ClearPoint Neuro, Inc. (NASDAQ:CLPT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Again, as we’ve shared in the past, some of the — there’s good and bad parts of that. The good part is that it’s very rare that a case is canceled outright. It’s normally postponed, whether if patient is sick or a surgeon is sick or there’s a temporary insurance denial that gets sorted out with a new letter from the doctor or something like that. So the good news is that these patients still have a chance to get treated. The challenging part for our current model is that just because it’s postponed, it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s more MRI access time in the future. So if you still only have that one slot, it takes a little time to recoup and get that patient scheduled. So as we’ve discussed in the past, a big part of our strategy is evolving out of the MRI and into the operating room which will allow us to recoup some of these postponements faster because we will have two different arenas in which we can treat that patient.

Frank Takkinen: Got it. Okay. That’s helpful. I will stop there. Thanks for taking the questions and congrats on all the progress.

Joe Burnett: Thanks, Frank.

Operator: Our next question comes from Neil Chatterji with B. Riley Securities. Please proceed with your question.

Neil Chatterji: Hey, guys. Good afternoon and thanks for taking the questions.

Joe Burnett: Thanks, Neil.

Neil Chatterji: Maybe on that topic on the cancellations and postponements. Just if I missed it there, on what you said, but in terms of just the level or the rates, I think it was recently as high as like say, 30% versus that 8% to 12% historically. So where is that kind of sitting currently?

Joe Burnett: Yes. So the data that we have is we are currently in that 25% to 28% range. I would say if you look back the last rolling 6 months, give or take, and you compare that to a historical number that we had prior to COVID, the COVID initiation, let’s call it, that number was in the 10% to 15% range. So effectively, since COVID has come about, for whatever the reason of the cancellations, the impact has totally been pretty much double the cancellation and postponement rate. And we’re still seeing some of that persist here in 2023 as well. But that’s that was kind of expected and part of our plan. If you think about the guidance that we provided of $25 million to $27million, that includes the expectation that this cancellation rate of above 20% is going to persist as well.

Neil Chatterji: Got it. That’s helpful color. Great. And then in terms of the — just on the BDD side, in terms of just conversations with potential new partners, just curious how the success to date you’ve had with the PTC’s partnership. Has that helped kind of create the wheels in some of those conversations?

Joe Burnett: I think it definitely has. Again, one of the big advantages that we can provide to a pharma partner is the experience with our products being both the navigation and doing these procedures under live MRI guidance, which we certainly believe is the most precise and accurate way to do it. But also the experience that the FDA has with our array of different cannula and drug delivery tools. And if you — again, if you’re a pharma partner and if you have a chance to get in front of the FDA to present your protocol, I can tell you, in our experience, things go a lot smoother when you’re using the SmartFlow cannula because the FDA reviewer can say, Oh, yes, I’ve approved ClearPoint SmartFlow before I understand this device, it’s not simple, but check let’s move on to the next question as opposed to that same pharma company having to say, well, wait a second.