StageZero Life Sciences’ Aristotle 10 in 1 cancer screening test looks set to launch in Q1 2021
StageZero Life Sciences Ltd. (TSX: SZLS) (‘StageZero’) has been developing their Aristotle 10 in 1 cancer screening test for about 20 years with a successful history of validation to date. Excitement is building with the launch being widely anticipated and set to occur in Q1, 2021, assuming final validation completes successfully. Meanwhile StageZero continues to spread their testing network for their range of COVID-19 tests and has introduced COVID-19 travel testing. StageZero’s focus is in the USA with some business also in Canada.
During Q3 2020 StageZero significantly expanded the number of groups they are working with to 55 (up from only 5 in Q2, including Mercer VIP program). This is boosting revenue and building networks, all significant positives for StageZero. StageZero stated in their November 2020 update that they have increased revenue in Q3 by more than four times all of 2019 and have received C$1.5 million in cash, which significantly exceeds projected operating costs of C$900,000 per quarter.
Chairman and CEO, James Howard-Tripp, stated: “We have significantly upgraded our capabilities through increasing the number of laboratory staff, aggressively building up an inventory of supplies, paying down the accounts payable and introducing new tests. We have also greatly increased the number of groups we are now testing for and expect this to contribute to revenue growth as we move forward.”
COVID-19 saliva testing and COVID-19 travel testing
I discussed StageZero’s COVID-19 new saliva testing here, where I called it a game changer simply because people would much prefer a COVID-19 saliva test than the very uncomfortable nasal probe test. StageZero continues to rollout saliva testing supported by their telehealth platform to ensure testing accuracy and compliance.
COVID-19 travel testing has commenced for US and Canadian travelers. To date the service is available for those traveling to Barbados, Hawaii, and China.
StageZero also recently introduced a respiratory panel test (testing for 18 virus and 2 bacteria).
All of this is achieving two main purposes for StageZero – A growth in their distribution networks, and a boost to revenues.
StageZero introduces COVID-19 travel testing
StageZero ‘Aristotle’ 10 in 1 cancer test looks set to launch in Q1 2021
As discussed previously here, Aristotle is a revolutionary way of diagnosing cancer early. Aristotle is StageZero’s 10 in 1 cancer panel test that uses just one blood sample to test for 10 common cancers.
StageZero’s revolutionary ‘Aristotle’ tests for 10 common cancers in 1 test
Dietrich Stephan, CEO and Founder of LifeXVentures™, Professor of Human Genomics, stated:
“StageZero Life Sciences, one of the pioneers of the liquid biopsy, has developed the ‘holy-grail’ – a suite of tests that have the correct sensitivity and specificity to detect cancer early and perform correctly as a screening tool at the population level.”
Certainly if StageZero can successfully launch, grow, and expand their Aristotle testing in 2021 and beyond; the upside for the stock price could potentially be spectacular. Note this is assuming the final stage validation of Aristotle completes successfully.
StageZero corporate summary from the latest analyst’s call on Dec. 8 2020
Closing remarks
StageZero is growing very fast right now due to the rapid growth in their COVID-19 testing, boosted by having their own telehealth platform. A combination of this increased cash flow and a recent C$7.2 million equity raising means StageZero is fully funded for their highly anticipated Aristotle marketing and launch in Q1 2021.
The launch and potential success of Aristotle starting in early 2021 is very exciting. Brokerage firm Clarus Securities wrote a report recently titled: “StageZero Life Sciences could achieve a billion dollar market cap: Clarus.” Given the current market cap of StageZero is just C$33.6 million that is a huge call. The broker firm also put an initial price target for StageZero of $0.50 before the 8:1 stock consolidation, which equates to C$4.00 today. It should also be noted Clarus Securities Inc. was involved in the recent C$7.2 million raise.
It certainly appears that investors should consider moving quickly as 2021 has the potential to be a blockbuster year for StageZero Life Sciences.
Disclosure: The author is long StageZero Life Sciences (TSX: SZLS).