EDAP TMS S.A. (NASDAQ:EDAP) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Ryan Rhodes: Yes. No. I mean we’ve been on a track record of looking at our individual ASP on our disposables and that ASP has been trending upwards, and that’s just because we’ve raised our prices in accordance to market dynamics. But again, we would see that trend to continue. Utilization continues to grow. And I think we are seeing some of the impact of the reimbursement increase that went in effect January 1. I can’t give you an exact number. But directionally, we’re heading in the right direction. And again, utilization continues to grow accordingly.

Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Swayampakula Ramakanth from H.C. Wainright. Please go ahead.

Swayampakula Ramakanth: Congratulations, Marc. I’ve been watching you and EDAP for about eight years, and you brought this company to really place that I’m sure you are very proud of. And congratulations to Ryan for building up the U.S. operation for the last two years and getting into a place where you can kind of see tremendous growth from here, at least from my seat. Having said that, Ryan, in terms of what you have been seeing at the ground level in the U.S., and I’m sure there are some learnings from running the operation here, as you move into the worldwide role, how do you see trying to replicate some of the ideas here in other geographies as such that you can grow ex-U.S. sales as much has been doing in the U.S.

Ryan Rhodes: Yes. So when we look at the outside U.S., again, again, you got to look by region and by market. And each strategy may have some similarities across regions. But some markets, we may not be distributing products yet or selling those products, specifically Focal One Robotic HIFU, but we’re working through a process in a channel to get those approvals. Equally, though, markets are built and driven. And my background at Intuitive, I spent a good part of my career building markets. And a lot goes into that recipe, activities, of course, being one, but more clinical data, working with the new centers, further developing techniques as you use the technology. I mean there’s a lot of different things that are important here.

We are looking at those things very closely, and I think we’re seeing some of the benefits in the U.S. I think some of it does cross-pollinate again into outside U.S. markets. And I think today, as we lead more adoption in the U.S., it will have an influence about markets. It’s a validation point. And just like surgery or robotic surgery emerged as a standard of care for a treatment category of men diagnosed with prostate cancer, I believe focal therapy has a defined role for an appropriate mix of men diagnosed with prostate cancer. So, we’re applying kind of the general strategies that we use in the U.S., and we’ll apply more of those strategies now in my expanded role. And I’m really excited to work with these different regions and subsidiaries because I’ve done a lot of this in my prior career, and I look forward to it.

And I think, again, we have great things to do as we build and drive these markets.

Swayampakula Ramakanth: Yes. The last question for me because most of my questions have been asked earlier, just looking at the HIFU division, when we look at the SG&A spend during ’22, which was, I believe, about 65% higher than the previous year. Do you feel the sales force is in the right place at this point for growth from here onwards in ’23 and beyond in the U.S.