ShockWave Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:SWAV) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

So, we think there is – it may not be a money maker for the hospital, but it’s not such a huge – it’s not like the payment is so close to the cost of our device where it’s going to cause, we believe a strong pushback from administration because it would – aside from the fact that it’s just going to take a long time to work its way through administration and back down to the doctor even if they have a problem. It’s not such a severe problem that we think it would cause them to change practice and certainly not – I can’t imagine any there doctors saying I am going to use Shockwave for inpatient. I am not going to use it for outpatient. I think it’s going to average out to be just status quo. And obviously, we think the status quo is going to be up next year.

Mike Matson: Yes. Okay. That makes sense. Alright. And then just as far as the sales force goes, I think you said in the prepared remarks, you re 110 territories with two clinical specialists per territory. So, I think that’s kind of maybe in line or to the lower end of the guidance you have given earlier in the year of where you wanted to get this year. So, what I am wondering is how do you feel about kind of where your coverage is geographically and is there room to add more reps or clinical specialists in 2024 and beyond? And is that something we should expect that you continue to expand the headcount there?

Isaac Zacharias: Yes, good question. Yes. So, the numbers I gave on the script, where we expect to be at the end of this year in terms of reps and clinical specialists per rep per territory. We will continue adding some next year, much fewer than we added this year. We are putting together those plans now. But there will be a little more management because as bigger teams, we need more management to keep the span at a place where the management can teach and train. And when you are launching two products a year, business planning and teaching and training is a huge part of what we need to do with the team. So, we will add modestly next year, but it won’t be as big of a lift as it is this year.

Mike Matson: Okay. Got it. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Imron Zafar with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your question.

Imron Zafar: Hey. Good afternoon everybody. Thanks for taking my questions. I had a couple of questions on the international coronary business and specifically around 2024 outlook. First, on Germany, it sounds like you guys are still probably mid-single digit penetrated of that coronary market. What’s the reasonable expectation exiting 2024? Is 20% a doable number in terms of TAM penetration there exiting next year?

Isaac Zacharias: Yes. I think we are low-single digits right now in Germany, and that we are, I think 1% coming into this year despite being on the market for 4 years. So, it’s – we are seeing exceptional growth now that the payment to the hospital supports the IVL procedure adequately. But I don’t think going from low-single digit to 20% as we can reach [ph] it in 2 years. We are just looking to have kind of a nice sustained expanded growth and so the German team, we have beefed up that team this year and they are doing an outstanding job.

Imron Zafar: Okay. Thank you. And then…

Doug Godshall: Maybe to put a point on that, though, I would say you are going to have U.S. Japan, Germany, all with adequate reimbursement to support the IVL procedure. So, that’s where we see the strongest growth coming in the coming years.

Imron Zafar: Okay. Thank you. And then on China coronary, you talked about the interruption crackdowns timing, new hospital penetration. And I think you also said back half ‘23 China revenues were going to be hit about $10 million versus your prior plan? Just to level set, can you just give us a sense of how big the China business is now on an annualized basis? And even without getting new hospital accounts in China, can you still grow that business double digits next year just from higher utilization within our established accounts?

Isaac Zacharias: Good question. I would rather not give kind of specific China revenue numbers. But taking – we got wind or talked to the JV partner literally two days after our last earnings call. So, it would have been nice to know a week before we had reset guidance. But we took about $10 million out of second half of this year from our prior guidance for China. Looking – and I think you are – we are not going to be able to until the interruption campaign moves through it’s phases. We are not going to be able to add new centers. That seems very unlikely right now, and that’s our – so we are planning not to be able to add new centers for the foreseeable future. But that sales in existing centers is staying pretty strong.

The dynamic we are going to wrestle with here in the fourth quarter and the first half of next year is getting the JV – the inventory at the JV to a level to support a steady state and somewhat growth business versus a steady-state growth business plus new hospital additions. And so not having – and we are still very early in the hospital acquisition phase. So, not having that trajectory of new hospital acquisitions and again, early innings on that, we need to burn down inventory at the JV, and that’s why we are essentially – we have the enough inventory to support the existing hospitals, and we don’t need the inventory like we thought we would to add new hospitals. And that’s the dynamic we see going into ‘24. And hopefully, again, not trying to be conservative and not guess at how long this takes.

Hopefully, it starts to free up towards the end of next year, hopefully sooner, but end of next year, kind of a 1-year campaign would not be unheard of.

Imron Zafar: Okay. Thank you. And then just sticking with the OUS coronary theme, Japan, you gave some metrics around customer additions year-to-date and then expected for 4Q. Can you translate that into kind of where you are in terms of penetration, whether it’s on a procedure basis or account basis in Japan? Thank you.