SpineGuard reported a 6 percent decrease in generated revenue for the first half of 2014 over the same period last year.
The drop is primarily due to the Euro/Dollar parity, with a short-term unfavorable context in the United States. Around 50 percent of the company's units were sold in the United States, which accounts for 71 percent of the company's revenue.
Here are five things to know about the company's financial report and plans for the future:
1. The Affordable Care Act implementation in the United States increases scrutiny on spending and tightens the conditions for adopting innovative medical technology. But, the ACA's goal is to improve the quality of care, prevent complications and avoid revision surgery, which aligns with PediGuard's purpose. As a result, there will be financial incentives gradually put into place to encourage hospitals in the United States to implement more efficient and reliable technologies.
"The disappointing revenue figure recorded over the first half of 2014 does not reflect yet the major progress accomplished by the company in recent months and in no way alters our ambitions," said PediGuard CEO Pierre Jerome in a news release. "We have continued to execute our roadmap through the strengthening of our marketing team, the initiation of new clinical trails and PediGuard's adoption by more than 20 U.S. spine surgery teaching institutions."
2. SpineGuard recruited a marketing director in the United States to capitalize on its clinical data and reference centers. The company also hopes this move will intensify the micro-economic messages aimed at surgeons and hospitals. Kris Kumar now fills the role of United States marketing director. He is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience with medical device companies.
3. The company will continue to focus on research and development with the goal of disrupting with the Smart Screw. SpineGuard is running ahead of time in its initial development plan.
"The Smart Screw's development is progressing much faster than anyone expected thanks to the support of our Scientific Advisory Board and the work of our R&D team," said CTO and U.S. General Manager Stephane Bette. "By achieving to miniaturize the sensor, we reached a decisive milestone in terms of our technology's capability with the numerous screw systems available in the spine fixation market."
4. Beyond the United States, the company experienced satisfactory progress. The Asia-Pacific and Middle East regions showed success, and Japan and Saudi Arabia are new prospects expected during the second half of the year. Growth also continued in France, German and Switzerland, but whole region growth was tampered by lower Russia sales related to the first stocking order invoiced in February 2013.
There were also roadblocks for the company in Latin America; a Brazilian distributor's reorganization in response to changing market conditions penalized Latin American revenue.
5. The company recently launched the Bevel-Cannulated PediGuard, a surgical guidance platform for pedicle screw placement. The company's dynamic surgical guidance platform is intended to make surgery safer and disrupt current medical technology, which Mr. Jerome hopes will become the standard of care in the future. "Following a delicate start to the year, June's growth was back up around 20 percent over June 2013 and, with the help of our partners, we are relentlessly pursuing our technological, clinical and commercial deployment."
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