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Large article in today's Waal Street Journal (Nov 26th)about how investors (usually large shareholders) are more frequently holding CEOs feet to the fire to maintain pps. Timely, I think.
And yes, the video was released because of our pressure.
They mentioned an auxilliary retractor in the gall bladder surgery. Happy to see this new video but I still think they are going to be an effector short if they stick with two, AND still call it single-orifice surgery. Xi has three. I know some surgeons here say three is too many but then you needs anotha' hole somewheres, yes?
Great questions but I think they fall under the "secrets" category, especially given Titan's stated-strategy of silence.
Agree, Titan SPORT and the Mazor product are completely different animals, directed at a different brand of surgeon/indication.
I would, however, say that Mazor can make an interesting study for Titan in regards to cost, purchases, surgeon adoption, etc..
Most of the spine surgeons I work with seem to think that they are capable manually to place pedicle screws with accuracy and little unmanageable risk. From what I've heard/seen of the Mazor system, the time overhead seems to work against it as a product. I'm sure the experienced users would disagree. So maybe there is another lesson to me learned here by Titan about the critical issue of surgeon-training.
I hope some of the SAB do consult with a cross-section of Mazor orthopods and get some feedback about its adoption. They are not competitors to Titan (with their current product).
True - the negatives get attention. Positives not noticed. Symptom of lack of trust and poor PR/IR.
Nothing that happens with Titan gets much attention, ever. I'm kind of getting used to it.
What the Samsung patent app describes a 'guide tubes' are different than Titan's in that each segment in the articulation is apparently an electrically controlled solenoid.
It seems like the intent is to pass flexible effectors through curvable tubes, that can also be made straight , and be flexible or rigid. Titan relies on a rigid tuge with articulating effectors at the ends.
In any case, the Asian robotics and micro-robotics industry will be a major player soon.
Thank you, sir, for all your work following this company and sharing it with us.
Bertner should buy you dinner at the very least, or put you on her payroll.
I see where you are coming from in that the FDA would not promote more indications to Titan as a way to encourage exercising any market advantage.
However, there are preliminary and informal discussions available with the FDA where they actively promote investigational and technical development that they think can improve the medical device as they envision it helping the public good. In other words, they might agree with you it is a good idea, and suggest the proper pathways/pitfalls in pursuing future approvals. That is part of their model now to promote device development and make the approval process less stifling. (although King Obama would have that taxed)
I have been to those type meetings with FDA. They are informal but begin to break the ice, make personal introductions, get ideas across, etc.. Companies are wise to try to arrange them and usually they would involve the science, medical, and engineering personnel, rether than CEOs and business or investment staff.
My guess is haptic feedback (for SPORT) is still years away. It will be exceptionally hard to do with the snake arm because you do not have a stable (rodlike) member on which to mount strain transducers, which would be a conventional approach. Mounting those transducers will be much easier in the rod and wristed-joint rods of the daVinci platform.
Unconventional approaches to haptic feedback sensing like vibration emitting and sensing are still far away, especially if the (microminiature) transducers need to be mounted on surgical effectors.
I'm not up on any advanced technologies that might be out there, but it is a difficult task to do haptics, especially with the very small forces and deformable materials and tissues encountered in surgery. For industrial-type robots, not nearly as difficult.
Add to that the safety issues of testing and insuring that the haptic feedback is accurate, when doing surgery.
Then there is the difficulty of producing the haptic feedback at the console manual controls.
Years away is my guess.
Well, I'll add one thing to this fight, maybe break it up a little.
Look at this short video. Titan and everyone else is up against this.
It is a good article. Negatives for us (and ISRG) are that it implicates robotic surgery in general for "overlooking" the risks of morcellators.
Agree with the optimistic future outlook, but the market hardly seems to value this stock appropriately. Only apparent explanation is lack of visibility.
Agreed. So as another poster pointed out recently, that makes the name SPORT an oxymoron of sorts for some surgical indications where you simply can't get by without another incision/port. I don't have a problem with this personally, but it will certainly be a matter of contention out in the marketing world.
I suggest that Titan should begin thinking about ways to deal with this issue now, from a product-naming and marketing standpoint.
IITF: Last question for your meeting should be...
Hargrove, how about putting me on the payroll?
Hell, you've done more for thid board and stock than Bertner, as far as I'm concerned.
Where would the 2nd port go?
A separate incision besides that for SPORT makes the single orifice not single anymore.
The SPORT barrel has no room for a 12mm dia channel given is is using 2 arms and the incision alone is touted to be 25mm.
The overarching question begins to float to the surface again:
Given all that we know about this company, the progress made, the SAB, the technology, the market, the pps history of ISRG, Ximedica, etc., etc., can you really believe Titan and SPORT are so speculative as to be worth under $2 ?
This is not some startup effort fueled mostly on dreams and napkin drawings. THey have real engineers and programmers spending real money to try and get things ready to enter a huge and lucrative market with promising technology.
Still blows my mind that this stock sits where it does. Honestly, I hold Bertner COMPLETELY responsible to get the Titan story put on the map. It won't be worth $2 when that happens, even if a saleable product is still two years away.
I'm all in, in that I haven't sold a share on this cliff-dive. Fundamentals are all still there. Hope is that they remain on this new-track and can produce, market, and sell while others are still far behind. But any improvements in ISRG's systems and/or pricing in the meantime are going to extract blood from Titan.
Can't risk anything else to buy more, even at rock bottom prices. Still have obligations to be conservative for my family's sake.
Relieved as hell that I didn't suggest this stock to anyone else, and I would have had some takers.
Unbelievable that +1 dollar will get me into positive territory again. One news release could do that easily so I am only close to feeling panicked.
I will NEVER ACCEPT though that some support of pps from management, in a venture this fragile, isn't worth it - just to help spread interest for investors and developers who may want to contribute.
I hope they are all feeling a bit sick, like us.
I really thought I'd be seeing some significant green by about halfway through 2015. Had some new toys picked out to buy.
I don't think the showing of the video was an intended strategy. He said "they (who?) begged him to go". They (his daughter was there, right?)didn't have anything to show. So he figured he'd loop a video. Maybe didn't even know which one it was.
In a way, it doesn't sound like he knows WTF he's doing. She may not either.
That's my take.
Senile dementia and nepotism.
Also, Ms. Bertner looks nice in that fancy $$$ New Yawk outfit. Big collar and boots style since she's gonna go up to the cold North to ring a bell. Probably bought it just for the trip. Baby, I hope you're earning the money they're paying you.
How's that for the dark side?
Otherwise, I'm willing to wait with greater expectations but the thing that really bugs me is what ISRG will do in the meantime, or other possible contendeders.
And when Honey and I are BEGGING the company for periodic info, it doesn't have to be earthshattering. Just tell us what conferences you've attended, that some meetings have taken place, moving offices, hire a new position, some testing has been done,who's making the GD coffee, etc..
Just to tell us you're all alive and showing up for work, for God Sakes!
He couldn't have told you that ten minutes ago. I called then and was told he was in the shitter!
Actually, thanks for the news.
So what has Bertner done for Titan??
I just reread the hire-Bertner announcement from June. (see below and digest the words). Since Titan has no significant institutional investors, I am assuming then that what Bertner does pertains to us morans.
So, what have they done? As an investor, I have seen nothing in IR. Did they counsel Titan to shut up? Has an analyst yet picked up the Titan story? I'd like to hear about SOMETHING THEY HAVE DONE FOR TITAN! Is Wall Street more aware of Titan now than in June, Mr. Hargrove?
Titan Medical Inc. Retains New York-Based Bertner Advisors, LLC for Investor Relations Services
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jun 17, 2014) - Titan Medical Inc. announced today that it has retained Bertner Advisors as its investor relations advisor. Services to be provided in the United States to Titan include counsel on investor relations strategy.
Bertner Advisors is a financial communications consulting firm providing strategic investor relations services to health care companies.
Sherry Bertner, CEO of Bertner Advisors, commented, "Our team is thrilled to partner with Titan Medical. We look forward to working with management to design and execute an investor relations strategy that includes introducing the Titan story to Wall Street."
John Hargrove, Chief Executive Officer of Titan, said, "We believe Bertner Advisors will enable us to extend our investor reach and to build awareness on Wall Street. The Firm is a perfect fit for Titan as we continue to move closer to commercialization of the SPORTâ„¢ Surgical System and will enhance a great team, a great technology and a tremendous opportunity."
Excellent question. That procedure was listed as a new indication, right. Not reasonable or possible to do with the current platform as far as I can imagine, and why would you use a SPORT anyway? I would imagine site exposure is easy for manual techniques.
Urologic surgeons weigh in here?
Understand your points, thanks for clarifying.
I don't think any haptic feedback has been developed anywhere that is ready for incorporation into a robotic surgical system similar to that of SPORT.
Terribly difficult technology to develop for tissue-scale forces and miniature effectors, let alone to relay back through manual controllers like those on SPORT. Not realizable at this time.
BUT, there is no reason not to be thinking seriously about it - and letting the market know you are.
SPORT is not really on the industry radar. If it was, it would not have sat at 2 bucks a share for so long with "so much going right".
There was no anticipation, no trust, no accumulation of stock besides that of small investors.
2 bucks/share on a Canadian exchange is not picked up on industry radar.
IMO
We'll, I'd to see a rise to stability over my averaged cost point of 1.87/share, but without interesting developmental PR, I don't see why it will rise.
I's reasonable to think that Japan will soon be a player in the next-to-market wars for robotic surgery.
Search 'japan+robotic surgery'. Some of the splash articles are already 2-3 years old, so in the interim, things can only have moved forward.
Obviously, Japan is a world power for robotics and micro-miniaturization.
I believed that Titan should have pursued more than one indication, but not that market launch should have been delayed to wait for that. I understand that a dud on arrival system is not a good thing, but a public plan for 2 years of delay will put this company to sleep on anyone's radar. They must now wage a PR campaign.
Absolutely correct!
Immediate release of follow-up information (video, etc.) to shore up investor confidence (and pre-market environment) is damned well REQUIRED within days.
I thought Hargrove was a Sales and Marketing expert. Apparently, no need at Titan for either skill in the next 1-2 years.
That's what everyone thought they were doing, although I for one did not think one indication was enough to get entrenched, let alone entice hospitals/centers to buy.
So, in a way they are going the route I thought was better - but they can't pull it off without high visibility, institutional investment, analyst coverage.
We were all asking the question this year:
HOW CAN A COMPANY WITH THIS POTENTIAL AND SO CLOSE TO PRODUCT, IN SUCH A BIG MARKET ARENA, AND WITH ONLY ONE COMPETITOR, AND WITH SUCH A STELLAR CAST AND CREW,... ONLY BE WORTH 2 BUCKS?????!!!!!
NO PRESS!! NO BUZZ!! NO ANALYST COVERAGE!! NOT ON U.S. EXCHANGE!!
YOU NEED TO SELL YOURSELF TITAN!! FOR GOD SAKES!!
YOU DON'T EVEN COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR LOYAL STOCKHOLDERS ENOUGH TO UPDATE YOUR WEBPAGE.
Well if she's involved in anything but engineering or programming, she can take an unpaid leave of absence for about 1-2 years. That's my opinion.
Honey, I'm starting to agree that this company needs a dynamic CEO, younger and more tech and PR aggressive.
Who is going to buy in now with a 2-3 time frame to product, after expecting a launch in 2015 of at least an early version in Europe, India, etc.?
I wasn't around for the Amadeus no-go decision but for the people investing from the beginning, man this has got to sting.
If Titan continues to be the silent type in terms of IR/PR, you better just forget what the pps does over the next 1.5 years, hang in, and hope for the best.
Otherwise, since they appear ready to want to run with the big boy ISRG, and want to be able to raise money as needed, they will need to do progressive IR/PR to intentionally GROW the pps. WHY? BECAUSE it will pre-seed the future market for them, attract co-development and innovation, allow money to be raised, attract merger partners, cause others jumping into the robosurg game to proceed with caution, etc..
They would have more easily weathered this "SPORT 2.0 decision" if they had developed better visibility in the first place. I think the management are a little too full of themselves, personally. I sit at meetings with top docs every week; they like to hear themselves talk, and they have NO sense of time. That is not meant to be critical; they just are not businessmen.
I've broken just short of even with this drop, and do hope the pps will again rise organically very soon, but there is no reason to expect that. REGARDLESS OF THE PEOPLE ON THIS BOARD WHO KNOW THIS DOC OR THAT REP WHO IS HOT ON TITAN - TITAN IS OFF THE RADAR WHEN IT COMES TO BEING A POTENTIAL BLOCKBUSTER TECH COMPANY, AS WE MORANS ALL LIKE TO THINK. ISRG WAS DEVELOPED AS A TECH COMPANY, NOT LIKE A MEDICAL COMPANY. THE SAME WITH TESLA MOTORS, A TECH COMPANY, NOT REALLY A CAR COMPANY.
These days, perception proceeds function in commerce. Sucks for us mature people, but true.
Bertner MUST grow the VISIBILITY bar real fast, and real hard. Thomas Edison in the basement DOES NOT CUT IT ANYMORE in this tech world, like it or not!
One other thing: the SAB is a great thing to use, but beware! If they are given free reign to continually influence design, no matter how good their intentions Titan will never finish. There never is a perfect product.
Also, being on a Canadian exchange is JUST STUPID, no offense to the wonderful country of Canada.
I have spoken.
I know it is an oxymoron, but ultimately even a successful SPORT product (based on the current number and size of the articulated effectors) would have to go that route.
SPORT performing additional indications till require more specialized effectors, testing, simulation software, and hence cost.
The BIG question is: are they now thinking (realizing) that a "multi-port SPORT" is the only way they will be able to perform some of these additional indications. They have a multi-SPORT armature patent application? as you know.
They must be taking on a lot of work to add additional indications. Ultimately necessary, of course. Again I'm worried about who can come out of the woodwork in the meantime. Still think a deep pockets partner/owner who WANTS to be the next ISRG could step in 'an take it to a whole 'nother level'.
Based on "voice of customer" feedback and further consultations with the Company's development partners and the newly formed Surgeon Advisory Board,...
Perhaps this is where Bertner helped them, with the "voice of customer" feedback. Obviously there are no customers, but surveys, focus groups, or high-level potential customer interviews were conducted.
Now that's funny!
ONLY IF TITAN MANAGEMENT KEEPS US ON THE RADAR WITH ACTIVE PR!
Otherwise, why not back to $0.40? There will be no hurry for anyone to get into this stock for at least a year now, unless they market their their 'development company' image.
Agree with you.
More risk, along with delay. I am disappointed in seeing my short term hopes realized, but I think this is a better and more realistic plan. Gives ISRG breathing room, maybe that's why they were able to delay their single-port, to improve it. Or maybe they will rethink their launch and secure single-port in their customer base.
My biggest concern is seeing another competing technology get the one-up on Titan in the interim.
I think Titan needs a big partner now. I'd feel safer with a buyout than waiting another 2 years for a saleable product.
THEY WILL HAVE TO increase visibility now in the speculative market to keep up interest, and the pps will be their best marketing ("pre-marketing")tool.
That means timely 'nuggets' of carefully selected information, videos, collaborations, articles, etc.. If they play the we're doing everything underground and off-the-radar shtick, they will be taking a huge risk of completely falling off the map.
Danger now is never getting to a "design freeze" that everyone (with wide variety of inputs from the SAB) thinks is sufficient.
I suspect they are going to need a lot more money or major partnering to take it all up a notch or more.
1-2 years, starting now. My guess.