Hopefully you had time this past week to listen to the All Hands Meeting and the terrific presentations by Greg Anglum, Steven Moore and Sean Hagarty.  Their review highlighted some key deliverables for the business in Q4 and how it will take All Hands on deck as we continue to execute at a higher level heading into the final quarter of the year.  Here are some key points in “cliff notes” version.

  • Exogen – Sean highlighted the commencement of the Exogen process changes that will take place early in Q4.  These are critical for many reasons but the end goal is to make Exogen available to more patients that need our bone healing device.  This starts with more sales time and our sales reps interfacing directly with physicians and their ancillary staffs to discuss and sell the amazing benefits of Exogen for their patients.  This must occur on a daily basis for the product to be successful.  The new order management team will process the order, ensure we have the appropriate paperwork and that it meets guidelines.  The order management team will work closely with the Exogen reimbursement team in Memphis to ensure this happens.  We expect to see more orders and a higher conversion rate as we start these changes in Q4.  Remember we will “reverse the curse” on Exogen and it starts now!
  • Motys – Steven highlighted the launch in Q4 of the amniotic tissue product Motys under the tissue regulations as a cash pay product.  This will coincide with the IND that will be submitted this coming week that will commence the BLA development pathway that we expect will lead to a successful biologic approval in the next five years.  It is important to understand this first initiative is a development exercise more than a sales launch that will allow us to obtain clinical data that will support our regulatory and clinical development efforts.  This will be an important team effort between our sales and marketing team, clinical and regulatory team and our partner MTF who is providing the amniotic tissue that comes from human placenta.  This product will represent a terrific line extension to our HA business and our Sports Medicine Vertical and another way Bioventus stands out in our industry!
  • Finance – Greg highlighted our numbers and the importance of the climb of the business from where we were in Q1 (4% growth over prior year), where we went in Q2 (-30% below prior year) and where we expect Q3 to end up (mid-single digit growth over prior year or very similar to Q1).  Q4 will be about growth over Q3. Whatever we did in Q3 from a numbers perspective we want to achieve about 20% more, so 20% growth from Q3 to Q4.  Can we do this?  Yes I believe we can just like we went from -30% to approximately +4% from Q2 to Q3.  It will take great communication working across the business and all of us working at our highest efficiency as we move back into more significant growth mode.  Key levers for Q4 growth include; improved Exogen in the door orders and conversion rate, continued growth of our HA business and leveraging our Market Access approach such as the United Healthcare contract, the continuation of the amazing momentum behind our surgical bone graft substitutes business and lastly the significant execution from our International group improving upon their Q3 numbers by….20%!

Ultimately, our success will be determined by employee engagement that was also discussed at the All Hands Meeting.  Outstanding companies that deliver outstanding results have a common element and that is terrific employee engagement.  I hope you love what you do at Bioventus because we need you!  Turn it up a notch and drive to the finish!

Have a great week and fantastic start to Q4!

Best Regards,

Ken