Item 1. Business
Item 1. Business
Business Description
Precipio, Inc., and its subsidiaries, (collectively, “we”, “us”, “our”, the “Company” or “Precipio”) is a healthcare biotechnology company focused on cancer diagnostics. Our mission is to address the pervasive problem of cancer misdiagnoses by developing solutions in the form of diagnostic products and services.
Our products and services aim to deliver higher accuracy, improved laboratory workflow, and ultimately better patient outcomes, which reduce healthcare expenses. We develop innovative technologies in our laboratory where we design, test, validate, and use these products clinically. We believe these technologies improve diagnostic outcomes across various diseases within the hematologic field. We then commercialize these technologies as proprietary products that serve the global laboratory community in furtherance of our mission to eliminate or greatly reduce the prevalence of misdiagnosis. To deliver our strategy, we have structured our organization to develop diagnostic products, including our laboratory and research and development (“R&D”) facilities located in New Haven, Connecticut and Omaha, Nebraska, respectively, which house teams that collaborate on the development of new products and services. We operate CLIA laboratories in both New Haven, Connecticut and Omaha, Nebraska where we provide essential blood cancer diagnostics to office-based oncologists in many states nationwide. To deliver on our strategy of mitigating misdiagnoses we rely heavily on our CLIA laboratory to support R&D beta-testing of the products we develop, in a clinical environment.
The development of laboratory products involves a qualified facility; highly skilled laboratory staff; and access to viable patient specimens to conduct development and testing. Our CLIA laboratory in New Haven, which is operated by our pathology services division, encapsulates these components, and also generates revenue for us which covers costs associated with operating this laboratory. This structure of utilizing our clinical lab to obtain samples and utilize the equipment and staffing to develop, test and validate our products, significantly reduces the development costs and timeline for our products. This also enables us to accelerate the time to market of new product development and launch.
Furthermore, as a clinical laboratory, we are always the first user of every product we develop, which allows us to optimize important laboratory functions such as workflow, inventory management, regulatory and billing issues. As a vendor, this places us as a reputable user of our own products, and we believe gains us significant credibility with existing and prospective customers. Furthermore, because we use our products as part of our day-to-day operations, we are able to deliver a high level of hands-on, experienced support to customers, improving their experience with our products.
Our Products Division commercial team generates direct sales and works with our key distributors. Global healthcare distributors, such as ThermoFisher, McKesson, and Cardinal Health, have partnered with us to form the backbone of our go-to-market strategy and enable us to access laboratories around the country that can benefit from using our diagnostic products.
Our operating structure promotes the harnessing of our proprietary technology and genetic diagnostic expertise to bring to market our robust pipeline of innovative solutions designed to address the root causes of misdiagnoses.
Industry
We believe there is a significant problem of misdiagnosis across numerous disease states (particularly in blood-related cancers) due to an inefficient and commoditized industry. We believe that the diagnostic industry focuses primarily on competitive pricing and test turnaround times, at the expense of quality and accuracy. Increasingly complex disease states are met with eroding specialization rather than increased subspecialized expertise. According to a study conducted by the National Coalition of Health, this results in blood cancer misdiagnosis rates as high as 28%, failing to meet the needs of physicians, patients and the healthcare system as a whole. New technologies offer improved accuracy; however, many are either inaccessible or are not economically practical for clinical use. Despite much publicity of the industry transitioning from fee-per-service to value-based payments, this transition has not yet occurred in diagnostics. When a patient is misdiagnosed, physicians often end up administering incorrect treatments, creating adverse effects rather than improving outcomes. We believe that insurance providers, Medicare and Medicaid waste valuable dollars on the
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application of incorrect treatments and can incur substantial downstream costs. According to a report by Pinnacle Health, the estimated cost of misdiagnosis within the healthcare system is $750 billion annually. Most importantly, however, patients pay the ultimate price of misdiagnosis with increased morbidity and mortality. Developing diagnostic products that increase accuracy, while also providing improved workflow and economic outcomes to laboratories is key to addressing this problem and delivering better diagnostic care.
Market
Our market is the United States domestic oncology market where we participate as a commercial diagnostic laboratory and market our products. The oncology total available market, is currently estimated to exceed $20 billion, with an estimated compound annual growth rate exceeding 5%. We also provide new technologies to the oncology diagnostic laboratory market in the form of HemeScreen and IV-Cell product offerings. The diagnostics product market is estimated to have annual revenues exceeding $14 billion by 2025. The annual growth rate of each market segment is estimated at 5%. Successful deployment within the United States will be closely followed by international marketing where the same product opportunities exist for our products.
From our New Haven, Connecticut commercial lab, we currently provide diagnostic blood cancer testing services to oncology practices in over 20 states. Building on our commercial laboratory expertise, we have developed several impactful diagnostic technologies that are more cost effective than current industry alternatives, which reduces the diagnostic testing time and improves efficiencies to perform such tests. We anticipate gaining a share of the oncology diagnostic product market as commercial diagnostic laboratories and oncology practices adopt these new cost effective technologies.
Our Technologies
Our strategy is to develop, manufacture and sell multiple technologies that we expect to be adopted by laboratories. Since we operate a clinical laboratory, we have access to patient samples that can, in parallel to the clinical work we conduct, be utilized to develop these new technologies. Since its inception, our R&D team has developed two products that are offered in the market, and we continue to develop a robust pipeline of products we expect to launch in the future. The following is a description of the two products currently on the market:
1. HemeScreen TM
The ongoing introduction of new, genetic-based targeted therapies have made molecular testing a mainstream and essential component of the diagnostic process. WHO (World Health Organization) and NCCN (The National Comprehensive Cancer Network®) guidelines have delineated the testing requirements of several specific genetic markers that are required during the diagnostic workup based on the patient's disease state.
The current products on the market offer two solutions for genetic testing. One of those solutions is single-gene testing products via various testing modalities; the other solution is broad, NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) panels that typically range from 50 to >500 genes in one panel. There are benefits and drawbacks to both current product options. While the single-gene products are focused, a lab requires multiple different products to address the clinical testing needs; using multiple products requires the purchase of multiple products and multiple testing machines, requiring the lab to spend substantial capital expenditures; a complex lab workflow; the splitting of a sample; all resulting in poor economics. Poor economics of an assay require the laboratory to batch samples, resulting in lengthy turnaround time to provide results to patients, and impacting patient care. Conversely, NGS, although providing broad gene coverage, is cumbersome and expensive to operate, thus resulting in lengthy test turnaround time; and is costly to the payors who are reluctant to pay for the testing of 50 genes, when only 5 are defined as medically necessary.
A small panel targeted approach that operates on a single, low-cost, and easy-to-operate platform should be considered an attractive solution that provides the clinician with the answers they need while maintaining a simple, cost-effective workflow and economic model within the laboratory. HemeScreen utilizes an inexpensive RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction). HemeScreen is a set of disease-specific reagents that provide a simple workflow, is easy to use, and create attractive economics to the lab, resulting in their ability to reduce batches and provide faster test
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turnaround time. Our customers that utilize HemeScreen have demonstrated a reduction in test turnaround time of 2 weeks to 2 days, and have also improved their financial outcome through this cost-effective technology.
The first panel developed using HemeScreen technology was our Myeloproliferative Neoplasms panel. We have since added Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Cytopenia, and BCR-ABL panels, evolving HemeScreen into a “suite” of robust genetic diagnostic panels, and we released a number of panels during 2023 and expect the release of additional diagnostic panels in the coming years.
We own an international patent application on our proprietary panels. Our technology enables testing to be completed in one rapid scanning process. The HemeScreen panels test for the presence of various mutations. In developing HemeScreen, we focused on improving the economics of providing blood cancer diagnostic tests and reducing laboratory technician time consumed in the testing process. By using our HemeScreen media, laboratories can:
1. Avoid the cost of multiple platforms and test all the genes on one single platform;
2. Reduce the threshold of expertise required to perform these tests;
3. Reduce the batch requirements for the test and to subsequently significantly reduce the turnaround time for patient results;
4. Provide improved clinical service to physicians; and
5. Yield significant revenue to the laboratory .
2. IV-Cell TM
The cytogenetics laboratory workflow of bone marrow and peripheral blood samples suffers from an inherent flaw. The flaw stems from the requirement of the oncologist to provide their clinical suspicion, which determines the pathway of diagnosis, and guides the laboratory in the testing to be conducted, intended to confirm/rule out the oncologist’s clinical suspicion.
When a laboratory receives a sample, the cytogenetics laboratory must immediately set up the sample for cell culturing. Faced with four different options of cell lineages for culturing – myeloid, B-cell, T-cell, and Plasma – current products limit the laboratory to select only one cell lineage to culture. This selection is typically based solely on the clinical suspicion provided; hence, if the clinical suspicion is incorrect, the laboratory will have cultured the wrong cell lineage, potentially arriving at a false negative result. Our data shows this occurs in approximately 40% of patient cases, creating a substantial driver of misdiagnoses.
IV-Cell is a proprietary cell culture media that addresses the problem of diagnostic mistakes through the process of selective culturing. IV-Cell is a universal media that enables simultaneous culturing of all four hematopoietic cell lineages. Developed by Precipio, the culturing technology ensures that the laboratory is able to obtain sufficient information through other test modalities, thereby not relying solely on clinical suspicion, in order to ultimately select the correct cell lineage for culturing and evaluation.
IV-Cell was validated in our laboratory in parallel with existing commercially available reagents and has successfully demonstrated superior results compared to MarrowMax. Subsequently, IV-Cell has been used at our laboratory for the past few years on more than 1,000 clinical specimens, producing more precise diagnostic results.
The IV-Cell technology and media can be purchased via a direct supply contract, whereby we are contracted with a manufacturer (under license and non-disclosure) to produce the media.
Competition
Our principal competition in clinical pathology services comes largely from two groups. The first group consists of companies that specialize in oncology and offer directly competing services to our diagnostic services. These companies provide a high level of service focused on oncology and offer their services to oncologists and pathology departments within hospitals. Competitors in this group include NeoGenomics Laboratories, Inc., also known as NeoGenomics or Neo,
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GenPath Diagnostics and Inform Diagnostics. The second group consists of large commercial companies that offer a wide variety of laboratory tests ranging from simple chemistry tests to complex genetic testing. Competitors in this group include LabCorp (NYSE: LH) and Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX). Within the liquid biopsy market, our competitors include Foundation Medicine and Guardant Health.
For the Products division, our competitors include various reagent manufacturers who produce various products that compete with our products.
Many of the companies against which we may compete have significantly greater financial resources and expertise than we do in research and development, manufacturing, preclinical testing, conducting clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals and marketing approved products. These competitors also compete with us in recruiting and retaining qualified scientific and management personnel as well as in acquiring technologies complementary to, or necessary for, our programs. Our competitors also may obtain FDA or other regulatory approval for their products more rapidly than we may obtain approval for ours, which could result in our competitors establishing a strong market position before we are able to enter the market.
Single gene vs. NGS (Next Generation Sequencing) concept
Molecular tests have become part of standard of care for the diagnostic of cancer biopsies. Genes are interrogated in search of mutations that can help explain the cause of cancer; indicate the severity of the cancer (prognosis); and provide guidance as to which targeted therapies may be applicable and therefore more effective for a specific patient.
The NCCN and WHO outline various genes that are required in the workup of various disease entities (typically 5-10 tests per disease entity), and as a result of that, companies have developed testing reagents for those specific genes. For example, for the evaluation of MPN (one of Precipio’s HemeScreen panels), the gene JAK2 is required to be tested. There are numerous competitors such as Qiagen, BioRad, Ipsogen, Cepheid, Asuragen, Abbott, Entrogen and others that have developed a testing assay for the mutation analysis of the JAK2 gene. These are called single-gene testing assays. If a lab wishes to test the required genes, they will typically need to purchase multiple machines (a substantial capital investment that can exceed $1 million), purchase multiple single-gene assays from different manufacturers, and set up multiple work flows, etc. This creates a complex and inefficient workflow.
On the other end of the spectrum are companies that have developed NGS panels for molecular analysis. NGS is a robust, broad ranging technology that enables a lab to test for tens, hundreds, and even thousands of genes in one test. Companies such as Life Technologies, Illumina, Roche, Natera, PerkinElmer, BioRad, Qiagen and many others have developed machines and assays that can test hundreds of genes simultaneously. While this technology is extremely robust, there are a few challenges to NGS.
1. Operability – this is a complex technology that requires a high level of lab competency and an advanced level of staff sophistication and training.
2. Cost – running NGS testing is expensive; the machines can cost millions of dollars; reagents are expensive, and the staff to run these tests are highly paid.
3. Reimbursement – Conversely, given that the clinical requirements for genetic testing typically range from 5-10 genes, and these panels can run 50 – 500 genes, payers are reluctant to pay the high cost of these panels given that the vast majority of the information provided may not have clinical relevance.
Precipio’s HemeScreen panels were designed to meet the clinical requirements outlined in the guidelines, while creating a low cost, easy to operate testing technology that results in a simplified workflow. Our panels:
Typically range from 4-7 genes (matching the clinical requirements);
Are all run on one, inexpensive machine (a RT-PCR, which costs between $30-75k);
Require very basic laboratory training and can be run by any lab tech with limited training; and,
Have attractive economics that provide attractive margins to laboratories who decide to use the RUO assays as an LDT.
IV-Cell competition
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As described in the section above, the cytogenetics workup requires the selection and evaluation of a cell lineage within 4 potential cell lineages. All other competitors have a set of products that include a “base media” that is used for culturing, plus a set of various mitogens that are mixed into the base media in order to stimulate the specific cell lineage in question. Competitors include Gibco, Irvine Scientific, Capricorn Scientific, Sigma-Aldrich, Euroclone and others.
Precipio’s IV-Cell is the only known media that has an all-in-one product that includes a base media plus all necessary mitogens, enabling the simultaneous culturing of all 4 cell lineages.
Competitive Advantage
Our competitive advantage is derived from our ability to identify real-world clinical challenges in the laboratory; develop technology-based solutions to those challenges; test them within our lab on real clinical samples; and then commercialize the technology and bring it to market. Our model gives us a unique capability to ensure that the product is relevant, reliable, and workable within the laboratory workflow. Furthermore, given the hands-on experience we have as first-users of our own products, we have unparalleled experience and expertise required to support our customers and help them maximize the value of our technologies that they use.
As cancer diagnostic testing continues to evolve, laboratory testing has become extremely complex, requiring even greater diagnostic precision, attention to process and a more appropriate evaluation. Our organizational structure enables Management and R&D resources to efficiently focus on laboratory economics (time and material); the delivery of complex results (technical processing); and proprietary analysis (gather data, considerations, determination and information presentation) for the physician - all ultimately leading to minimizing misdiagnoses and better patient care. Embedding R&D personnel into a collaborative workflow within our clinical laboratory operations results in a very cost effective development environment enabling identification of issues, the isolation of causes and the creation of proprietary product solutions to mitigate misdiagnoses.
Government Regulation
The healthcare industry is subject to extensive regulation by a number of governmental entities at the federal, state and local level. Laws and regulations in the healthcare industry are extremely complex and, in many instances, the industry does not have the benefit of significant regulatory or judicial interpretation. For example, the U.S. federal transparency requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, (“PPACA”), including the provision commonly referred to as the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, and its implementing regulations, which requires applicable manufacturers of drugs, devices, biologics and medical supplies for which payment is available under Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program to report annually to CMS, information related to payments or other transfers of value made to physicians (defined to include doctors, dentists, optometrists, podiatrists and chiropractors), certain other licensed health care practitioners, and teaching hospitals, as well as ownership and investment interests held by the physicians described above and their immediate family members.
Our business is impacted not only by those laws and regulations that are directly applicable to us but also by certain laws and regulations that are applicable to our payers, vendors and referral sources. While our management believes we are in compliance with all of the existing laws and regulations applicable to us, such laws and regulations are subject to rapid change and often are uncertain in their application and enforcement. Further, to the extent we engage in new business initiatives, we must continue to evaluate whether new laws and regulations are applicable to us. There can be no assurance that we will not be subject to scrutiny or challenge under one or more of these laws or that any enforcement actions would not be successful. Any such challenge, whether or not successful, could have a material adverse effect upon our business and consolidated financial statements.
Our current active laboratory certifications can be found on http://www.precipiodx.com/accreditations.html. The laboratory operations are governed by Standard Operating Procedure manuals, (“SOPs”), which detail each aspect of the laboratory environment including the work flow, quality control, maintenance, and safety. These SOPs are reviewed and approved annually and signed off by the laboratory manager and medical director.
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Among the various federal and state laws and regulations that may govern or impact our current and planned operations are the following:
Reimbursement
This section is relevant to our clinical pathology services; our products are sold and invoiced directly (or via distributors) to customers who pay for the products, so there are no reimbursement issues. For our laboratory services, as blood-related cancers are more likely to be developed later in life, the largest insurance provider is Medicare, which constituted approximately 32% of our patients’ cases during the year ended December 31, 2023. Non-Medicare patients are typically insured by private insurance companies who provide patient coverage and pay for patients’ health-related costs. These private insurance companies will often adjust their rates according to the insurance rates annually published by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, (“CMS”). We, and other providers, typically bill according to the codes relevant to the tests we conduct.
Medicare and Medicaid Reimbursement
Many of the services that we provide are reimbursed by Medicare and state Medicaid programs and are therefore subject to extensive government regulation.
Medicare is a federally funded program that provides health insurance coverage for qualified persons age 65 or older, some disabled persons, and persons with end-stage renal disease and persons with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Medicaid programs are jointly funded by the federal and state governments and are administered by states under approved plans.
Medicaid provides medical benefits to eligible people with limited income and resources and people with disabilities, among others. Although the federal government establishes general guidelines for the Medicaid program, each state sets its own guidelines regarding eligibility and covered services. Some individuals, known as “dual eligibles”, may be eligible for benefits under both Medicare and a state Medicaid program. Reimbursement under the Medicare and Medicaid programs is contingent on the satisfaction of numerous rules and regulations, including those requiring certification and/or licensure. Congress often enacts legislation that affects the reimbursement rates under government healthcare programs.
Approximately 33% of our revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023 was derived directly from Medicare, Medicaid or other government-sponsored healthcare programs. Also, we indirectly provide services to beneficiaries of Medicare, Medicaid and other government-sponsored healthcare programs through managed care entities. Should there be material changes to federal or state reimbursement methodologies, regulations or policies, our direct reimbursements from government-sponsored healthcare programs, as well as service fees that relate indirectly to such reimbursements, could be adversely affected.
Healthcare Reform
In recent years, federal and state governments have considered and enacted policy changes designed to reform the healthcare industry. The most prominent of these healthcare reform efforts, the PPACA, has resulted in sweeping changes to the U.S. system for the delivery and financing of health care. As currently structured, the PPACA increases the number of persons covered under government programs and private insurance; furnishes economic incentives for measurable improvements in health care quality outcomes; promotes a more integrated health care delivery system and the creation of new health care delivery. It is unclear how other healthcare reform measures of the Biden administration or other efforts, if any, to challenge, repeal or replace the PPACA will impact our business.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Regulation
We offer our products as research use only (“RUO”) products. An RUO product is one that is not intended for clinical diagnostic use and must be labeled “For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.” Products that are intended for research use only and are properly labeled as RUO are exempt from compliance with the requirements of
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the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) applicable to medical devices. A product labeled RUO but intended to be used diagnostically may be viewed by the FDA as adulterated or misbranded and is subject to FDA enforcement activities. The FDA may consider the totality of the circumstances surrounding distribution and use of an RUO product, including how the product is marketed, when determining its intended use. In November 2013, the FDA issued a guidance document entitled “Distribution of In Vitro Diagnostic Products Labeled for Research Use Only or Investigational Use Only” (RUO Guidance), which highlights the FDA’s interpretation that distribution of RUO products with any labeling, advertising or promotion that suggests that clinical laboratories can validate the test through their own procedures and subsequently offer it for clinical diagnostic use as a laboratory developed test is in conflict with RUO status. The RUO Guidance further articulates the FDA’s position that any assistance offered in performing clinical validation or verification, or similar specialized technical support, to clinical laboratories, conflicts with RUO status.
Additionally, our CLIA laboratories offer testing utilizing our laboratory developed tests (“LDTs”). LDTs are defined by the FDA to be tests that are designed, developed, and used within a single laboratory. The FDA takes the position that it has authority to regulate LDTs as medical devices, and historically, it has exercised enforcement discretion with respect to most LDTs and has not required laboratories that offer LDTs to comply with the FDA’s requirements for medical devices. However, the FDA has stated it intends to end its policy of enforcement discretion and to actively regulate LDTs. For example, on October 3, 2014, the FDA issued two draft guidance documents, entitled “Framework for Regulatory Oversight of Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs)” and “FDA Notification and Medical Device Reporting for Regulatory Oversight of Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs)”, that set forth a proposed risk-based regulatory framework that would apply varying levels of FDA oversight to LDTs. The draft guidance documents have not been finalized. In January 2017, the FDA issued a “Discussion Paper on Laboratory Developed Tests (LDTs),” which includes a possible approach to LDT oversight that is intended to advance public discussion on the topic. Additionally, legislative proposals continue to be discussed. Such proposals would implement differing approaches to the regulation of LDTs, including in certain instances to require marketing authorization from the FDA.
On October 3, 2023, the FDA published a proposed rule on LDTs, in which the FDA proposes to end enforcement discretion for virtually all LDTs in five stages over a four-year period from the date the FDA publishes a final rule. In Phase 1 (effective one year post-finalization), laboratories would be required to comply with medical device (adverse event) reporting and correction/removal reporting requirements. In Phase 2 (effective two years post-finalization), laboratories would be required to comply with all other device requirements (e.g., registration/listing, labeling, investigational use), except for quality systems and premarket review. In Phase 3 (effective three years post-finalization), laboratories would be required to comply with quality systems requirements. In Phase 4 (effective three and a half years post-finalization, but not before October 1, 2027), laboratories would be required to comply with premarket review requirements for high-risk tests (i.e., tests subject to the PMA requirement). Finally, in Phase 5 (effective four years post-finalization, but not before April 1, 2028), laboratories would be required to comply with premarket review requirements for moderate- and low-risk tests (i.e., tests subject to de novo or the 510(k) requirement). Unlike previous proposals, the proposed rule does not provisions that would allow for “grandfathering” of existing tests. The content and timing of any final rule on LDTs is uncertain at this time.
Medical devices are subject to extensive regulation by the FDA. The FDA regulates, among other things, the research, design, development, preclinical and clinical testing, manufacturing, safety, effectiveness, packaging, labeling, storage, recordkeeping, marketing authorization, adverse event reporting, marketing, promotion, sales, distribution and import and export of medical devices. The FDA has broad regulatory compliance and enforcement powers. If the FDA determines that a manufacturer has failed to comply with applicable regulatory requirements, it can take a variety of compliance or enforcement actions, including the following:
● issuance of warning letters, untitled letters, fines, injunctions, consent decrees and civil penalties;
● requesting or requiring recalls, withdrawals, or administrative detention or seizure of products;
● imposing operating restrictions or partial suspension or total shutdown of production;
● refusing or delaying requests for marketing authorization or new products or modified products; or criminal prosecution.
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European Union Regulation
Our products are regulated as in-vitro diagnostic devices in the European Union (EU) and will therefore be subject to the requirements of the In-Vitro Diagnostic Devices Regulation (EU) 2017/746, (“IVDR”). The IVDR became fully applicable in all EU Member States on May 26, 2022 (therefore not including the UK). The IVDR introduced more stringent requirements than the previous EU In Vitro Diagnostics Directive 98/79/EC, (“IVDD”). For an in-vitro diagnostic device to be placed on the market in the EU, a CE mark demonstrating conformance with the applicable regulations is required. The CE mark confirms that the device meets the general safety and performance requirements under the IVDR (or, previously, the essential requirements under the IVDD). For the lowest risk class devices, the manufacturer can conduct a self-assessment of its device against the requirements and issue a declaration of conformity confirming that the device is compliant. For all other devices, a conformity assessment procedure must be undertaken by an independent notified body to assess the compliance of the device with the applicable requirements.
In accordance with the transitional provisions in the IVDR, devices placed on the EU market prior to May 26, 2022 in accordance with the IVDD (except for Class A, non-sterile devices which must conform with the IVDR requirements since May 26, 2022) may continue to be supplied until a certain date (ranging from May 2025 to May 2027) which will depend on the risk class of the device, provided that manufacturers comply with the IVDR requirements relating to post-market surveillance, market surveillance, vigilance and registration of economic operators and devices. After the applicable date, all devices must be certified under the IVDR in order to be marketed in the EU. In January 2024, the European Commission published a proposal for a further extension to the transitional periods until December 2027 to December 2029, depending on the risk class of the device and subject to certain requirements (e.g. for devices requiring notified body assessment, the manufacturer must submit an application to a notified body to transfer the device to the IVDR by a certain date (ranging from May 2025 to May 2027), depending on the risk class of the device). The proposal will now be put forward to the European Parliament and European Council for adoption.
Research and Development Expenses
For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, we recorded $1.7 million, respectively, of research and development expenses. More information regarding our research and development activities can be found in the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” under Item 7 of this Annual Report.
Human Capital
Employees.
As of March 1, 2024, Precipio employed fifty-one (51) employees on a full-time basis and six (6) employees as part-time. Of the total, thirteen (13) were in Finance, General and Administration, twenty-four (24) were in laboratory and production, ten (10) were in Sales and Marketing, three (3) were in Customer Service and Support and seven (7) were in Research & Development.
All of our employees are based in the U.S. and a majority are based in Connecticut. None of our employees are represented by a labor union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and we believe our relationship with our employees is good.
Career Development and Growth.
We emphasize employee development and training. We invest in our employees by providing development opportunities, and the necessary resources to support their success, including coaching, management and leadership training, presentation workshops and paid conference attendance. The diversity of our employees and their skillsets also offer a unique opportunity for us to learn from each other’s experiences.
Compensation and Benefits.
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Our human capital strategies, initiatives, and outcomes are reviewed on a regular basis with our Board’s Governance Committee as well as Compensation Committee to help align with our overall business strategies. Our competitive compensation programs are designed to align the compensation of our employees with our performance and to provide the proper incentives to attract, retain and motivate employees. The aim is to structure our compensation programs to balance incentive earnings for both short-term and long-term performance.
We are committed to providing comprehensive benefits and some examples of the benefits we offer are: medical insurance including prescription drug benefits, dental insurance, vision insurance, accident insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts and access to mental health support. We also enable our employees to take unlimited personal time off and have put in place enhanced parental leave abilities.
Employee Engagement.
We conduct confidential employee engagement surveys to obtain feedback on a variety of topics, including culture, values, diversity and inclusion, career development, employee satisfaction and tenure, and execution of our company strategy. These survey results are reviewed by our executive team so that we can continue to increase employee satisfaction and improve the well-being of our employees. We are also committed to communication and transparency, using multiple forums and channels to allow for the sharing of appropriate, timely information to all employees. We focus our employee communications on continual engagement, providing updates on our business, technology, and workforce, including learning opportunities. We believe our management team has the experience necessary to effectively execute our strategy and advance our product and technology leadership.
Diversity & Inclusion (“D&I”).
We strive to create a culture in which all employees feel heard, respected, and valued. We are committed to creating and maintaining a diverse, inclusive and safe work environment. As we grow and mature, we look forward to establishing programs that infuse D&I within the business, identify barriers that impact recruitment, development and retention of underrepresented employees, identify educational content, communicate the value and impact of D&I on goals and objectives, all while continuing to focus on hiring diverse talent at all levels of the Company. Our ability to innovate and meet people’s needs is strongest when all voices are heard and valued.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
We are committed to conducting business in accordance with the highest ethical standards and applicable laws. We maintain, and all of our employees are expected to adhere to our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, (the “Code of Conduct”), which serves as the foundation of our core values that drive our culture. All of our employees complete training and education on a range of important topics related to our Code of Conduct, and they must certify they understand and comply with the expectations contained in the Code of Conduct. We also maintain an anonymous hotline for employees to report concerns regarding violations of the Code of Conduct.
The full text of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is posted on the investor relations page of our website at https://www.precipiodx.com/investors/corporate-governance/.
We intend to satisfy any disclosure requirements under Item 5.05 of Form 8-K regarding an amendment to, or waiver from, a provision of this Code of Business Conduct and Ethics by posting such information on our website, at the Internet address and location specified above.
Executive Officers of the Registrant
Our executive officers, their ages as of March 15, 2024 and their respective positions are as follows:
Ilan Danieli, Chief Executive Officer, age 52
Mr. Danieli was the founder of Precipio Diagnostics LLC and was the Chief Executive Officer of Precipio Diagnostics LLC since 2011. Mr. Danieli assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of Precipio, Inc. at the time of a
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June 2017 merger transaction with Transgenomic, Inc. (the “Merger”). With over 20 years managing small and medium-size companies, some of his previous experiences include COO of Osiris, a publicly-traded company based in New York City with operations in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia; VP of Operations for Laurus Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund; and in various other entrepreneurial ventures. Ilan holds an MBA from the Darden School at the University of Virginia, and a BA in Economics from Bar-Ilan University in Israel.
Matthew Gage, Chief Financial Officer, age 57
Mr. Gage was appointed Interim Chief Financial Officer of Precipio, Inc. effective March 21, 2022 and promoted to Chief Financial Officer effective July 1, 2023 without any change to his compensation or any additional stock award. Mr. Gage previously served as Director of Financial Reporting and Analysis of Precipio, Inc. since joining the Company in June 2017 following its acquisition of Transgenomic Inc., where he was Director of Financial Reporting and Analysis since 2014. Mr. Gage has over 30 years of experience in company finance, 25 years of which being with publicly traded companies. Mr. Gage holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from Bryant University.
Environmental, Social, and Governance
As our business continues to grow and develop, we recognize the importance of making responsible business decisions for the benefit of all of our stakeholders, including our stockholders, customers, employees, partners, the communities in which we work and live, as well as the planet. To that end, we published our ESG Report in February 2023, which is available on our website, and expect to continue reporting on our progress to our various stakeholders.
Climate Change
We are committed to operating our business in an environmentally sustainable manner, meaning developing and producing products in a resource efficient way while limiting our environmental impact in the most material areas of greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, waste, and water.
For more information about how climate change impacts our business, see “Risk factors – Global climate change could negatively affect our business” in Item 1A of this Annual Report.
Compliance with Environmental Laws
We believe we are in compliance with current environmental protection requirements that apply to us or our business. Costs attributable to environmental compliance are not currently material.
Intellectual Property
The Company has filed an international patent applications for its proprietary HemeScreen technology.
Corporate History
Precipio, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on March 6, 1997. Our principal office is located at 4 Science Park, New Haven, Connecticut 06511.
Our internet address is www.precipiodx.com. Information found on our website is not incorporated by reference into this report and should not be considered as part of this report. We make available free of charge through our website our Securities and Exchange Commission, (“SEC”), filings, including exhibits, furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. You can review our electronically filed reports and other information that we file with the SEC on the SEC’s web site at http://www.sec.gov.
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