Bioretec released today their half-year numbers. And we have with us the CEO, Sarah van Hellenberg Hubar-Fisher. Sarah, good to have you on the interview.

Thanks. Likewise. Good to see you again.

How would you summarize your H1 in a nutshell?

So H1, let's start with commercial momentum. I mean, I think we saw continued growth in Q2. In Q2, with net sales year over year growing by 62%. We achieved over 100% year-over-year growth in the US and over 60% in Europe, which is really demonstrating consistent volume growth and representation across different targeted geographies. Our revenue base also continues to reflect that deliberate diversification through a broader mix of customers, distribution partners, and across key markets. And this is really reducing concentration risk and strengthening the quality of the revenue that we report. This is also reflected. These improvements are actually also reflected in the adjusted sales margin.

H1 was also a period of additional leadership transition. So we had announcements of a CTO and CFO transition, as well as the hiring of a new Head of R&D and a new CFO, which occurred after the reporting period. But these transitions reflect our laser focus on repositioning for growth, and the first two quarters of 2026 have really provided clear signals. We believe that our strategy and our commercial investments are really translating into measurable results. So we plan to carry this momentum and increase confidence into the rest of 2026.

As you mentioned, in Europe, you grew over 60%. So can you add a little bit of detail on what were the drivers and how that growth materialized? And specifically, how did RemeOs commercialization develop during the period?

So the growth in Europe is a direct reflection of our where-to-play strategy, which we conducted in the back half of 2025 and communicated through previous updates. In those updates, we stated that our strategy was set to focus on high-priority markets, where our 2025 revenue representation was lower than expected and desired, and where we knew that market demand was absolutely palpable. So this has resulted in delivering higher revenue numbers from those prioritized markets in Europe, including the U.K. and Germany, in the same comparison period. But this was also a direct result of the distribution changes we made in select markets, where our previous distribution partners were underperforming, and we were looking for some higher-performing partnerships.

In the US, you saw triple-digit growth year over year. So kind of the same questions for the US market. What were the drivers of growth in the US, and how did revenues develop? Sure. So we've communicated.

And we state consistently. We all know that the majority of the market for medtech sits within the United States. And so the US will continue to be a massive area of focus for us in terms of geographies. The US does, though, continue to deliver and to drive growth quarter over quarter. And our ActivaPin, again, will remain that predominant source of sales volume, as I just mentioned, because in the US we have an even more limited RemeOs portfolio than we have in Europe right now, with the one-leg solid screw design. So our focus is to increase our presence in the United States with people and increase our product offering in the United States through broader product approvals and product portfolio. And that will continue to help support driving growth.

Finally, the rest-of-the-world segment, is there anything specific you'd like to highlight there? And also, I wanted to ask about the Chinese market. How has that developed in terms of your business and the operating environment?

Right. So rest of the world is performing exactly as we had expected and planned. The comparison period, due to stocking orders from last year, gives, we believe, a real artificial impression of actual progress and expectations. Based on our where-to-play focus. So China is in line. Rest of world is still progressing, and we are also registering the products in new countries every single quarter. So rest of world is in line with our expectations.

I noticed there's another investigator-initiated trial from the famous Mass General Hospital from Boston. So can you talk a little bit about that trial?

Sure. So the majority of our clinical data collection has been in Europe. Historically for Bioretec, and I would still say predominantly that is our focus, especially for pre-market approval data. But also to meet post-market approval data collection requirements related to our CE mark. However, we do recognize that there are instances where US data is important. And in some cases there are procedures that are done within the United States that are not done in other parts of the world. And so it's the only location where data can be collected.

Mass General has been an institution that's highly respected. The Foot and Ankle Research Institute is called FAIR. It is also known globally and respected worldwide. And so we have been in conversation with them about a clinical trial, as you've mentioned, and we have plans to finalize those details related to that trial, which has not yet been initiated. But we're finalizing those details in the coming months.

In your own R&D efforts, you highlight the preclinical development in spine products. So can you share more details on that? Yes.

Spine is an area within orthopedics that has had a massive interest in biomaterials. And we're seeing that with interest in conversations that we have with industry players within our space. So in addition to our strong focus on foot and ankle procedures, we've made some early investments in preclinical data into spine on the back of our breakthrough device designation for the interbody cage. And we're going to continue this early development into 2027 and look to discuss the progress of this early development with strategic partners at that time.

Thank you very much for the interview, and best of luck for H2.

Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.