for accelerated training, sustained attention, reduced fatigue and improved mood as defined by the Air Force Research Laboratory or AFRL. Speaker 100:09:16No prescription is required and more information is available at www.taxstim.com. For the Q1 ended March 31, 2024, we recorded $301,000 of TaxDIM sales as compared to $88,000 during the same period last year. The sales funnel for this product continues to grow as word spreads across active duty military units of the potential human performance benefits provided by TacxDIM. In parallel, we have developed a 2nd generation product known internally as TacxDIM Black in collaboration with AFRL and we continue to build prototypes for evaluation by our government research partners. Even though we have an impressive sales funnel for TacxDIM, we have stated before that revenue growth for this product line is likely to be lumpy as active duty units purchased in bulk for pilot deployment and we expect revenues for TaxDIM in the Q2 of 2024 to be flat to down sequentially due to the timing of such orders. Speaker 100:10:20Our prescription physician dispensed cash pay channel including GC Direct and G Concierge recorded revenue of 424 $1,000 during the Q1 of 2024, down slightly from $436,000 in the Q1 of 2023. We expect at least some of these customers to migrate to the Truvega brand as awareness grows, so we are modeling flat revenue from this category for the time being. There were 2023 cumulative revenue generating cash pay prescribers as of March 31, 2024, up from 1218 on March 31, 2023. Last year, we announced the distribution agreement with Jerns Healthcare LLC that we believe will add more than 12,500,000 covered lives within a select managed care health system. The business model with Journs is similar to how we work with the VA hospital system. Speaker 100:11:19Journs handles adjudications, billing and collections, while the electroCore ships directly to patients and provides in servicing and patient support. Our field sales team is responsible for building awareness among clinicians within those managed care systems. We continue to work with Journs on the implementation, including the expansion into new geographic territories and we recorded small recurring revenue from this relationship during the Q1 of 2024. Our field sales function is developing champions within the target managed care system and we think Jiren's could be a source of revenue growth in the second half of twenty twenty four and beyond. Revenue from channels outside the United States increased by 10% in U. Speaker 100:12:08S. Dollars to $449,000 in the Q1 of 2024 as compared to $410,000 for the Q1 of 2023. Revenue from channels outside the U. S. Increased approximately 14% in local currency for the Q1 of 2024 as compared to the Q1 of 2023. Speaker 100:12:28Most of our OUS revenue continues to be generated in the United Kingdom by prescription gammaCore sales funded by the National Health Service or NHS. Now I'd like to turn to our clinical progress. On April 30, 2024, we announced the results of our most recent Truvega Plus consumer study conducted earlier this year. The 39 subject, 30 day in home use test conducted by an independent third party research firm demonstrated that TRUVAGA plus helped its users improve sleep, focus, stress, energy and mood. Health assessment evaluations were reported after 7 30 days. Speaker 100:13:08Most notably, 82% of participants felt calmer and mentally healthier, 74% of participants felt they slept better, of which 72% reported they received between 30 minutes to 2 hours more sleep each night. After the study completed, 87% of users said they continue to use Truvega Plus for ongoing overall wellness benefits. 2 of our investigator initiated trials, the Acute Stroke Trial Novus in Leiden, Netherlands and Gait and Mobility and Parkinson's disease in Newcastle, UK have been fully enrolled and we expect to report top line data later this year. We'll continue to provide updates about our pipeline and other opportunities as they become available. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Brian for a review of our financials and other guidance items. Speaker 100:14:01Brian? Speaker 200:14:02Thank you, Dan. Net sales for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024 increased 96% as compared to the 3 months ended March 31, 2023. The increase of $2,700,000 due to an increase in net sales across major channels, including our prescription gammaCore medical devices sold in the U. S. And abroad. Speaker 200:14:26And revenue from the sales of our non prescription general wellness and human performance, Trivega and TaxBin brands. Gross profit increased by $2,200,000 for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024, compared to the 3 months ended March 31, 2023. Gross margin was 84% for both periods. Total operating expenses in the Q1 ended March 31, 2024 were approximately $8,400,000 as compared to 8.5 $1,000,000 for the quarter ended March 31, 2023. Research and development expense in the Q1 of 2024 was 399 $1,000 as compared to $1,800,000 in the Q1 of 2023. Speaker 200:15:17This decrease was primarily due to a significant reduction in investments associated with Travega Plus. Selling, general and administrative expense of $8,000,000 for the 3 months ended March 31, 2024 increased by $1,300,000 or 19 percent as compared to $6,700,000 for the comparable period in 2023. This increase was primarily due to our greater variable selling and marketing costs consistent with our increase in sales. GAAP net loss for the Q1 of 2024 was $3,500,000 or $0.53 per share as compared to the $5,900,000 net loss or $1.24 per share for the Q1 of 2023. This significant improvement was primarily due to the increase in net sales to $5,400,000 for the first quarter of 2024 compared to $2,800,000 during the same period of 2023. Speaker 200:16:21Adjusted EBITDA net loss in the Q1 of 2024 was 3 point of $5,100,000 in the Q1 of 2023. These improved results are primarily due to the 96% increase in Q1 2024 net sales over the Q1 of 2023. A reconciliation of GAAP net loss to non GAAP adjusted EBITDA net loss has been provided in the financial statement tables included in today's press release. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at March 31, 2024, totaled approximately $8,100,000 as compared to approximately $10,600,000 as of December 31, 2023. And now, I'll turn the call back over to Dan. Speaker 100:17:15Thank you, Brian. I'm very pleased with the continued momentum in our prescription headache and general wellness businesses. Our operating metrics, especially revenue and gross margin continue to beat internal expectations and I'm very enthusiastic about the company's long term prospects across all brands and product lines. The launch of Truvega Plus was received favorably by the market. The brand continues to show tons of potential as a direct to consumer general wellness offering and we will continue selling Truvega products through our e commerce site www.truvega.com. Speaker 100:17:51We'll explore additional channels and product offerings to increase the lifetime value of each customer as we go forward. The pipeline of interest from different branches of our active duty military continues to develop for our TacxDIM products. Sales of the TacxDIM brand continue to be irregular as active duty units purchased in bulk for pilot deployment longer term. We also believe that there may be civilian crossover as first responders, elite athletes, transportation workers, traders and e gamers become aware of the human performance benefits published so far. Demand for our prescription gammaCore therapy in the VA channel continues to grow based on clinical performance and our increased presence in the field. Speaker 100:18:36We have approximately 35 straight commission sales agents representing about 90, 1099 reps in the field managed by our small team territory business managers and supported by our customer experience team. This hybrid structure is very scalable as we deploy prescription gammaCore around the country. During the Q1 of 2024, our sales and marketing expense increased by approximately $1,400,000 over the Q1 of 2023, while sales grew by $2,700,000 signaling real leverage opportunities in the P and L. Further out, we are working towards establishing additional indications for prescription gammaCore to treat post traumatic stress disorder, opioid use disorder and other clinical opportunities. We had $8,100,000 of cash at March 31, 2024. Speaker 100:19:33We have dramatically reduced our R and D expense and we intend to maintain discipline around fixed operating expenses. We expect that commissions and media spend will scale with revenues and will remain at approximately 30% of related sales on a blended basis. Therefore, we expect that our cash used in operations will continue to decline sequentially as revenue increases. In summary, I believe the business is demonstrating operating leverage and that we will have a variety of strategic levers to pull to continue growing and or operating the business until we can generate positive cash flow from operations. As we continue through 2024 and beyond, we will focus on strategic initiatives including: number 1, continued growth in our U. Speaker 100:20:23S. Prescription headache business in both the VA and commercial channels Number 2, growth of our direct to consumer wellness business through sales of both our Truvega 350 and Truvega Plus products for general wellness, stress, mental acuity and sleep, driven by ongoing consumer marketing investments. 3, further development of the TaxDim brand and launch of TaxDim Black later this year for human performance in the active duty military and potential civilian crossover. Number 4, revenue through our distribution agreement with Jyrns Healthcare for the sale of prescription gammaCore within a select managed care health system and number 5, prescription gammaCore label extensions for a variety of indications over time. At this time, I'll turn the call over to the operator. Speaker 100:21:13Operator, please open the line for questions. Operator00:21:16Thank you. At this time, we'll be conducting a question and answer Our first question comes from Jeffrey Cohen with Ladenburg Thalmann. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 300:21:52Hi, Dan and Brian. How are you? Good. Hi, Chad. So, I guess firstly, could you talk about the channels and the mix that you anticipate on Truvega. Speaker 300:22:06I know that you placed a couple of 100 units thus far. How do you expect that to fold out as far as one versus the other? Speaker 100:22:17That's a great question. The Truvega 350 is offered at a significantly lower price than the Truvega Plus and the mix, it's early, right? We've only been offering the new product Truvega Plus for 3 full weeks now. And it's been a surprisingly successful. It's roughly fifty-fifty product mix for that 3 weeks. Speaker 100:22:47But I wouldn't try to draw any conclusions from the 1st 3 weeks. Speaker 300:22:56Got it. Okay. And then could you talk about the OpEx and the components? I know that R and D was down tremendously, which you identified as Truvega Plus development concluding, but what kind of follow-up on R and D and where should we see that for Q2 and beyond full year and then SG and A as well. Is that flattish from that increase from last year or it will continue to increase sequentially from that $8,000,000 in the Q1? Speaker 100:23:27So for R and D, internally, we're going to keep a lid on it for this year. We've got lots and lots of great product ideas and label extensions, but we want to drive to getting to cash positive and profitability. So we're modeling R and D at sort of $8,500,000 for I'm sorry, no, I misspoke, dollars 2,500,000 for the full year, right, less than half of last year. G and A, we expect it to be somewhat down from last year. We're continuing to look for opportunities to reduce expenses. Speaker 100:24:17But our marketing spend, either commissions in our prescription business or advertising spend in our consumer business are going to be scaling. And in our prepared remarks, we internally remodel our variable sales and marketing expense at about 30% on a blended basis. Speaker 200:24:41To add to what Dan said is the G and A part is seasonally high in the Q1 because of audit related costs, the auditors, the lawyers, Sarbanes Oxley, all the requirements of a public company. So the G and A part, which should be down in the remaining quarters. Speaker 300:25:03So Speaker 100:25:03to be clear, I misspoke. I want to be clear that we're modeling R and D at roughly $2,500,000 this year, not that higher number. I don't know why that popped in my head. I apologize. Speaker 300:25:16Not a problem. Thanks, Thanh. And then I guess lastly maybe talk about inventories currently and how they've been and how you expect that to play out over this year? I'm sure you're building up some inventory on Truvega Plus and perhaps Text and Black and reducing inventory on U. S. Speaker 300:25:37Commercial? Speaker 200:25:41Yes, I'll start and bottom line is we worked down a lot of inventory over the years. For the Q1, since I think Dan and I have been with the company, we don't have the caption long term inventory anymore, which is a function of revenue, right, and forecasted revenue. So we're very optimistic about the future. Dan, I don't know if you want to add anything about the supply chain for the new products or? Yes. Speaker 100:26:08The inventories were still running heavy on inventory as a multiple of daily sales because we're not very good at predicting product mix, for example, like you touched on, Jeff, with how many of the 350s are we going to sell versus the pluses. So we're keeping more inventory, more days of inventory. But as we gain more understanding of the business and specifically the product mix, I think we're going to be able to steadily reduce inventory as a multiple of day sales. Speaker 300:26:48Got it. Speaker 100:26:49Okay. Thanks for In other words, continue to generate cash from inventory. Operator00:27:02Our next question comes from Bruce Jackson with The Benchmark Company. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 400:27:09Hi, good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions. I want to start with the VA. How much of your VA revenue comes from the centers of excellence, the headache centers of excellence? Speaker 100:27:22That's a good question. We don't break that out in our public discourse. Doctor. David Cieco, who runs the Headache Centers of Excellence, I believe there are 20 of them around the country right now. The newest guidelines, best practices for managing complex headache have Gammacore as first line therapy. Speaker 100:27:53But we have not been breaking out by facility the revenue contributions. Speaker 300:28:00Okay. Speaker 400:28:02So Gammacore is the first one alternative for these centers. What do you think needs to happen in order to get greater uptake from VA system? Speaker 100:28:17So, great question. We think we're still less than 1% penetrated within the VA hospital system. Every facility is different and has to be treated as a different customer. But in general, we start off in neurology, which is where the complex headaches are treated. And our goal is to work through the facility to women's health, to pain management, to health and wellness and ultimately to primary care. Speaker 100:28:52And so within each facility, we have a lot of opportunities to go deeper. Headache is treated in the emergency room and is treated in primary care in greater numbers than by the specialist departments. Speaker 400:29:09Okay. And then last question is on the study that's being conducted in Newcastle. Is that for Parkinson's? And the release date for the data seems to have like moved out a bit. Is that just because of the standard data analysis and you're working with physicians who are very busy or there's some other factor involved there? Speaker 100:29:36We really don't know. I wish I knew more. This is an investigator initiated trial financed by the U. K. Ministry of Health and the European Union. Speaker 100:29:52The investigators are full time clinicians. They had the last patient, last visit in December, late December of 2023. And we're anxious to see the data they will share the data with us when they share the data with us. It's completely out of our control. Operator00:30:24Our next question comes from wayampakula Ramakanth with H. C. Wainwright. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 500:30:31Thank you. This is RK from H. C. Wainwright. A couple of quick questions. Speaker 500:30:40So the VA channel continues to grow and continues to grow at a very good clip. This quarter, as you said, you did close to 130% growth year over year. Though the number of centers grew only less than 30 centers compared to last year. So I understand some parts of it is probably the depth within certain centers. But how much assuming that you're not going to add more centers or not in big amounts from here onwards, how sustainable is this growth? Speaker 500:31:30And are there places in the current centers where you're not at all tapped and you're kind of asking your sales folks to go figure out these additional centers where you could commercialize gammaCore? Speaker 100:31:51Yes. RK, you're absolutely on the right track. It's far more efficient for us to go deeper into a facility where we have existing business for at least two reasons. The first is that the champion within the facility, he has a reason or she has a champion within the facility, he has a reason or she has a reason to be in the facility and can spend additional time calling on other prescribers within neurology, for example, but even more importantly, calling on other departments within the facility. So we're coaching our team to go deeper within the facilities that are already opened up. Speaker 100:32:44The other driver we have is just is old fashioned feet on the street. We are scaling the business with what I call 1099 reps, right? These are independent agents. They get paid straight commission. They probably have 2 or 3 or 4 other products in their bag that they are selling into the same customer, into the same facility. Speaker 100:33:13And as we have success, that success breeds success and it's becoming more and more efficient for us to recruit additional new 1099 reps. So we can scale the business in that direction as well just by having additional feet on the street. Speaker 500:33:34Thanks for that. And then, talking about some of these new indications that you're looking at and also the recent data that you released, I believe, on PTSD. When you look at the VA centers, these are the places where you would see these additional indications or commercializing for additional indications as an opportunity. How much of these how much of the feedback that you get from the VA hospitals are you kind of utilizing to think about new indications for Gammacore? And just on the PTSD itself, how soon do you think you can get that indication so that you can start commercializing for that as well? Speaker 100:34:32Yes. So great question. I get I'm very superstitious about the FDA process. So I'm not going to speculate about the timing of getting the additional the label extension. We are aware that there is off label prescription of Gammacore for PTSD in the VA hospitals, but also in our cash pay business. Speaker 100:35:04In the VA hospital system, we don't see the diagnosis. So we don't have a clear view as to what percentage of our prescriptions are for PTSD or Parkinson's or the other indications that we're working on, but we are aware that there is at least some off label prescribing going on. Speaker 500:35:34Okay. Thanks for that. On the tax ten business, you said that the Q2 could be flat. I understand that. But going into Q3, September happens to be the fiscal year for the government. Speaker 500:35:57So do you as you enter the next fiscal year, how are you thinking about growth? Can there be additional contracts coming through? Or is this a long drawn process? And it's really hard to read in terms of new contracts coming in, in the next fiscal year? I'm just trying to think about the cadence of I know you said it's very hard to predict the cadence of numbers, but at the same time, I'm just trying to get a feel for like what are the ways that can be push and pull on that number? Speaker 100:36:36Yes. So we're already getting, I'll call them contingent purchase orders and the contingency is around the DoD budget process. Things have settled down, but every time there was a continuing resolution in Congress, our purchasing contracting process came to a full halt. So we do have a funnel of these contingent purchase orders, but I have no visibility as to the timing of those contingent purchase orders and we're not going to try and give any revenue guidance around it until we know for sure that what the delivery and revenue recognition dates are going to be. Speaker 500:37:29Perfect. Thank you very much. Excellent quarter. Yes. Speaker 100:37:34Thank you. Operator00:37:47Our next question comes from Walter Schenker with AMZ Partners. Please proceed with your question. Speaker 600:37:57A series of unrelated questions. There is published data, this is on the military, on learning and on improved learning and on improved performance by drone pilots. Do you have any color that you can comment on what type of areas in the military are buying this or is it still lot just for what type of units or just some sense? Speaker 100:38:31Yes. So there's very little that we're allowed to say publicly, but several Army Special Forces battalions have acquired a significant number of handsets for pilot deployment, similar number of Air Force Special Forces units and then AMC, Air Mobility Command, which are the very large long distance transport aircraft that the Air Force deploys. Those are the 3 areas that are in pilot deployments at this point. Okay. Speaker 600:39:17Totally unrelated questions. You had briefly mentioned at some point and I do a plug about my wife that one of the benefits, although there are many benefits, we've done some stuff on gastroparesis Is that Gammacore may help or does help people with some stomach issues. You had mentioned some people might be using it off label in conjunction with the light wash drugs, which sometimes cause different stomach issues. Is that actually is there any material comment you can make on that or a couple of doctors have tried it or who knows. It's always good to have something related to weight loss by the way in this market. Speaker 100:40:07I can certainly use something. But so what you're describing is anecdotal commentary that we've heard from several of our customers, especially in the functional medicine, integrative medicine, cash pay practices where they're dealing with complicated patients and they are prescribing a lot of those new injectable weight loss drugs. Nothing that I would describe as scientific, certainly no prospective trials. But Speaker 600:40:43it's a Speaker 100:40:43lot of fun to hear the anecdotes that it's working as a combination therapy in weight loss and gastroparesis. Speaker 600:40:52And lastly, now that Trubaga Plus is, at least as I look at it, cleaner sale. You buy it, you've got it forever, You keep recharging it. You don't have to reload or anything. Have you thought about or where are you in possibly marketing it through other channels or other people beyond just your limited exposure on the Internet? I mean theoretically, again, it could be at a drug store, it could be at health nutrition stores, it could be QVC, you name it, lots of different places. Speaker 600:41:27So what are your thoughts about expanding beyond just you and the Internet? Speaker 100:41:33Yes. I really appreciate the opportunity to expand on it. And look, we think those are all very important 2025 initiatives. It's the first new product launch that the company has done in a long time with a new team of people. We wanted to keep a lid on it, so to speak, for the 1st 30, 60 days. Speaker 100:41:59Right now, it's going very smoothly. We haven't had any significant product problems. And so if we run another 30 days the way the first 30 days have gone, the return rates stay where they are, then I think you'll see us looking to more aggressively expand into a variety of other direct to consumer distribution channels, both brick and mortar as well as Internet sales. Speaker 600:42:34Okay. Thank you, Dan. Speaker 100:42:36Thank you, Walter. Appreciate your interest. Operator00:42:41Our next question is from Nicholas Sherwood with Maxim Group. Speaker 400:42:49My first question is, do you have any update on your agreement with Jyrns Healthcare? Speaker 100:42:58So the update and I think some of it was in our prepared remarks. Most of the work is now on our side to develop prescriber champions. The back office is in place and by back office, I mean the ability to have a prescription accepted at germs, adjudicated, they were fully loaded into their computer system. We have to we, our field sales team has to generate the demand and they're just getting started doing that and frankly having a lot fun doing it. We're getting excellent reception. Speaker 100:43:41You don't see it in the revenue yet, but I think we will before the end of the year. Speaker 400:43:48Awesome. Thank you for that color. And then switching gears to Truvega Plus, do you see any sort of I guess it's not necessarily like SaaS revenue, but do you see any sort of like recurring revenue coming from the app through in app purchases or subscriptions? Speaker 100:44:06Yes, that's in our product development pipeline for 20252026. It's absolutely the vision to do to take full advantage of the mobile app connectivity, not just for our products, but to interact with other health and wellness apps, with Apple Health. And then the data can also become a value proposition. So but not this year. Speaker 400:44:37Absolutely. And then one more, more of a high level question. You had partnered with the NFL this last season. Have you received any further interest from them or any other sports leagues or athletes that you can speak about at this time? Speaker 100:44:53So a lot of interest, nothing that I can speak about publicly. And specifically, the NFL research program, they won't even tell us which teams are using it, which is very frustrating as a football fan. Speaker 400:45:11Yes, maybe DraftKings doesn't want you to find out either, but looking at and finally just I think I may have missed these earlier, but what was the BDA DoD prescribing facility count and also the cash pay prescriber account? Speaker 100:45:31Yes, those handy, Brian. We're looking for our own numbers. 151 VA Facilities, up from 124. Prescription prescribers 2023, up from 1218. Speaker 400:46:08Awesome. Thank you so much and thank you for answering all my questions. I'll return to the queue. Speaker 300:46:12Of course. Speaker 100:46:13Thanks for your interest. Operator00:46:17We have reached the end of the question and answer session. I'd now like to turn the call back over to Dan Goldberg for closing comments. Speaker 100:46:24Thank you, operator. We appreciate everybody joining today's call. Our employees continue working tirelessly to deliver products and therapies that improve the health and wellness of patients and customers alike. The team has done a great job of staying nimble, scaling the business, responding to the needs of our customers, launching a new product, and all of that has resulted in the accelerating growth that we just reported. I also want to say thanks to the healthcare professionals and their patients for their loyal support of gammaCore therapy and to the growing number of consumers who have adopted Truvega products as a tool to improve their general wellness. Speaker 100:47:06You all have a great day.Read morePowered by