Shareholder Letter
Response Biomedical Corp.
8855 Northbrook Court
Burnaby, BC Canada V5J 5J1
August 13, 2001
Dear Shareholder,
I am pleased to report that business development and finance activity in our
Company has increased significantly. This is a direct result of achieving
the most important milestone in Response's history - the recent filing of
our first submissions to the FDA in the United States and the TPD in Canada
for market clearance of our myoglobin test and RAMP* Reader. The results of
the myoglobin clinical trials confirmed the excellent quality and
competitive advantage of our RAMP diagnostic platform and the regulatory
filings have led to a wide variety of positive developments. We are now
taken seriously as a company capable of developing a leadership position in
the near patient testing arena with a highly competitive and commercially
viable product.
I experienced the enthusiasm for RAMP first hand at the AACC (American
Association of Clinical Chemistry) conference in Chicago during the week
ending August 3rd. Manufacturers, distributors and medical professionals
involved in point-of-care healthcare from around the world exhibited great
interest in RAMP and were pleased to know that it will be available for
their use next year. Numerous companies used AACC as a venue to schedule
meetings with us to discuss business and marketing partnerships. As we
continue to hit milestones moving forward, I fully expect this interest to
translate into concrete opportunities for the Company.
In addition, we held the first meeting of our new Scientific Advisory Board
(SAB) while at AACC. We are privileged to have attracted some of the
world's foremost point-of-care opinion leaders to our SAB and their
willingness to participate is indicative of how they view RAMP - as a viable
and powerful diagnostic platform. It is very reassuring to have their
wisdom and support as we prepare to commercialize a broad menu of tests on
the RAMP System over the coming years.
Going forward, we anticipate receiving FDA market clearance for our
myoglobin test and RAMP Reader in approximately two months. We remain on
schedule to enter the clinical trial phase at the end of this year for the
next two tests, troponin I and CK-MB, used to assist in the diagnosis of a
heart attack. We continue to prepare for a North American launch in July,
2002 with a launch into international markets set for April, 2002. As well,
the development program for the PSA test for diagnosing and monitoring
prostate cancer is proceeding very well; we expect to reach a critical
milestone in September which would trigger a second payment from our
Japanese partner. The PSA project is further proof of the utility of RAMP
and our ability to develop a wide variety of important tests on one
platform.
We very much appreciate the continued support of our shareholders. I truly
believe the coming months will be very exciting for us. As always, please
feel free to contact John Gomez, Manager of Corporate Communications, or
myself with any comments or questions you may have.
Sincerely,
Bill Radvak
President & CEO |
