Biodesix, Inc. (NASDAQ:BDSX) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Provides great opportunity for us to help improve the lives of veterans. As you know, VA serves 9 million veterans and 900,000 of which are increased risk for lung cancer. We think our tests can greatly help with the nodule management and treatment guidance for our veterans, but it is a step-by-step process. So, while we do have some revenue built into the 2023 guide from the VA, it’s sort of a slow build.

Kyle Mikson: Okay. That was great. Thanks, Robin. And Scott, just a quick one for you, on the BEACON-Lung, I noticed that that study suspended to assess the , like what’s the status there? Is there an update you can provide with that study?

Scott Hutton: Yes, great question, Kyle. Yes, BEACON-Lung as you may recall was in partnership with ALCMI, which is the research arm of the largest patient advocacy group for lung cancer and a number of academic institutions and the original goal there was to assess €“ continue to assess and validate our primary immune response test. As we came out of the €“ or as we worked our way through the pandemic and came out of the pandemic, we had exceptionally slow enrollment. And so, instead of continuing to, kind of grind it out, we decided to hit pause on that trial. And really work with ALCMI and those academic institutions to continue to revisit really the protocol and their interest in enrollment. We know that we’re not the only company out there to run into difficulty enrolling patients throughout the pandemic, but we’re also trying to be very mindful of our capital structure, our cost and spending behaviors.

And so, we’re going to continue to re-evaluate all of our clinical studies. We don’t think that slow enrollment and extending studies or trial length by months or quarters is the right thing to do. So, with this one more to follow in coming quarters. We’ll continue to reevaluate it. But for the near-term, BEACON-Lung is on hold. Yes. Kyle, you brought that up. I would state maybe a contradiction and so that others understand not all of our trials have been negatively impacted. You may recall, altitude our prospective randomized trial for Nodify lung. We’ve had three consecutive months of record enrollment there and are back on track with that. So, we really think it’s kind of spotty and we’re evaluating each one of our clinical trials and studies individually.

Kyle Mikson: Yes. Okay. That was great. Appreciate that. Finally, just a last one on the Diagnostic Cortex and really the company’s leadership and kind of AI driven diagnostics. I was curious, Scott, if you can provide maybe some thoughts on using something, kind of topical right now, generative AI diagnosis or improved the accuracy of precision of testing and, kind of the decision making from a clinical perspective and now taking a step back obviously to reality, I guess, how are you guys planning to optimize the Cortex, the platform in 2023, given some of the work that you’ve provided in recent years with shopping values and other AI concepts? Thanks.

Scott Hutton: Yes. Great question, Kyle. I think everybody could agree that AI right now is top of mind. It’s driving a lot of the conversations out there in terms of future potential to help guide and treat patients. We’re a big supporter of that as you know and referenced, we’re really proud and haven’t shared much, but we’ve been working in AI and machine learning for 12 plus years. And so, we think we’re pretty well experienced at it, but we also know that there’s still a lot to learn that the space is changing rapidly. We’re going to continue to collaborate and partner with as many people as possible to stay at the forefront. I think you’re spot on. I think when we’ve talked historically about multi-omics test, we’ve been very focused on the use of genomics or proteomics.