MDxHealth is ready for new phase in development
Like most biotech companies, MDxHealth will be showing less good business results for the second quarter of this year than…
Molecular diagnostics
Willem Melchers, who heads the company's Nijmegen branch on the Novio Tech Campus, expects a temporary dip that will only delay the further expansion of the company. The news in the preceding months gave sufficient cause for that confidence. In the first quarter of 2020, the results - despite the starting crisis - were still excellent. MDxHealth, which specializes in molecular prostate diagnostics, grew nearly 25 percent from $ 4.7 million to $ 5.9 million. In addition, it was announced at the end of April that the American investment company MVM is investing nearly 13 million euros in MDxHealth.American investor
Melchers: “We are still a developing company. This development is dictated by the profit from business operations. That is why it is great that we have brought in an external investor with MVM who sees a future in this company. Traditionally, there have been mainly large investors in MDxHealth, because the roots of the company lie in Belgium. With an American investor on board, we become even more visible in the United States. That is a positive development, also because 80 to 90 percent of our people are in the US. "Change in management
In that respect, the investment is also in line with the recent change that has taken place in the management of MDxHealth in the past period. Both the Dutch chairman of the board Jan Groen (CEO) and the Belgian financial director Jean Marc Roelandt (CFO) have left the company and have been replaced by Americans. The current CEO is Michael K. McGarrity and Ron Kalfus has become the chief financial officer. The sales director (CCO) John Bellano is also American. “The management is now indeed less European,” says Melchers, “but that also makes it interesting. Certainly from the perspective of growth, it can be a positive development. The vast majority of the company is located in the US and it can help if we have a more emphatic presence there and become more visible to important parties. ”Acquisition of NovioGendix
The Nijmegen representation in MDxHealth has everything to do with the acquisition of NovioGendix in 2015. NovioGendix, a spin-off from Radboudumc headed by Willem Melchers (CEO) and Jack Schalken (CSO), had developed a molecular test for the diagnosis of prostate cancer in urine. For MDxHealth, this test meant an ideal addition to their portfolio. On the other hand, NovioGendix immediately gained good access to the medical market through the sales force and the marketing apparatus of MDxHealth. Both parties saw an advantage in the collaboration.Research at Novio Tech Campus
“An important point in that acquisition was the promise that all NovioGendix employees could transfer to MDxHealth", says Melchers. “With that, the focus of molecular diagnostics and the development of new MDxHealth products actually also shifted to Nijmegen. From our location at Sanquin, next to the Radboudumc, the research was then moved to the Novio Tech Campus. Here we have excellent lab facilities and there is the possibility to expand further. ”Back to the old nest
After the takeover by MDxHealth, both Melchers and Schalken remain somewhat more remotely involved - as consultants - with MDxHealth. When Melchers is asked by the company in 2017 to lead the Nijmegen operations, however, he returns to the old nest. For one day a week. The other days he will remain connected to Radboudumc as a medical molecular microbiologist. Jack Schalken is also still affiliated with the Nijmegen academic hospital as professor of Experimental Urology. This shortens the lines between research and the business community and is a way in which the 'impact on healthcare' can be shaped that the Radboudumc advocates.Strategy
The main products of MDxHealth are SelectMDx, the test actually developed by NovioGendix, and ConfirmMDx. The first test detects prostate cancer in urine, the second test checks in men with a negative
