Q2 2003 icad, Inc Earnings Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: Good morning and welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the second quarter earnings conference call for iCAD, Inc. At this time, I'd like to inform you that this conference is being recorded and that all participants are in a listen-only mode.

At the request of the company, we will open up the conference for questions and answers after the presentation. Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements.

Such risks include, but are not limited to, uncertainties associated with litigation and or government regulation. Changes in Medicare reimbursement policies, competitive factors and other risks that are detailed in the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The words, believe, demonstrate, intend, expect, estimate, anticipate, likely and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned to avoid placing undue reliance on such forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date the statements were made.

I will now turn the conference over to Mr. Scott Parr, CEO and President. Please go ahead, sir.

SCOTT PARR, ICAD, INC., PRESIDENT AND CEO: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us today. iCAD is currently pursuing a two-pronged business strategy. Our initial objective was to establish a competitive position in the higher case volume segment of the mammography market and to do so on the basis of our technological superiority in certain categories. We are well on the way towards accomplishment of this goal. Since FDA approval of our MammoReader computer-aided detection system in January 2002, iCAD has established itself with approximately a 10 percent share in the installed higher case volume CAD market. Our market share of new end-user orders during the second quarter of 2003 was, we believe, substantially higher.

In May 2003 the MammoReader was designated the top-ranked computer-aided detection system for early breast cancer detection by MD Byline (ph) a respected independent evaluator of medical capital equipment. This assessment contributed to our success in the second quarter and is the basis of increasing recognition of iCAD products and of the iCAD brand.

In July, we announced the iCAD IQ computer-aided detection system designed specifically for an estimated 3,000 clinics that perform less than 15 mammography procedures per day. the iCAD IQ is simple to operate and self-training, has been designed to fit within the limited space requirements of smaller mammography clinics and will be priced 30 percent or more below currently available CAD solutions. Shipment of the IQ system is scheduled to begin within 90 days.

With the iCAD IQ product, we have targeted the lower case volume segment of the market on the basis of our competitive cost advantages which we achieve through our vertically integrated corporate structure. We believe that the iCAD IQ can provide our company with a sustainable competitive advantage among smaller and more price-sensitive mammography and breast care centers. Our goal in developing the iCAD IQ was to create a category defining computer-aided detection system for this substantially unserved market relying on proprietary iCAD inventions and significant cost advantages to offer a simpler, more reliable and substantially less expensive CAD solution.

Our IQ product will be available to mammography facilities that cannot afford the outright purchase of a CAD system through a simple fee per procedure program that we have branded ClickCAD. Under the ClickCAD program, IQ systems will be installed in qualified mammography clinics at no up front capital cost. The clinics will then pay iCAD a fee approximating $6.50 for each computer-aided detection procedure performed. This amount represents just about a third of the standard $19.13 federal reimbursement rate for such CAD procedures.

This program, we believe, …