The Imricor Medical Systems Inc. (ASX: IMR) share price is edging higher today following two major announcements. During later afternoon trade, the medical device company's shares are marginally up 0.44% to $2.30.
Clinical sites update
In the first announcement, Imricor provided an update in regards to the signing of new agreements with European clinical sites.
Management said that having faced severe disruptions from the second wave of COVID-19, its sales process has been delayed. Originally, the company planned to have 14 clinical sites with agreements to purchase Imricor's products at the end of 2020. However, with the emergence of significant COVID-19 cases on the rise, the company revised its forecast for the new year.
Imricor now anticipates it will have sales agreements with 9 clinical sites in early 2021. Furthermore, the company is projecting a strong short-term sales pipeline.
What did the head of Imricor say?
Commenting on the challenges, Imricor chair and CEO Mr Steve Wedan said:
November and December were extremely difficult in Europe particularly for targeted clinical sites in Germany and The Netherlands where further COVID-19 containment measures were implemented during this period.
… We have continued to make excellent progress with many of these sites, with agreements advanced to the stage of final review and execution. We therefore expect these delays to be minor and continue to schedule and plan installation and training with our new sites accordingly.
Looking beyond our commercialisation plans in Europe, our product development is on track, our geographical expansion into the US and Australian markets are progressing as planned and clinical trials for expanding our product indications are moving forward on schedule.
New COO appointment
Further to the announcement, management advised it has created a new role of chief operating officer (COO). Effective 1 January 2021, Mr Gregg Stenzel will take up the COO appointment, which was created to enable the group to focus on achieving its strategic objectives.
Mr Stenzel previously held the position of vice president of operations in Imricor. His duties included overseeing the company's operations and development of manufacturing strategies.
Chair and CEO, Mr Wedan, commented:
The Board and I are thrilled to appoint Gregg to this important role along with the opportunity it provides to increase my focus on our sales and marketing efforts as we approach an exciting year ahead for Imricor and the acceleration of the commercialisation phase of our growth strategy.
About the Imricor share price
The Imricor share price has performed well over the course of the year, jumping above 90%. Although its shares tumbled to an all-time low of 75 cents in March, shareholders who bought then would be sitting on gains of 206%.
It's worth noting that the company's shares recently hit an all-time high of $2.94 in late October.
Based on current share price levels, the company commands a market capitalisation of around $288 million.
