This 6 month project was initiated on Jan 1st 2016 and all members of the Atturos team have been actively engaged to produce the single deliverable of an investor-ready business plan for Atturos. To achieve this the team have undertaken extensive gathering, documentation and assessement of 'strategic intelligence' and have participated in on-going dissemination of the project to obtain important stakeholder feedback. This work has included:
i. Attendance at key end user (clinician and urologist) orientated meetings and conferences, to evaluate their views on current treatment and diagnostic procedures including OCProDx. These meetings included the European School of Oncology meeting on Active Surveillance (Milan, Italy; February 2016), the European Association of Urology Annual meeting (Munich, Germany; March 2016) and the 2nd Annual John Fitzpatrick Symposium (Dublin, Ireland: April 2016). For the latter, the team produced a meeting report that will appear in the July 2016 issue of 'Oncology Reports'.
ii. Continued dissemination of information on the OCProDx test and Atturos by speaking (Invited) and chairing sessions at several significant national and international meetings. These included Oxford Global's 11th Annual Biomarkers Congress (Manchester, UK; February 2016); Catholic University Hospital (Rome, Italy; February 2016), GTC's Biomarker Summit 2016 (San Diego, CA; March 2016,); an Open Innovation Conference (Limerick, Ireland; June 2016) and the 64th American Society for Mass Spectrometry (San Antonio, USA; June 2016). At these events the OCProDx test received significant positive feedback and a number of additional key clinical and commercial contacts have been established. Furthermore, this exposure has resulted in at least 5 further invitations to speak at conferences and clinical centres in Europe, the US and Asia.
iii. The Chairman and Founder of Atturos have held multiple 'one to one' meetings with industry experts, representatives of government agencies and local investors. Two investors have approached Atturos and several exploratory meetings have been held which will now be supported by the business plan prepared during this project.
iv. Atturos hosted three significant brainstorming sessions in May 2016 – clinical, technical, and business development themed. These day long sessions were held in UCD’s research and innovation hub – NovaUCD – and chaired by an experienced and inspirational partner in Frost & Sullivan. The sessions attracted significant exposure for Atturos and OCProDx. The clinical, technical, and business development sessions were attended by scientists (industry, research, and hospital-based), clinicians, patients, entrepreneurs, and a number of KOLs and influencers from industry and academia. During the sessions a number of key questions were presented to groups and, through facilitated breakout sessions, potential solutions and ideas were gathered. The extensive information from these sessions has been thoroughly recorded and documented, and has served as a hugely valuable resource for Atturos’ continued development. Some of the recommendations arising from the sessions have been implemented already, with further experiments and planning already underway. Key strategic guidance has been incorporated into our plans and major elements are represented in the business plan. The team have prepared a 'Frequently Asked Questions' document addressing these matters and consolidating answers that will be presented to investors as required. Within Atturos the Brainstorming sessions have led to engagement with important stakeholders who have commited to the continued development of the company.
v. Production of an online market research survey and its pilot completion by ten US urologists (survey conducted in partnership with Qualtrics). The results of this survey have been highly informative and encouraging, and elements from this have been incorporated into the business plan.
vi. Development of key interactions with local accredited testing laboratories and visits by the team to hospital, commercial and forensic laboratories. This included a multinational CRO with laboratories that provide testing for clinical trials. These interactions will support the efficient and streamlined development and implementation of an Atturos accredited laboratory.
vii. Engagement in EU supported business mentoring sessions with a highly experienced and enthusiastic mentor whose advice and guidance will play a key element in shaping our strategic plans to build value in OCProDx and Atturos.
viii. Implementation of the website for Atturos (www.atturos.com) which will be updated continuously as the company grows.
ix. Use of Enterprise Ireland facilitated access to multiple key industry reports to gather strategic intelligence on current diagnostics market trends in Europe and worldwide.
x. Preparation of an IP strategy that has provided an outline of the steps required for protection of the Atturos clinical methods and products. A patent landscape report, completed by a major UK patent firm, has confirmed FTO for OCProDx.
xi. Preparation of a publication strategy to ensure the scientific evidence underlying the OCProDx test development and performance is disseminated. Several scientific manuscripts have been prepared and some now accepted with a pipeline of others under review.
xii. Development and on-going consolidation of an investor information pack containing the up-to-date business plan, FAQs, lab process information (SOPs) and data.
xiii. Team building workshops with the Atturos leadership team have strengthened our relationships and re-inforced our motivation to continue working on this venture with vigour.
This work has been invaluable and we are confident it will support significant investment in Atturos to drive company growth, employment and delivery of the first of a pipeline of products that will have significant healthcare impact.
