On February 23, 2021 Perimeter Medical Imaging AI (PINK.V) announced that its CEO Jeremy Sobotta, will participate in the following virtual investor conferences:

• Thursday, February 25, 2021m 11:00 a.m ET, TSX Life Science Investor Day
• Tuesday, March 9, 2021, 7 a.m. ET HC Wainwright Global Lifesciences Conference

PINK is developing imaging tools that allow surgeons, radiologists, and pathologists to visualize microscopic tissue structures during a clinical procedure.

This technology has immediate application in breast cancer surgery.

“Breast cancer in women has leap-frogged lung cancer, now accounting for the most cancer diagnoses worldwide – and the situation is likely to get worse in coming decades,” reports Diagnostic Imaging.

A February 4, 2021 American Cancer Society (ACS) report, confirmed that there were 19.3 million new cancer cases diagnosed in 2020, 2.3 million (11.7%) – of which were female breast cancer.

In 25% of Breast Lumpectomy surgeries, cancerous material is left behind.

With current technology, the surgeon needs to wait about a week, to see if he’s got all the cancerous material.

PINK has invented a machine – driven by A.I. – that can get that information in real time.

No need to cut the patient open again later. The surgeon can make adjustments on the fly.

That reduces patient-trauma and healthcare costs.

In the Equity Guru edited video below, Denny Chared, founder of DC Finance, speaks with members of PINK’s medical and technical team.

Denny is joined by Jeremy Sobotta, CEO of PINK, Dr. Frank Prendergast, former Director Emeritus of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Ted James, Chief of Breast Surgical Oncology at Harvard Medical School.

“Perimeter AI is a commercial stage a medical device company,” explained Sobotta, “We’re at a very exciting time of our life cycle where we’re transitioning from late clinical stage into commercial efforts for our already-FDA-cleared, imaging platform device. We have developed novel technologies addressing an unmet need in breast cancer surgery.”

“Think about what happens around the world, with less skilled surgeons, less skilled technologies available,” stated Prendergast, “even here in the States, or in Canada, with a lot of the surgery being done in community hospitals, by perfectly capable surgeons, but lacking the democratizing principle, that’s where I think perimeter really fits in.”

“The technology uses light as a tool to interrogate the tissues and differentiate the normal tissue from the diseased tissue,” added Prendergast, “And the resolution of that technology is very high. Moreover, since you can add techniques like artificial intelligence, you can teach the system how the distinction between normal and diseased tissue is reflected in the image.”

“From the health care policy and health care regulation payment is ideal for this type of device,” confirmed James, “There is now more and more of a financial incentive for healthcare organizations to be able to deliver high quality and that’s exactly what OTIS does”.

PINK is accelerating toward the commercialisation of the OTIS platform. It has already received a $7.4 million grant (non-dilutive capital) from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to fund the ATLAS AI Project.

The CEO, Mr. Sobotta has been a part of the deployment of over $4 billion in capital over his career in acquisitions. Prior roles included Head of Finance for the Stryker business unit responsible for surgical equipment and women’s health.

“If PINK puts their device in 1000 hospitals over the next five years, that’ll bring them $150 million in upfront sales,” reports Equity Guru’s Chris Parry on October 21, 2021, “That’s nice, but at Equity Guru we generally don’t get attracted to up-front revenue models, because the moment you sell one device, you’re back to square one in the hunt for the next. We want monthly contracts, maintenance, or consumables into the bargain.

The device above is the OTIS Tissue Immobilization System – a single use consumable used when checking tissue during surgery, that costs US$750 and a high gross margin for Perimeter.

Yeah, I know, high margins seems awkward to discuss when you’re dealing with cancer patients, but it also helps achieve a 100x clearer image than those achieved with an MRI, and a 10x clearer image than an ultrasound and xray, and if you’ve had any of those imaging procedures applied to a medical bill, you know Perimeter’s option is more than fair, considering.

That single-use consumable projects as US$100k of income for each installed machine, per year, or $100 million annually if they hit that 1000 hospital mark talked about earlier.” – End of Parry.

“AI is not just something we decided because it sounds sexy to put in with the tool,” explained Dr. Prendergast in the DC Finance interview, “It’s an essential component. An MRI machine costs a lot of money, you can’t do it in the operating room and it takes a lot of time to acquire the images. In the final analysis, I do not believe MRI is going to give you better resolution. So, this technique is perfect for the operating surgeon”.

Breast Cancer is now the No. 1 cancer identified in 159 of 185 countries included in the February, 2021 ACS the report.

Further details about company presentations and webcasts can be found on the “Investors” section of Perimeter’s website.

• Lukas Kane

Full Disclosure: Perimeter Medical Imaging AI is an Equity Guru marketing client.