Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the release of half-year results 2022 conference call and live webcast. I'm Moira, the Chorus Call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants will be in listen-only mode, and the conference is being recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. For operator assistance, please press star and zero. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Alessandro Della Chà, Executive Director, CEO. You will now be joined into the conference room.
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you very much for joining our half-year result presentation. Let me walk you through our slides very quickly, and let me just, first of all, remind you of who we are and what we do. We consider ourselves a pharmaceutical company that develops and manufacture innovative products in the fields of gastroenterology, health tech, and dermatology. In gastroenterology, we cover gastrointestinal diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, irritable bowel syndrome in the diarrhea version, and infectious diseases. In health tech, we cover artificial intelligence applications and endoscopy. We have a device that's currently being distributed by Medtronic that's tasked with helping detect lesions during colonoscopy. We have further applications on the way.
In dermatology, we have a revolutionary acne drug that has just been launched in the U.S. market, and we are stepping into the phase III for a drug on androgenetic alopecia. Our business model is based on three pillars, and I would like everyone to remember that this is one of the features that makes Cosmo rather special. We develop and manufacture our own product. We distribute the product through selective strong partnership, and we do drug development and manufacturing also on behalf of third parties. Now, this model enables us to bear no cost for commercial infrastructure, to have a very lean and simple cost base, to focus on multiple R&D opportunities, as I believe our approved products and pipeline prove.
Most importantly, to increase the profitability and the EBITDA as new products generate revenues, because we have a cost base that does not change much over time. With the increase of revenues, we do increase our profitability. Now in terms of overview, founded in 1997, listed on SIX since 2007, and market cap at the end of June, CHF 821 million. 292 employees. Here you can see the pie showing the distribution. What I would like to outline is that out of 292 people, we have 43 that are focused 100% on artificial intelligence. The real pharmaceutical business occupies 240-something employees, and 43 are completely dedicated to our AI franchise. Relatively balanced gender distribution and 15 different nationalities.
Now, key events and product update for H1 2022. It is with the utmost pride that I announce that we have delivered our record best half year in terms of revenue performance. EUR 41.5 million in H1 2022, compared to EUR 28.4 million in H1 2021, which represents a revenue increase of 46.1% half year versus half year. In terms of performance, well, a lot has happened in this first half. First of all, a U.S. trial has showed a 50% reduction in missed colorectal polyps using GI Genius versus standard colonoscopy. I would like to see this information not to be neglected or undervalued. It means that when you use GI Genius, you change completely the outcome of colonoscopy because you reduce by 50% the missed rate.
This is very significant, and it's a complete game changer in colonoscopy. Thanks to our partnership with Medtronic, we have seen a very significant increase in contracts secured by Medtronic, both for clients in the U.S. and the European Union. We have ongoing negotiations for multiple countries and regions for our acne drug Winlevi following the strong U.S. launch by our partner, Sun Pharma. Our partner, Ferring, has submitted the NDA for Cortiment in Japan. The application has been accepted by the PMDA, which is the Japanese NDA, after the successful trial that was run by Ferring in Japan. The review is expected to last a year, and we should be seeing Cortiment on sale in Japan by mid 2023.
I would like to remind everyone that Cortiment is an exceptionally good drug to treat ulcerative colitis in its mild form, and that Japan is the second-largest IBD market after the U.S. Our agreement with Medtronic for the distribution of Lumeblue is expanded now to all countries except Canada, where it is distributed by Pendopharm. Our core products are performing very strongly, and our development pipeline has significantly progressed. Let me focus first of all on what we call the legacy business, because I would like to show you all that this is a business that continues to grow and grow consistently. The sales of Lialda, thanks to increase in volumes in the U.S. and Japan, have shown an 11% growth half year 2022 versus half year 2021.
You can see the shift here, 11.7 in H1 2021 versus 13 in H1 2022, with a corresponding significant increase in number of tablets supplied. Also, Uceris/Cortiment is performing nicely. In terms of tablet supplies, you can see an increase of 109% H1 2022 versus H1 2021. A very significant increase in revenue as well, considering that now for the first time, we've reached cumulative net sales of EUR 100 million, and therefore, a significant milestone of EUR 8 million has been paid in the second quarter by Ferring. The next EUR 8 million milestone, sorry, is expected to be paid when we will reach EUR 200 million cumulative net sales.
The revenue from drug development and manufacturing on behalf of third parties is increasing as well, and has moved from EUR 5.8 in H1 2021 to EUR 6 in H1 2022, and we expect this to grow further over the course of the next months. Most importantly, our new product markets are starting to deliver. Let's talk first of all about Winlevi. Winlevi has now consolidated itself as the number-one most prescribed branded topical acne product in the U.S. Let me remind you all that the U.S. gross market is a $5 billion opportunity. As of today, we already have 10,000 unique prescribers, meaning dermatologists in the top quintiles prescribing the drug. Let me remind you that this has been launched just in November 2021, so after seven months, this is quite a performance.
Also, because in terms of prescriptions generated on a cumulative basis, today we are already over 258,000. This is really meaningful. Just to mention, we have high double-digit royalties that are due to us and up to EUR 190 million in commercial milestones upon reaching certain sales threshold. Most importantly in this initial phase is that the strong U.S. launch has resulted in a lot of demand for potential ex-U.S. commercial partners. I'll tell you more about this when we will talk about the key events that have happened after the close of H1. As far as GI Genius is concerned, before we look how the business has advanced, I want to remind you all about the size of the opportunity, which is very, very large.
The world market is at least 60 million annual colonoscopies, of which at least 19 million are in the U.S. Our device is compatible with all major brands of endoscopy equipment, and so this mean that the hospital or the ambulatory surgical center or the practitioner, they don't need to upgrade a very expensive endoscope. They can have state-of-the-art equipment by just leasing the device from Medtronic, which is exactly what is happening. What as a main promotional tool is more than enough to say that our first U.S. trial, because many more are coming out in the very near future, shows a 52.2% increase in the adenoma miss rate, which as I said at the beginning, is really mind-boggling performance and a game changer in the prevention of colorectal cancer. Now, let me show you the next slide, how the business is progressing.
With Medtronic, we have seen in the first half a very significant leap in signed contracts. As you can see over here, the contracted devices signed by Medtronic with clients in U.S. and EU are right now more than 850 over one point three six two thousand delivered for U.S. installation and 483 delivered for EU installation. Probably most important of all is to tell you that we estimate the total of the endoscopic towers just in the U.S. to be 30,000. This would mean that if Medtronic would occupy 100% of the market, it would place 30,000 devices. So far, Medtronic has ordered to us 3,000 devices for the U.S., which is equivalent to 10% of the market.
They are entertaining commercial negotiations in the US with clients representing more than 6,000 endoscopic towers, which means 20% of the US market, which clearly would come on top of the 850. Now, you should not expect for something very, very meaningful to happen in a very, very short time frame because it takes a lot of time to negotiate these deals. The progression will not be linear because many hundreds of devices are dealt with with the same institution at the same time. What's important to see here is how this is quickly progressing, especially if you compare this slide to the slide that we have just recently presented, which showed no information of this kind. This really is meaningful in terms of giving you an insight on the leap in the commercialization and how fast this is progressing.
Just to remind you all, some of the top U.S. hospitals have already installed GI Genius, and it is quite meaningful to see that you have the most reputable academic centers starting to use it. You should expect a top-down approach when the most eminent KOL and the most eminent institutions start to use GI Genius. That will become the benchmark in a relatively short time. Just to remind you all, Beth Israel at Harvard, Stanford University, Cornell University, New York University, Rush University, MD Anderson in Texas, Thomas Jefferson University, Einstein Medical Center in Pennsylvania, the Hospital Corporation of America, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Virginia, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in California, Northwestern University, Indiana University, and many more. We could have filled tens of slides with numbers, but I think that this is just sufficient to give you a snapshot on how things are progressing.
Our development pipeline is also progressing as expected. We have started our phase I in patients with advanced refractory solid tumors for our first incursion in oncology. The U.S. clinical sites are activated, and they have begun to screen patients, and we're anxiously waiting for news about the first patients enrolled. Our drug against androgenetic alopecia, Breezula, is about to start the phase III in males. We're expecting this to occur in the fall. Our new drug against bile acid diarrhea is, as of now, completing formulation and IP protection. In the coming month, we'll show you more information about the start of the clinical development plan. I would like now to hand over the floor to Niall Donnelly, our Chief Financial Officer, for a very quick review on the H1 2022 financial. Please, Niall.
Thank you, Alex. In the first half of 2022, we reported record revenues of EUR 41.5 million. That's up 46.1% versus last year. The revenue growth is driven by continued growth in our legacy products, plus now the contribution from the new products. We've maintained a very tight control over our cost base, and with the exception of an increase in raw material costs associated with increased product volume. The only other increase in cost was the amortization associated with our intangible asset with Winlevi, and this is a non-cash expense. As a result, our EBITDA increased to EUR 14.9 million, up from EUR 3.4 million for the first half of last year. Our operating profit was EUR 8.1 million compared to a break-even position for the first half of last year.
Our profit before tax was EUR 9 million, compared to a loss before tax of EUR 4.7 million, and that included a share of Cassiopea's losses last year in the first half. Our net cash from operating activities was EUR 12.6 million, compared to EUR 9.7 million last year. We finished the half year in a very strong cash position with EUR 219 million of cash and fund investments compared to EUR 222.2 million as of December. On this slide, it shows a revenue distribution and demonstrates the underlying growth here in both the legacy products and also the contributions from the new products. The Lialda/Mezavant/Mesavancol revenue was EUR 12.95 million versus EUR 11.69 million the first half of last year.
Cortiment, we had revenues of EUR 9.36 million, and that includes the EUR 8 million milestone received from Ferring, triggered on achievement of EUR 100 million net sales by Ferring. Also we see now Winlevi contributing EUR 5.6 million to the revenue line and also GI Genius continuing to perform with EUR 2.7 million of revenue. Okay, Alex, I'll hand back to you.
Thanks, Niall. What I would like the audience to understand specifically from the slide, which is exactly the reason why we wanted to give it a very graphic representation, is that although the new products are starting to perform, they're really just at the beginning. They're like babies with the first heartbeats. Their contribution to the overall business is still very low, but we're expecting this to grow significantly. This should be speaking volumes about where we expect to go in the future. Now let's look at the events after the close of H1 2022, our key priorities and guidance.
First of all, you have probably noticed that, on a very tight time schedule and from a certain standpoint, even a little bit too close to the release of the H1 data, which might have diluted somehow the overall effect, we have announced two very significant deals about Winlevi. Let me remind you all just for the sake of clarity that these two deals have nothing to do with the H1 performance. They have occurred in July, and our H1 ends up in June. What we're talking about right now is adding up to the performance of the H1, and they're not included in the H1 performance. The first very important news is that we have expanded our partnership with Sun Pharma for making Winlevi available to more patients around the world.
This new deal with Sun expands the existing agreements to other countries, including Japan, which you will recall is the second-largest pharmaceutical market after the U.S. and then include also Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia. This deal is very meaningful because I have to remind you this asset is still at a clinical stage in Japan because in Japan there's a different population. Whereas Sun will be able to register and get the marketing authorization in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, and Russia relying on the FDA approval, in the case of Japan, Sun will have to do at their own expense the further development and bring the product into a phase III, and then upon the success of phase III, register the product.
This also speaks volumes in terms of how much trust Sun is putting into Winlevi if it is willing to do something that a generic manufacturer does not always do so lightly, which is take over the clinical development of this very important asset for a phase III in Japan. Sun Pharma has received from Cassiopea, which is now a subsidiary of Cosmo, the exclusive right to develop and commercialize Winlevi in these territories, and Cosmo will continue to be the exclusive manufacturer and supplier of the product. We have received a very nice EUR 7 million upfront payment, and then we have clearly potential regulatory and sales milestones, including customary double-digit royalties on net sales coming over as development and commercialization will begin. The second very important deal is the partnership that we've entered into also for Winlevi with 3SBio in Greater China.
3SBio is a highly reputed Chinese pharmaceutical company with a very, very strong expertise and stronghold in dermatology. They're one of the highest dermatology seller in the whole of China, and this license agreement now covers the whole mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, so-called Greater China. They have the exclusive right to develop and commercialize Winlevi in Greater China. I want to remind the audience that also in this specific case, in respect of China because of the different population, this is an asset under clinical development which will require a Chinese phase III trial and a very meaningful investment from 3SBio to complete the development with Chinese patients.
The agreement includes also a right of first refusal for an exclusive license for Breezula in the territory, which is again, very meaningful in terms of showing the interest that 3SBio has for Breezula in such a large country. We have received a very nice $6.5 million upfront payment. Actually, will receive because the agreement has been signed just one day ago. There's a potential for receiving $63.5 million development and sales milestone, plus customary ascending high double-digit royalties on net sales. I think very good deal for Winlevi in China, and especially if you consider that the market potential in Greater China is enormous.
Believe it or not, more than 95% of Chinese people are suffering from acne in various degrees, but most importantly, more than 100 million young people aging between 10 and 25 years old suffer from acne in China in 2018. The acne treatment rate in the country is very low, and there's a lack of effective treatment. If you have read the statement of the representative of 3SBio in our press release, they really believe that Winlevi will be able to provide a new treatment for many, many Chinese acne patients. The key priorities for 2022 and beyond have not changed, except for the fact that now instead of beginning our phase I in studying patients with advanced refractory solid tumors, we actually have to progress because the phase I has formally began.
Our task is also to initiate the Breezula phase III trial in male in the second half of the year. I think we're scheduling the fall for the beginning. Clearly, most importantly, under one and two, make sure that both GI Genius and Winlevi receive all the necessary support from us to make sure that they continue to be a resounding commercial success. Company is very solid. As Niall has explained, we have EUR 219 million as at the end of June 2022, EUR 54.5 million in treasury shares, EUR 39.4 million in equity stakes and loans in listed companies for a total of EUR 312.9 million.
Again, it might be a very simplistic approach, but I cannot avoid comparing the total of our financial asset in respect of our current market cap and just think that if I subtract this 313 million total from our current market capitalization as of today, well, I believe the whole business comes at a very low price. Our financial guidance for 2022 is reaffirmed. We're expecting the revenue and operating profit to continue to grow, driven both by the performance of legacy products and an increase in product revenues, the new product revenues. Reaffirming a total revenue between EUR 90 million and EUR 100 million and an operating profit between EUR 20 million and EUR 25 million. I thank you very much for your time, and now we open the Q&A session. Thank you.
We will now begin the question and answer session. Webcast viewers may submit their questions in writing via the relevant field, or connect via phone to the numbers mentioned on the webcast page. Anyone who wishes to ask a question or make a comment via phone may press star and one on their touch-tone telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use only hand raises while asking a question. Anyone who has a question or a comment may press star and one at this time. The first question is from [audio distortion] Hazel Winchester from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead.
Brilliant. Thank you very much for taking my questions. I'll start with three on Winlevi, please, and then I'll move on to GI Genius. Could you just touch on which markets you still see partnership opportunities for Winlevi? Clearly, Europe's still a market you haven't licensed to yet, but I understand that the European market for branded active products is relatively small. Would appreciate your thoughts on the outstanding potential for partnering this product. My second question is the fact that you've signed two agreements which has given you about $13.5 million in milestones for the second half, yet you haven't increased your guidance. Just wanted to understand whether you'd baked in the milestones in your guidance or whether you would consider those upside.
My third question is, if we were to assume that Winlevi received around a 20% royalty payment in the US, we would estimate that the current gross to net is around 75%. Would you say that that's broadly correct? Could you maybe indicate what you expect in terms of the gross to net going through the rest of the year? Thank you very much.
Thank you so much. They're all three very interesting questions. First one about Winlevi in Europe. We're both in talks with potential continental players, meaning players that will cover the whole continent, and regional players that are interested in defined regions within the US. What we intend to do, first of all, is that we are entitled to file for the centralized authorization, and that is something that we have already started to work on. We're expecting Winlevi to be granted a centralized approval by the European Commission upon opinion of the EMA. Whether it's gonna be more fruitful for us to go with a continental player or to go with different selected regional players is still up to discussion.
Now that we have closed deals in respect of those countries, namely Japan and China, that do require clinical activity, we are okay because that is where the clinical activity can start as quick as follow. We will take the liberty of deciding which is more convenient for us between the two options for Europe, but we're not lacking options, and you will most likely see something happening in this respect in the second half. In our second question, in our 2022 guidance, we had considered to some level some upfronts coming from licensing deals. We don't think that at this stage, our guidance need to be revisited.
We think it's quite an aggressive guidance anyway, especially if you consider that revenue in 2021 was EUR 65 million, and therefore, the increase that we're projecting is particularly meaningful. No need to touch the guidance as of now. In respect of Winlevi, what we're currently seeing, this is the third question, that Sun Pharma is certainly aiming for a gross to net as the one that you were mentioning. I don't think they're there yet. The reason for this is the following: as you might know, most of the U.S. acne market is dominated by generic products, and therefore, Sun is facing the competition from generic, and therefore, it has to afford the commercial case of Winlevi with extensive co-pay in order to be as competitive as possible with generic drugs. This clearly puts under pressure the gross to net.
I think I have never seen people as shrewd as the Sun Pharma guys in running their commercial business, so they know very well what they're doing. We are expecting in the near future and possibly starting from the end of the year, we're expecting a decrease in the support that Sun is giving to patients through the co-pay with a corresponding increase in the rebates as insurance company will kick in and start reimbursing Winlevi. What you are currently setting in terms of a 75% gross to net is certainly an objective which might require, I believe, a couple of years to be attained. This is certainly the kind of timeline that Sun Pharma is setting. I hope that this is answering your questions.
Brilliant. No, that's very helpful. If I could just ask two on GI Genius as well, please. So you contracted 850 by the first half, which clearly shows good progress. Can you maybe provide some detail on what this number was at the beginning of the year, so the progress in the contracts? Then clearly, contracted doesn't necessarily mean that you're going to see revenue generated from those. How quickly on average could we expect to start to see those devices generating revenues? Just the second one on GI Genius as well. I think it's fair to say that Medtronic is still developing the revenue model for this device.
Do you see any risk that Medtronic potentially undercuts the economics of GI Genius or effectively uses GI Genius as, not necessarily a loss leader, but doesn't capture the full economics of the device to try and bundle it along with all of its other AI offerings? Is there any risk to that, or is it quite clear in your contract with Medtronic that there is an established revenue model? Thank you.
Thank you. Even more interesting questions on GI Genius. Well, to come to the first one, you know, I'm sorry, but we have been asked not really to provide too much details about GI Genius and the way that this is evolving in the market. Medtronic is particularly interested in not too many information being spread over. So they understand that we need to say, because this is a very important asset for us, but for them, this is a key asset in terms of AI and in terms of AI marketing because if you look at the Medtronic. Where is it coming from? If you're looking at the Medtronic pipeline, you will quickly see that the AI they really have is actually GI Genius.
We're not really showing an evolution because this is an ongoing process, and really the next round of information you will receive when we will release our full year data. Needless to say, and contrary to what you might think, when a device is contracted, the device will start to generate revenue. We're not gonna see the situation in which a device is contracted and does not produce revenue. The GI is contracted, so it does generate revenue, and it will start generating revenue since the moment it is installed. That was number one. Number second, no, I don't see any risk that Medtronic undercuts economics, first of all, because our agreement is very clear, and second of all, because they have all the interest in trying to make this as profitable as possible and as quickly as possible.
Just keep in mind that Medtronic is deploying a very substantial sales force in promoting GI Genius, and anyone who's willing to look into the web and can really assess the quality and the quantity of the marketing that they're making. I believe that they have more than 100 people currently working on the GI Genius franchise, which again, I'll remind you, is a product that doesn't belong to us. They have distribution rights. I'm expecting every possible effort for them to making it as profitable as possible and as quickly as possible.
Brilliant. That's very helpful. I appreciate the color.
Thank you.
The next question is from [audio distortion} Peter Hassler from Sven Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, everybody. Thanks for having me ask some questions. The first is about the amortization of the Winlevi, the intangible assets. You consider Winlevi as one of the most successful launches. Why are you amortizing that? Why is the valuation of the intangible value too high in the balance sheet?
Well, Winlevi, if I'm not mistaken, is amortized at a rate of EUR 6.8 million per year, which translates into EUR 3.4 every half. I believe that this is very balanced. This is based on projections and forecast over a long time span because we're expecting the product life of Winlevi to be significantly long and probably longer than anyone would expect. Just keep in mind that there is no such a thing as another topical anti-androgen in sight. This has been consistently discussed with our auditors and our consultants, and we believe that this is the right amortization rate, and we go for that.
In fact, as our CFO has explained before, the only significant, really significant portion of increase in our expenses in the first half was actually compared to H1 2021 is due to the fact that we have this EUR 3.4 million amortization to account for. The rest of the increase was actually only raw material as a consequence of the increased production of both GI Genius and Winlevi.
I thought so. This is a planned amortization. It's not an-
Yes.
-extraordinary.
Absolutely.
Okay. Thank you.
Really starts only from the moment the product goes into the market.
Yes, I get it. The second would be on your financial assets. You have significant decline here in value above all at the RedHill Biopharma. You mentioned that you are closely monitoring the developments there. Maybe you could give us an update on what you feel is going on, the most recent developments at RedHill Biopharma.
Sure. Well, RedHill is certainly under pressure because everyone has seen that their share price has significantly collapsed over the last year as a consequence, I believe, of the very strong pressure the whole sector is actually experiencing, and some companies more than others, and some companies less than others. They have certainly been hit very hard. Now, they have a few interesting assets and a very small commercial or organization, and to my knowledge, must have reached now the break-even of their commercial operations. They are cutting costs and delaying developments as it seems sensible to do, and I trust that they will be able to go back on the right track as soon as this storm is over. We continue being their largest shareholder.
Yes. Okay. Finally, a final question about the supply chain. Are there any supply chain issues that you have right now, which all the other companies are telling us about?
No, I understand the question, but thank God, not so far. Last year in 2021, between May and July, we had worries, as you would remember, subsequently to the global shortage on microchips and motherboard and that is where we strengthened our relationship with the supplier of this very important component, and we also started keeping components on storage. We believe that the scare that we had last year was very helpful in helping us prepare a much safer supply chain. So far we haven't had any specific for it.
All right. Thank you very much for answering the questions.
Thanks for your questions.
For any further questions, please press star and one on your telephone. We now move to the questions coming from the webcast. We have Mr. Chris Tanner asking, "Does Sun have rights of first refusal for the alopecia application?
Very simple answer, Chris. No, they don't.
The second question from Chris Tanner is, "Will Sun Pharma also manufacture Winlevi?
That's another very simple answer. No.
Another question from Chris Tanner is, "Why was there such a strong decline in revenues for Lumeblue?
There has not been a decline. There has been an increase because last year we received EUR 4 million from Alfasigma as an upfront payment, which is not actually treated as a revenue. That's just an upfront. The launch of Lumeblue in Europe and specifically in Italy has occurred, I believe, a month ago or something like that. We will see the evolution of the revenues going forward. Technically, actually, we've had an increase of the revenues because we don't treat the upfront as a revenue generated by the product.
Another question from Chris Tanner is, "What are your plans for Lumeblue for the USA?
We are currently in discussions with the potential partners, and we would like to make sure that we do the sensible thing. Meaning that if we have to move into the final Phase III, we do this with a partner on the side, because it makes sense to do, generally speaking, a Phase III on an asset by yourself if you believe that you're gonna market the asset yourself. Instead, if you believe that you'll have to market this through a partner, this is our case, because we have decided not to have our own commercial organization, then you need to make sure that you share the clinical development plan with your partner because you have to build up the trial and run the trial in a way that's gonna be consistent with how you will commercialize the drug going forward. We are in negotiation with multiple.
We'll update you.
Another question from Chris Tanner is, "You have 49 persons working on GI Genius. Does this mean that they are working on new applications? If not, what do they do?
Well, Chris, we have not hired 49 people just to warm up their seats, as you can imagine. Of course, we are working on new applications which will be communicated and released in due course. The deployment of the new application will happen according to the Medtronic commercial and marketing strategy. Many of these new applications are actually already ready in our drawers. It is up to Medtronic, who's a master in this, to decide when exactly to frame the entry into the market of the new feature. I am glad of the question because this reminds me of telling the audience something which I am not sure is completely understood, or I'm not sure I have been able to convey this with sufficient clarity.
I need the audience to understand that GI Genius is not a one-trick pony. GI Genius is not a one-off device. This is precisely the reason why Medtronic wanted to have it because this is the computer that will govern and run the endoscopy room over time. You have to think of GI Genius as you would think of the iPhone. None of you, including myself, would have ever dreamed that the iPhone would have been able to perform all the features that now we all take for granted that have nothing to do with just making phone calls. Now you use the iPhone to watch movies. You use the iPhones to do video calls. You use the iPhones to buy your stocks, sell your stock, check your investment, check your blood pressure, buy a book, sell a car.
None of us would have thought that this would have been possible. I urge you all to consider GI Genius as an iPhone. GI Genius is built with a modular infrastructure which is capable of hosting endless new applications. From the diagnosis of diseases to the indication of quality of the colonoscopy to the positioning of the lesion to the help to the surgeon to perform certain tasks. These are all things that GI Genius will perform that have nothing to do with the pure detection of lesions and actually go much beyond that. You should see the detection of the lesion as the entry point for something to be able to perform a very necessary task, just like the iPhone makes phone calls.
There's gonna be a whole world of applications that will be run on GI Genius to the point that actually this is gonna be something completely new and completely revolutionary in the endoscopy world. Companies like Medtronic have a capacity of view and a capacity of understanding marketing trends that certainly go beyond that of a layman. I urge you all to try to understand why Medtronic want this. This will give you a better view on the asset potential. Thank you. I believe there are no further questions unless-
Gentlemen.
Anyone comes up.
Yes, I'm sorry. We have a question from the phone. We have Bob Pooler from valuationLAB.
Sure. Let's go ahead, Bob.
Hi, Alex. First of all, do you hear me? I heard some beeps.
Yes, sir.
First of all, congratulations with the excellent first half there. Just following on with Medtronic and it's a GI Genius related question. They recently bought a company called CathWorks, and it's also an AI system. It's more for coronary issues. What I read is that they made a $75 million investment, and they have an option to buy the company for $585 million. How do you see that value compared to GI Genius, which is also an AI platform for colonoscopy? Just following on your comments that you had on Chris's question.
I believe we are in a much larger market because people seem to forget.
Mm-hmm.
That the colonoscopy procedure is the second procedure in the U.S. in terms of number after the blood test. You have the blood test, and then you have colonoscopy. Sometimes Bob, I'm very thankful for your question because sometimes I am puzzled by questions that I receive from investors because I have investor that sometimes tell me, "Okay, Alex, this is very interesting for colonoscopy, but could you eventually use it for brain tumors?" I then look at the investor, and I say, "Well, listen. Yes, you could use it for brain tumors, but the fact is that brain tumors are 0.0% of colonoscopy.
Why are you worried about me moving into a niche market when I am already in the largest possible market? I understand if I would be in a niche market, and you would want me to move into a large market, then I would say, "Well, you are right. I am in the brain tumor diagnosis, and I'll try to switch to colonoscopy because that's the large market." But I am already in colonoscopy, so why do you worry about the brain tumor market? Do you follow me on this, Bob?
Yeah, sure. I see the platform-
You have these guys, and you have Medtronic.
That's where Medtronic is investing.
Sure. Medtronic is investing $75 million and willing to purchase this company for $575 million, I assume, upon the occurrence of certain condition. I say myself, "Well, this is a wonderful news," because I would love all investors to take a look at what Medtronic is doing with this CathWorks, and then start to scratch their head thinking, "Is this likely to happen gonna happen with GI Genius as well?" Because this is the question that investors should ask themselves. Now, Cosmo is sitting on a device that's already working, it's already been placed, it's very impactful for Medtronic in terms of P&L. Going forward, it's on the largest possible market. Will anybody be willing to do anything with this asset sooner or later? Well, that's the right question.
Then just a final one. Doesn't this with GI Genius, if it does have that position, sort of marginalize Lumeblue? Because just on your analogy with the iPhone, Lumeblue enhances the contrast. So in that respect, GI Genius might be able to see or detect more. But if you look at the iPhone, it has progressed so much with AI that you can make a picture in the dark without even anything else. The AI actually takes care of that imaging. Would this be similar to GI Genius and Lumeblue, so similar to the iPhone with these night shots?
Well, you know, I'm not sure this is an answer for this question that I can really give you a reliable answer to. Because the fact is that I don't see the products cannibalizing one another. I may eventually see them occupying different spaces. Just like you're not gonna think that everyone will be using GI Genius all around the world. That applies to Lumeblue. To Lumeblue on the same spectrum and on the same token, they're accomplishing two different tasks and doing two different things while aiming at the same objective. The real difference is that Lumeblue is there just to help you detect lesions. The Genius is there to perform a lot of different tasks beyond the pure detection.
I really wouldn't put them in specific competition with one another. They're just doing two different things. One thing you can say for sure is that if you use Lumeblue, and then you use GI Genius, that's gonna do you no harm. That is not gonna be, it's not gonna be impactful in any way or form. I see them happily coexisting over time. I don't see a problem there.
Okay. Very clear. Well, thank you for answering the question. Again, congratulations with the excellent first half, and let's hope that the second half just continues the way it is doing now.
Thanks, Bob Pooler. Thank you very much.
There are no further questions.
Okay. I thank everyone for your time, and I'm very grateful that you joined our conference. I'll be happy to follow up with any of you at any time. Thank you.