TELA Bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:TELA) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

So we benefited a little bit, I think, from the situation, but not all that much. On the hernia side, I think our product has the reputation of being a universal hernia product, right? It’s reinforced with a little bit of polymer suture, whether permanent or resorbable for reinforcement. 46% of our procedures are being done robotically right now. And 60% of our procedures are being done both robotically and laparoscopically. So we’re being used across inguinals, hiatals, simple ventrals and complex ab wall. And I think these older generation surgeons that are more tied to first-generation biologics, probably will reach for another pure biologic product that’s older, before they reach for our product given that our product is being known as a more broadly used technology.

So yes, we are picking up some here and there, but it’s not going to be a big conversion. I think we are actually marketing and functioning in a much wider piece of the market. I think that’s where we want to be. And the trade-off of directing our reps to chase these other procedures versus sticking to our knitting and sticking to our plan is the trade-off that we evaluate in every territory as the situation comes up. Most of the time, our preference is to grow our business for the long haul, for durability. And then keep in mind as well, that when we get a situation where the product that’s recalled is need a replacement, there has to be a match up that we have a contract, we have access and we have a rep there. And that just doesn’t happen all the time given the size of our footprint right now.

And again, chasing versus executing is the way we think about it, Michael.

Michael Sarcone: Got it. That’s really helpful. Thank you.

Operator: Our next question will come from Frank Takkinen of Lake Street Capital Markets. Your line is open.

Frank Takkinen: Great. Thanks for taking the questions. Was hoping to start with one on GPOs. I think in previous calls, you’ve talked about HealthTrust specific composition of revenue. I’m understanding it’s going to be a little bit more challenging, but was hoping you could talk about what kind of growth was driven from the three GPOs in aggregate versus growth outside of GPOs?

Tony Koblish: Yes. So I think from a percent of revenue perspective, we went from mid- to high 30% of revenue at HealthTrust to approaching 60% of our revenue is now from these GPOs. So the growth is stronger within the GPO footprint, also approaching about 60%, I would say. But the real story is that we are executing across the entire universe, right? So – our first priority is implementation into the new GPOs. And really, they’re all three new at this point, given the HealthTrust renewal. But we also have a really strong system and process for getting into non-GPO IDNs and systems. So we are active and doing very well in both sectors. I think we’re going to see a pickup within this GPO organization since we’re really early days in all three.

And I think these implementations are going to take us through the rest of this year and maybe through the rest of next year and beyond, these are big systems. They’re bureaucratic and the opportunity is quite large. So there’s a lot for us to harvest here for the long haul as one of our five factors. But we’ve grown significantly from the one GPO just as measured from about a year ago to now.

Frank Takkinen: Got it. That’s helpful. And then maybe in the back half of the year, growth expectations in the hernia versus PRS. I know that PRS had been outpacing hernia for a little bit, but it sounds like hernia has been a little bit stronger as of recently. So just trying to understand how you guys are thinking about growth from hernia versus PRS as you close out the year?