Opsens Inc

TSX:OPS

Earnings Call Transcript 2021-Q3

[Operator]

Good day, and welcome to the Opsens Inc. Reports Third Quarter of Fiscal Year 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Robert Blum of Lytham Partners. Please go ahead.

[Robert A. Blum]

Okay. Thank you very much, and thank all of you for joining us today for the Opsens Third Quarter Fiscal 2021 Conference Call. With us on the call representing the company today, Louis Laflamme, Opsens' President and Chief Executive Officer; and Robin Villeneuve, Opsens' Chief Financial Officer. At the conclusion of today's prepared remarks, we will open the call for a question-and-answer session. Before we begin with prepared remarks, just a couple of comments. Today's call will contain forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these statements, except as required by law. Information about these risks and uncertainties are included in the company's filings as well as periodic filings with regulators in Canada and the United States, which can be found on SEDAR and the Opsens' website. Today's discussion will include adjusted financial measures, which are non-IFRS measures. These should be considered as a supplement to and not a substitute for IFRS financial measures. Finally, today's event is being recorded and will be available for replay through both the webcast and conference call dial-in information provided in the press release. With that said, let me turn the call over to Louis Laflamme, President, Chief Executive Officer of Opsens. Louis, please proceed.

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Thank you, Robert, and good morning to all of you. We are excited to speak with you today for our third quarter fiscal 2021 conference call. Let me also take a minute to greet the French-speaking audience. [Foreign Language]. Let's move into the highlights for the quarter. From a revenue standpoint, I am pleased with the results of the third quarter, which reflects a strong top line growth across the board with 39% year-over-year revenue growth and 5% growth sequentially compared to the second quarter. The $9.2 million of revenue was a new record for Opsens, a key accomplishment. The successful commercial adoption of our OptoWire solution for coronary artery disease continued to be the key driver of revenue growth. I will go into more detail in a moment, where the growth is coming from, touch on the strong operational improvements in our gross margin as our OptoWire III continues to roll out and discuss the investments we are making to drive sustainable growth going forward. On the development side, Opsens has been increasing its internal project pipeline. On a mid-term basis, these new projects will increase Opsens' offering to further improve its positioning with physicians and customers. For more short-term value drivers, we progressed toward our first-in-man start by responding to regulatory questions from Health Canada. As we mentioned before, Opsens is seeking authorization to perform the first in-man for the SavvyWire, the commercial name we are applying to our innovative pressure guidewire or the diagnosis and treatment of aortic valve stenosis or TAVR. The first in-man will be one of the last steps before we filed for regulatory 510(k) clearance with the U.S. FDA. I'll expand on this process and the requirements in Canada, U.S. and EU more in a bit, but the bottom line is that we remain committed to the time lines we have talked about the commercial TAVR product with the goal of initial approval in early 2022 in Canada and in U.S. and Europe a few months after. With a record revenue quarter and strong progress on both the commercial and development side, we are also in the best financial position we ever have been from a balance sheet perspective to continue the execution of our growth strategy. At the end of May, we had $38.8 million in cash on the balance sheet. So with that as a high-level overview, let's jump in to more specifics. Let's start with the OptoWire. Sales within our coronary artery disease business or what we refer to as FFR and dPR were $6.2 million during the quarter. This was a 41% increase from the year ago third quarter. We saw strong continued adoption in the U.S. where sales were up 152%. Similar to recent quarters, this is a direct result of our concentrated efforts to expand and enhance our market share in the U.S. by adding new customers while capitalizing on the recent signing of 2 significant GPO contracts. Working with hospital systems and GPOs has been a key initiative, and we are excited with the progress made to date. As a reminder, we signed our first U.S. GPO agreement in October 2020, which was a 3-year contract providing access to the OptoWire to all their members across the U.S. In April, we signed our second major GPO agreement with Vizient, one of the country's large GPOs to provide our OptoWire III to over 700 cath labs. This is more than 1/3 of the health care organization in the country, ranging from large integrated delivery networks and academic medical centers to community hospitals. Unit sales to GPOs have been growing 30% from Q3 2021 compared to Q2 2021. These contracts are a continued recognition that the OptoWire improves efficiency and save patients costs while aligning with our partners' mission to better treat their patients. Outside the U.S., we likewise have strong sales performance across nearly every geography. Sales in EMEA were up 74% and Canada was up 53%. Japan, however, was up 15% during the quarter, primarily due to the continued impact from the pandemic as they are a bit further behind the curve compared to many other parts of the world. As a reminder, we achieved regulatory approvals for the OptoWire III in the last few quarters, which should continue to be a key driver for both growth, but importantly, gross margin going forward. We have talked about it in the past that OptoWire III new design is even more user-friendly, which we believe may increase its adoption with physicians and expand the assessment of cardiovascular artery disease using FFR and dPR, which has the ability to result in better diagnosis and treatment for more patients. We also recently announced the signing of an agreement with Cathmedical Cardiovascular for the integration of our coronary physiology algorithms into their Picasso system, a next-generation hemodynamic system. The integrated system will initially focus on the Spanish cardiology market where the Picasso has a dominant market share. This partnership agreement allows interventional cardiologists using this system to benefit from full integration into the cath lab and to offer superior diagnosis and treatment to their patients. We believe their integration brings together the best of both worlds hemodynamic system and physiology guidewires merging functionalities that will improve physician workflow, ease their decision-making process and may lead to better patient outcomes. We are excited to see how these partnerships develop. Circling back for a moment on gross margin. Robin will touch more on this in a moment during his financial discussion. But I think it's important to point out the significant progress made during the quarter in expanding our gross margin, which increased 400 basis points from 55% up to 59% during the quarter. A significant portion of this improvement is tied to the extended launch of the OptoWire III, which has lower cost of goods sold, but also higher volume and economies of scale combined with enhanced productivity. We expect to see a continued long-term improvement in gross margin going forward. Also, as Robin will point out, we are making key investments in sales and marketing to drive adoption of the OptoWire for future growth. We are being very measured in our approach but believe the long-term potential is so significant that we want to continue building this business for sustainable growth. One highlight of this is our educational webinars.Our team has successfully launched a series of cardio webinars with top medical professionals touching on a wide range of topics. The most recent ones are all-in coronary technology, more diversity in the cath lab. PCT incorporating current data in your PCI practice and our OptoWire for dPR or FFR. Our goal is to provide an educational forum on the benefits and advantages of our products to improve patient care. I'm proud of our team's efforts in creating these informative webinars. With all that said, we continue to have a positive outlook for the remainder of the year. The headwinds from the pandemic are not completely gone, but based on the COVID recent improvements, we are seeing throughout most of the world, coupled with a more specific ramp-up in our areas of focus, I believe we are in a great position to end the year on a positive note. Transitioning to our business partnerships for a moment. As most of you are aware, several companies are integrating Opsens sensors into their product to use in medical application, including Abiomed integration of our pressure sensor into the Impella pump. Sales to OEMs were up about $561,000 during the quarter or 35%. The increase is largely a result of the timing of orders, deliveries, which can, at times, be lumpy. In 2019, we signed a 5-year agreement with Abiomed, which makes up the largest portion of our OEM partnership sales. Overall, when you include our coronary artery disease business, plus the contribution from our medical OEM sales are on total medical sales work $8.5 million during the third quarter. This was a 39% increase from the same period a year ago and up 9% sequentially. Let us now discuss the performance of our industrial segment. Once again, this segment saw very nice performance during the quarter with revenue of $713,000, an increase of 41% compared to the year ago period. As a reminder, our industrial segment leverage our optical technology and knowledge through our wholly owned subsidiary called OpSens Solutions to offer a key solution in optical temperature, pressure strain and other parameters for various industries, including aerospace, dPR and power electronics. While I want to keep the near-term expectation under control, this group is making tremendous progress on a number of fronts, including the recent announcement pertaining to our involvement in the international EUREKA network project. The project consortium supported by a major aircraft manufacturer, aims to develop an optical fuel monitoring system for aerospace applications based on OpSens Solutions patented fiber optic technology. This innovative system is intended for use in commercial aircraft, among others and is designed to be safer, lighter and to reduce contaminant emissions. This aerospace-based announcement follows up on last quarter announcement regarding our involvement in the international thermonuclear experimental reactor or ITER projects. ITER is the world's largest nuclear fusion and sensitive experiment project with 25 nations currently under construction in Southern France.As a reminder, Opsens was selected to supply our customer with fiber optic, absolute and differential pressure sensor that will provide critical information for accurate monitoring. In total, it is anticipated that there will be a large number of sensors at different levels of the ITER project, for which Opsens' sensor technology will be applicable. The team at OpSens Solution is doing a great job, and I look forward to the continued leveraging of our optical technology to a wide variety of commercial application. With that overview on our commercial base operation, let's jump into our lead development program for TAVR. As a reminder, to those newer to the company, we are leveraging our optical technology for the benefit of the multibillion transcatheter replacement of the aortic valve or TAVR market. Our TAVR guidewire allows for a single wire to diagnose and deliver the valve, reducing complications while saving time and money through its flawless connectivity capabilities. It would be the industry's first guidewire that can deliver the valve and allow for continuous pressure measurement. As I mentioned at the beginning, we received and responded to Health Canada question for the clearance on the Investigational Testing Authorization or ITA. We are expecting to start and complete our first-in-man study before the end of the summer. The study is being conducted on 20 patients in 2 world-renowned structural art institution with leadership from Dr. Rodés-Cabau at IUCPQ in Quebec City and Dr. Reda Ibrahim at the Montreal Art Institute. Again, this product, the SavvyWire will be a 510(k) submission. We need to demonstrate safety and ability to deliver the valve consistently with the predictive device. We will not be conducting any clinical follow-up on patient condition in this study. The completion of the first-in-man study will be the last key step before regulatory filing in the U.S., Canada and EMEA. Again, our expectation is to complete the trial in the summer, with 510(k) submissions right after -- with our oath is for an initial approval in Canada before March 2022 and in U.S. before June 2022. As I mentioned last quarter, while we are completing the regulatory steps, we are also preparing to ramp commercial production to be able to hit the ground running next year. As a reminder, one of the reasons we are so excited about this area beside the fact that we are looking to bring to market something that we believe to be a potentially game-changing device is that this is one of the fastest-growing segment in cardiology with TAVR procedure on the rise, driven by imaging of the population and recent studies highlighting its benefit in utilizing a less invasive procedure, and thereby improving the patient's recovery time. As we stated before, the TAVR market is currently estimated at USD 5 billion and is expected to reach $8 billion by 2025. So all told, we are extremely excited about the progress we have made and the potential opportunity our TAVR guidewire can bring to the market. I look forward to sharing more with you in the coming months. As you can hear, following the financing we completed in February 2021, Opsens has been deploying its accelerated business plan with additional sales and marketing activity and increased R&D investments to further capitalize on business opportunities ahead of us. We believe Opsens is in a unique position to create value by generating additional revenue growth while accelerating the release of new products that can meet unmet needs for the best interest of physicians and patients. This is really exciting time for all of us at Opsens. So just to recap a bit before I turn it over to Robin. I'm pleased with the overall progress made during the third quarter of fiscal 2021. Total revenue was a new record, up 39% year-over-year, led by a 41% growth in up OptoWire coronary artery disease revenues. Nearly every key region showed growth during the quarter with our key objective to gain share in the U.S. and into fusion as sales increased 152%, 34% sequentially. We also made demonstrable progress in our improving and our capability to improve the gross margin. Our OpSens Solutions business continues to operate well with a number of key global projects in play that have the potential to be long-term contributors for us. Our TAVR program continues to move forward with key milestone reach and a continued expectation of U.S. commercialization in 2022, and we have a strong balance sheet with more than $38 million in cash. As always, I want to thank all our employees for their hard work and dedication during the quarter as we truly have accomplished a number of very important milestones and developments. But most importantly, there is a lot of work ahead of us, and I'm confident we are up to the challenge. Let me now turn the call over to Robin for a review of the third quarter 2021 results. Robin?

[Robin Villeneuve, CFO & Corporate Secretary]

Thank you, Louis, and thanks to everyone joining us on the call today. The company reported record sales of $9.2 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2021, compared with $6.6 million in the same period of fiscal 2020, an increase of 39%. This also compared to $8.8 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2021. Sales in the medical segment, which encompass both our coronary artery disease lines of business or FFR and dPR, and OEM, which is mainly our agreement with Abiomed for integration of our pressure sensor into their Impella pump totaled $8.5 million. This was an increase of about $2.4 million or 39%. FFR-related sales were up $1.8 million, while the OEM sales were up about $0.6 million. Sales in the industrial segment totaled $713,000 during the third quarter, compared to sales of $506,000 for the same period in 2020. The increase is explained by a higher volume of orders in the nuclear field compared to the same period last year. As we stated, many of the projects which have long-term potential are still a bit further away from their larger [ realms ]. So I just want to reiterate our caution on expectations there for Q4 2021. One important note the company's revenues are generated in U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars, euros and British pounds. Fluctuations in the exchange rate affect revenues. For the 3-month period ended May 31, 2021, revenues were negatively affected by about $750,000 compared to the same period last year. In contrast, sales were positively impacted by $332,000 for the 3-month period ended May 31, 2020. When you look at gross margin, they were up nicely to 59% in this year's third quarter compared to 55% in the year ago third quarter and 52% in the sequential second quarter. The 400 basis point year-over-year increase in gross margin percentage reflects higher sales volume and the related economies of scale combined with enhanced productivity and by lower cost of goods sold for OptoWire III compared OptoWire II. From an operating expense standpoint, as planned, overall operating expenses increased by $1.3 million during the third quarter of fiscal 2021 compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2020. The increase is largely explained by our investments in sales and marketing as we are ramping up our sales efforts to continue growing market share in the U.S., along with increases in research and development expenses as we prepare for the commercial launch of our TAVR guidewire in the coming months. As we explained, we are making additional investments in sales and marketing and research and development over the coming quarters to capitalize on the opportunities we have to accelerate growth of OptoWire and development of our SavvyWire. We are anticipating an increase in operating expenses by approximately 10% over Q3 2021 for the next few quarters. Also, please note, we did recognize a non-refundable contribution under the CEWS or Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program for an amount of $121,000. You will see this recognized under other income on the income statement. EBITDA, which we define as net income loss plus financial expenses, depreciation of property, plant equipment and right-of-use assets, amortization of intangible assets and stock-based compensation costs, was a positive $0.5 million in the third quarter of 2021, compared to $0.6 million in the third quarter of 2020. The slight decrease in the third quarter is mainly due to higher sales and marketing and R&D expenses and a higher amount of CEWS received last year. Looking at net income. As anticipated, we are reporting a net loss of $570,000 in the third quarter of 2021, compared with a net income of $52,000 in the year ago third quarter. The net loss is mainly due to our investments to capitalize on business opportunities with traditional spending in sales and marketing, R&D and others for operating expenses increasing $1.3 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2021, offset by sales growth and improvement in gross margins. Finally, as Louis mentioned, we completed a $28.75 million deal bond financing in February 2021. Inclusive of the financing, we had $38.8 million of cash and cash equivalents as of May 31, 2021. With that, I will turn the call over to Louis.

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Thank you, Robin. Thank you to all investors for their continued interest and support of Opsens. We are working hard every day to capitalize on the exciting opportunities ahead of us. Operator, let me now turn the call over to any questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question comes from Rahul Sarugaser with Raymond James.

[Rahul Sarugaser]

Congratulations on the strong revenue this quarter. So I'd like to actually start with that revenue and talking a little bit about the GPO business -- sorry, the GPO channel. So I'd like to maybe get -- look at a little bit of resolution in terms of how much of that revenue was driven through the GPOs, recognizing that we did see a little bit of a jump in sales and marketing? And how should we be thinking about the revenue trajectory sort of organically as well as through the GPOs.

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Okay. Well, I think the message, well, first, thanks for your question. Rahul, it's always good to talk with you. So I think the message or the results that we see regarding the GPO initiative is in line with what we said before, where we got some positive impact in the Q3 2021 results of this expansion with relationship with GPOs. This being said, we expect to have more significant result impact in the fiscal year 2022. because having GPOs contract is a license to us. It's an access to a base of customers. This being said, we still have to perform the normal steps of sales, where we have to install a monitor. We have to secure doctor support. And from there, we can generate recurring revenues with our customers. So in the current quarter, when you compare with the Q3 2020, there was a significant increase in the sales with GPOs but in percentage, but we do expect, in dollar, that the impact will be more impactful in fiscal year 2022.

[Rahul Sarugaser]

Terrific. That's very helpful, Louis. I appreciate that color. So now moving specifically to the TAVR program. I'm not sure if it was -- I misunderstood, but you talked about initiating the program in the summer, but also completing the program in the summer. Summer is a bit of a broad term. I think there was a July time line talked about for initiation. Maybe I'm imagining that, maybe it was in one of the previous calls. So are you able to give us a little bit more resolution on sort of time lines associated with the initiation, how long do you expect that the recruitment will take and completion of the trial given how much excitement there is and our discussions with KOLs seem to be illustrating that there is quite a bit of excitement around the program?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Yes, sure. So obviously, there is excitement from key opinion leaders. There is also a lot of excitement internally at Opsens because we truly believe that this product can have a contribution to the field to the TAVR procedure. Regarding the time line, you're right. We -- I did mention this morning that we were expecting to start the study in the summer and to complete the study in the summer. So the situation is as following, is that we need to get the authorization from Health Canada to perform the first-in-man study. Right now, we received a first set of questions. We did answer to those questions. And now we are waiting to see their reaction about the answer that we provided. So we've been talking, in the previous call, about hopefully starting the study in July. It's -- let's say, my current impression is that we will probably start in August. This being said, the study is only 20 patients, and the centers that we are working with are very high-volume centers. So thinking that we could execute the studies very quickly is certainly a comfortable assumption for me. So that's why we can expect to start the study in the summer and to complete this before the third week of September.

[Rahul Sarugaser]

That was just a quick follow-on question, Louis. And then could you maybe elaborate a little bit in terms of completion of the study and the time line between that and submitting your FDA package?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Well, we are working right now to prepare everything we can do around the filing. So that's the reason why once the study is completed and we get the final report, we'll almost be ready to do the filing to secure the 510(k) clearance. So we don't expect a lot of time between the completion of the study and the filing with the FDA.

[Operator]

The next question is from Doug Miehm with RBC Capital Markets.

[Douglas Miehm, Analyst]

Just a question with respect to your thinking on the marketing of this product. I know that there's multiple pathways that you can pursue in that regard. But I'm just wondering if you have anything to update. I know that as it relates to the U.S. market, we're a year away from having to be concerned about that. But I do expect that you're laying the groundwork today. Could you maybe give us a few details on what you're thinking?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Yes, sure, sure. I mean -- and when you say a year away from commercialization, it means that we need to prepare today. So as I mentioned before in previous calls, the Opsens, right now, is preparing to roll this product into the bag of our territory managers, so our team that is selling directly to hospitals in U.S.. And we feel that everything that we are doing around the coronary artery disease business, so developing relationship with customers, installing OptoMonitors in the field, developing relationships with GPOs, all those actions will help us to be faster in the rollout of the SavvyWire for the TAVR procedure. This being said -- this is one option. The company will also explore other options where we could work in collaboration with other companies in either distributing or bringing the product in a way or another in the hands of physicians. There is some interest on that. So we will make the best decision for value creation for shareholders. At current time, there is not a lot that I can share more on this. But if I would conclude is that, I mean, we feel that growing with our internal sales force is an option that would deliver a lot of value for shareholders. So when we will evaluate any partnership opportunities, it will have to be substantially superior to this to allow us to go in a different direction.

[Douglas Miehm, Analyst]

Okay. That's helpful. Maybe a bit more detail with respect to the cath labs and those sorts of things or the -- where the TAVR procedures are completed, what percent market share do you think you have right now in the U.S. as it relates to hospitals that would be completing the TAVR procedure?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

I would say it's probably similar to the market share that we are having in general for our coronary artery disease business. If you recall and if we talk specifically about the U.S. market, we have 4% market share today in coronary artery disease. And this 4% is probably applicable to the areas or centers where the TAVR procedures are being performed. We think that having both products together will help us to get, obviously, some success of substantial success on the TAVR product, but this will also facilitate our penetration of the coronary artery disease product, being the OptoWire. So we feel that Adding those 2 products together will give -- will make the offer from Opsens much more -- much stronger, and this will give us an opportunity to be more relevant for our doctors, more relevant for hospitals and also, obviously, more relevant for GPOs.

[Douglas Miehm, Analyst]

Okay. And you don't think that you're going to be at a disadvantage, only having a 4% market share when you launch this product relative to other potential groups that may have a 100% market share in various TAVR labs?

[Olivier J. Chretien, MD, CEO & Director]

Well, the answer is no because, first, we will grow this 4% market share in U.S. In addition, we are coming in TAVR with a new concept where this does not exist in the field today. And as you know, I know you've been in contact with different key opinion leaders in the field. There is a strong appetite for the SavvyWire concept, so we feel that the demand will be strong regarding this product. So even if our current market share is small in U.S., We think it won't affect at all the speed of penetration of the SavvyWire.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Justin Keywood with Stifel GMP.

[Justin Keywood, Director of Equity Research]

I had a couple of questions around the gross margins. We saw the nice expansion in the quarter from 55% to 59%. I know there were some comments earlier on in the call. But if you could just remind us what are the contributing factors to driving that gross margin if this is sustainable in the near term? And I also thought I heard from Robin that there is also the potential to even expand the margins. So if we can just have some additional color on that, it would be appreciated.

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Yes, sure. And maybe, Robin, you can complete after my answer. But at high level, Justin, well, obviously, having more volume is providing some scale economy to us. In addition, as we progress in the year, the percentage of sales OptoWire III is higher compared to OptoWire II. So each time we are moving in that direction, this is helping the gross margin. In addition, the percentage of direct sales have been higher than some previous quarters. And obviously, our gross margin is higher when we sell directly in North America compared to either EMEA or Japan. So overall -- and also the fourth factor is the fact that the other medical business, so the OEM business, is an area where there is certain customers that are providing good gross margin to Opsens. So when you combine all those factors, it's giving a quite positive growth on the gross margin side. Just to complete the last portion of your question is that, when we look forward, we think that Opsens will continue to grow. We'll continue to gain scale economy. And having the SavvyWire, which will be also a high-margin product, there is room to do better. On a short term basis, let's say, sometimes just 1 quarter is small, so we can see some variances there. But when we look forward to our years 2022, 2023 and 2024, we feel there is opportunity to do better.

[Justin Keywood, Director of Equity Research]

I appreciate that. And any indication on what the gross margins could eventually get to at scale?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

We think that seeing a gross margin somewhere around 65% is something that would be reasonable, that would be fair to all of our customers and partners around the world.

[Justin Keywood, Director of Equity Research]

Okay. Good to hear. And then the balance sheet is obviously quite healthy, ending the quarter with just around $39 million in cash. I assume that provides more than enough support for the new TAVR products. Do you have any other plans for the cash on the balance sheet? Or are you looking at any acquisitions? And if so, what does the pipeline look like? And any indication on how further along those conversations are with potential acquisitions?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Okay. Well, regarding the use of proceeds from the last financing, we've been clear that we were going to increase our sales and marketing expenses. We were also going to increase the human resources and the R&D department to accelerate innovation to bring new products to the market faster. So that's an area where you can expect to see an increase in expenses. So that's a part of the use of proceeds. We have -- let's say, we are assessing different acquisition opportunities. I would say, right now, none of them are at a level where I can say to you they are well advanced, but we remain, let's say, alert there and opportunistic. And down the road, once the SavvyWire will be on the market, we do expect to also spend additional money in clinical activities to really demonstrate the value that this concept is bringing to the field. So overall, we like to be strong -- in a strong cash position. This is allowing us to grow with more velocity and everything we do, And we feel that since the market opportunities that we have out there, it's important that we move quickly. So yes -- no, I think it's covering your answer -- your question.

[Justin Keywood, Director of Equity Research]

I appreciate that. And just one more question. Just with the recent balance sheet strength, has that led to any productive or, I guess, more productive conversations with some of the hospital customers, just given that Opsens is relatively a smaller supplier compared to some of the larger medical device providers out there? And has that changed any of the conversations that you've been having?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

I'm not sure I understand your question. Can you repeat?

[Justin Keywood, Director of Equity Research]

If the balance sheet strength of the company, is that leading to any increased sales traction with some of the hospital customers, if there's been any change compared to the past?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Yes. I would say the answer is no. I think there was no concern from customers with Opsens' viability. Where it's having an impact is that we have now the resources to add more people in the field, and having more presence will lead to revenue growth.

[Operator]

The next question comes from [ Harry Augur ] with [ Patient Partners ].

[Unknown Analyst]

Congratulations on a fine quarter. I had 2 questions for you. One is, what was the percentage of sales on the second quarter and this past quarter through the GPOs?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

I mean it's not an information that we are disclosing publicly. What we can share with you is that it has been growing. And I mean we see the opportunity to do more.

[Unknown Analyst]

Right. So it was basically immaterial for those quarters.

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

No, I would say it's more than that because let's say, we already had sales in some centers that were part of GPOs contract that we find. So in that context, as soon as we sign a contract, we already had sales that were falling within that contract. But the interesting point for us and for investors is the growth that we can get from this. And in terms of growth, we've been able to add a certain number of centers, but we have to give time to those centers to generate recurring sales.

[Unknown Analyst]

Okay. And then where do you stand on your progress of getting listed in the U.S. on NASDAQ?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

I mean this is something that is assessed on a regular basis by the Board of Directors. At current time, there is no decision that has been made in that regard. I would say that we -- there could be some benefits for the company and the shareholders of having the shares of Opsens listed on a major U.S. exchange. We don't meet, right now, the criteria around the minimum stock price. And that's something that we can assess down the road.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Jeff Schacter with TD Health -- TD Wealth.

[Jeffrey Schacter, SVP & Portfolio Manager]

And listening to this call, I think people are still under appreciating the amount of change you'll have in the cardio world with the TAVR product. And I do appreciate your answer on the M&A side because I think the stock price is still -- will be materially higher. And I think the use of proceeds in getting that TAVR out there helps the business in aggregate and the company valuation materially. So I appreciate that answer. The question I have is just on the hiring. Is that largely complete? And have you've been able to find the talent you went in looking for? And are you largely where you want to be with the staff?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

The hiring is not completed. I mean we are very, very selective in getting top talent. So I would say that we are probably at 2/3 of progress in the R&D department, while in sales and marketing, we may be at somewhere like 1/3 of progress. So it will be a process that we will -- where we will make progress gradually through the fourth quarter and the year -- the beginning of the year 2022.

[Jeffrey Schacter, SVP & Portfolio Manager]

Okay. And as far as your feeling that the talent is out there for you, you've seen no issues in finding what you're looking for?

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

No. I would say there is a very good interest from the human resources to join the team at Opsens. The fact that we have the OptoWire that is a proven device in the field and that's proved the value to customers, this is allowing us a good capability to attract people. And obviously, when you add on this, the SavvyWire that is coming on board, this is enough to make a commercial person quite excited about the Opsens opportunity.

[Jeffrey Schacter, SVP & Portfolio Manager]

Excellent. I wish you all the best of luck in August and look forward to the update on the next steps.

[Robin Villeneuve, CFO & Corporate Secretary]

Thank you, Jeff.

[Operator]

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to the management for any closing remarks.

[Louis Laflamme, President, CEO & Director]

Thank you. So many thanks to everyone for participating on today's call. We look forward to hopefully speaking with all of you again shortly and to keep you updated about the exciting progress by Opsens. Thank you.

[Operator]

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.