Larry Jasinski
Analyst · Kyle Rose with Canaccord. Your line is open
Thank you, Ilanit. Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us. We had another strong quarter with 31 ReWalk systems placed, generating $2 million in revenue. And we’ve made meaningful progress advancing our key initiatives including insurance reimbursement coverage for the ReWalk personal device, expanding our global footprint and progressing our innovative soft suit exoskeleton technology designed for individual with stroke. I’d like to highlight several key developments during the second quarter. I’ll begin with an update on reimbursement. We continue to make progress with commercial payers securing 11 positive case-by-case coverage decisions during the period. To date 35 separate insurance carriers have provided coverage for ReWalk systems in the United States. Our pipeline has expanded to 217 pending insurance claims, which represent over $15 million of potential sales. With nearly 400 systems placed around the world, we believe the acceptance of the technology is becoming mainstream. Securing regional and national coverage policies in the U.S. and Germany is a key strategic goal for ReWalk, one that we are vigorously pursuing. During the quarter, we completed a comprehensive policy review submission with a large commercial payer in the U.S. The policy review focus heavily on an evidence based medicine methodology. In the defined higher key of medical evidence the data provided meets to 1A and 1B level of proof. the information provided included: first, clinical data from 49 papers analyzing exoskeleton; second, a detailed meta analysis of a large subset of studies from 14 peer review publication on 111 patients, which demonstrated an ability to walk with ReWalk at 3 miles per hour and cover a 98 meters in a six minutes’ walk test. This data showed safe ambulation in real world settings conducive to prolonged use and known to; third, a review of the coverage policy by the U.S. Veteran’s Administration; fourth, a summary of independent appeals and core cases which ruled that the ReWalk is medically necessarily and no longer considered investigational or experimental; fifth, extensive data spanning 756 sessions demonstrating successful use without any safety issues in a full range of indoor and outdoor walking environments; and sixth, direct testimony from leading medical experts about the clinical experience and data in multiple senders, demonstrating the positive impact of exoskeleton use. In 2014, when ReWalk was first approved, the scientific data was more limited, which resulted in an initial decision by insurers not to issue broad coverage policies. The rapid expansion of data over these last few years is substantial and we are very pleased with the depth and the quality of the data submitted. Review by the U.S. commercial payer, I just mentioned has been completed, and we expect a decision in 30 to 60 days following the review. We continue to have a strong track record through the appeals process. We’ve recently announced a favorable court decision in Florida relates to several initial decisions that support covering the individual after an original denial of a claim by a commercial insurer. In this particular case, involving Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, decision was based on a formal evidentiary hearing and expert testimony. The expert witness stated that, "This technology now meets a common standard of medical practice," and is medically [necessary] treatment. The court concluded that coverage for the ReWalk for home use has been proven by the preponderance of the evidence. So the individual impacted by this decision has been given the opportunity to walk once again. In over 80% of appeals that have been decided, independent experts have ruled in favor of coverage. We view the trend moving clearly in our favor. With regards to the VA, our relationship remains strong. VA continues to lead the world with high quality and effective research activities related to spinal cord injury. Its current 160-subject randomized co-op study has enrolled 32 patients to date and has another 16 in the pipeline. The study is accruing data and patients very effectively with active study centers and strong research leadership. As patients complete the study, they will become eligible to obtain their own systems through the clinical programs at the VA. The implementation of the VA’s standard operating procedure issued in December 2015 continues to be challenging. Nationwide the VA purchased 8 systems for veterans and 4 systems are in trials prior to purchase. The veterans that do not live near one of the designated co-op study centers are required to wait as the VA continues to struggle to support execution of their official stated policy. There are 70 veterans, who have reached out to us, who are waiting for the VA to evaluate their request for a ReWalk. In some cases, the qualified veterans simply live too far away from a VA facility to be trained. And in some cases, the VA has rented systems for veterans, but has not resourced the training. So these veterans or forced to wait. We know of many veterans are requesting and advocating a local training rather than waiting indefinitely for the VA. We are hopeful that the administration and the VA will allow these veterans to be trained near where they live at either a VA facility or local qualified centers. Given veterans a choice of where to train so they can benefit from walking again, is currently being discussed within the administration and the VA. We are hopeful that they will act in these requests from our veterans soon. In Germany, we continue to make good progress with a large social health insurance provider and also with the workers compensation groups. As we discussed last quarter, we are in advanced discussions with a large social health insurance group, with which we have over 17 pending insurance claims. Additionally, the government body of the countries, workers compensation groups, the BG, has expressed support for a policy which we believe will be similar in scope to the VA’s standard operating procedure, providing coverage to all workmen’s comp patients. Final policy documents are anticipated in the coming months. The BG group’s currently cover 28 pending insurance claims in Germany. In total, we have 131 pending claims in Germany. So we anticipate coverage decisions by leading groups will influence the other groups to follow the same pathway. In the past 10 days, we have had two additional court decisions resulting in coverage of sale and a trial of ReWalkers for individuals. These decisions, combined with the two previous Social Court decisions, and our extensive discussion likely influence several additional pending cases. Overall, we believe reimbursement is moving in the right direction and that the extensive body of research on exoskeleton use will ultimately lead to broader coverage, both in the U.S. and abroad. These decisions will be important, not existing direct markets, but also for our current distributor markets and the new markets we enter as well. During the second quarter, we were very pleased to announce that we partnered with Harmony Medical Services in an exclusive agreement to facilitate distribution of ReWalk systems in France. Harmony is one of France’s largest medical device providers and an ideal partner for ReWalk, as we’ve broaden our reach to include physicians, payers and the FCI community in France. In the R&D front, we achieved an important milestone with our soft suit technology developed in collaboration with Harvard Wyss Institute, unveiling the base design for the restore system, our commercial product to treat stroke patients. A major peer reviewed scientific publication about the design and clinical experience with the restore system was published on July 26, in Science Translational Medicine. The article is published by researchers at the Wyss Institute, Harvard University and Boston University. In the publication, the authors addressed the fundamental need and consideration for a system that can uniquely provide forward propulsion and ground clearance to facilitate more normal walking after a stroke. An evaluation of the potential of using the exosuit technology to restore healthy walking behavior in individuals after the stroke. The basic technical outline of our unobtrusive lightweight design, and clinical experience showing an improvement in post stroke gate mechanics and energetics. As we look to commercialize designs based on our work with the Wyss researchers, we continue to rely on leading physicians from key US centers to assess the functionality, clinical study designs and training programs for centers. Reviews conducted during the second quarter provided a very positive assessment of the significant potential for this design, above and beyond any existing technology. In addition to its very small size and light weight, physicians see clinical value in the real time adjustability of the assistance provided to modify the gate pattern and the amount of force with each step the patient takes. The restore system holds the potential to provide life changing technology to a whole new class of patients facing mobility issues. Harvard’s second study, utilizing the most recent design is expected to begin in Q4 followed by ReWalk FDA studies beginning in the first half of 2018. We are targeting commercialization of the restore in 2018. So this is exciting time for ReWalk with a lot of momentum heading right into the second half of the year, our successes during and since the second quarter includes good progress on reimbursement with a favorable Blue Cross Blue Shield outcome in Florida and growth to 217 pending claims, 11 case-by-case decisions in the US and Germany, extensive reviews and anticipated policy decisions from commercial insurers in the US and Germany, and advanced discussions with other regional and corporate provider in the US. We are motivated each day by the many individual whose lives have improved because of our technology, the bride who walked down the aisle in her wedding down with the ReWalk underneath, the doctor who returned to her practice standing up rather than in her chair, and the police officer, who ReWalk’s routinely and was recently promoted. As a company, we will remain focused on execution that we can deliver on our milestones and continue to improve on people’s lives. With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Kevin to review our second quarter 2017 financial results.