Having served as Proteomics chief since he-co founded the company in 2001, Dr Richard Lipscombe is used to setbacks and delays.
On March 18, Proteomics said it would not be able to meet the June 2024 timeline for the US launch of its Promarker D test, to detect likely onset of the debilitating diabetic kidney disease (DKD).
“The complexities involved in bringing a new test into broad clinical use have meant the process is taking longer than expected,” the company intoned.
The shares tumbled 30 cents, or 24 percent, but a sanguine Dr Lipscombe is happy to play the long game and not rush and release a substandard test.
“It’s taken a bit longer than our initial three-to-five-year plan [to bring the test to market],” he says. “In the scheme of things a few months won’t matter.”
Strictly speaking, it’s up to the company’s US distribution partner, Sonic Healthcare US, to iron out the glitches. Given the US arm of the ASX-listed Sonic Healthcare is the third-biggest US pathology chain, one would expect the company to find a way.
Ultimately, investors decided the product launch was a postponement – not a Qantas ‘ghost’ flight that would never arrive – and the shares partially recovered.
