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'We believe robust testing will be required in order to normalize' post-pandemic: Co-Diagnostics CEO

Co-Diagnostics CEO Dwight Egan joined the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the company's Q4 earnings results, along with the latest at-home COVID-19 testing outlook.

Video transcript

SEANA SMITH: Let's switch over to Co-Diagnostics. They've reported quarterly results last week. Shares have been hit pretty hard since that report, falling from just over $13 a share to just over $8 a share today. We want to bring in Dwight Egan. He's the CEO of Co-Diagnostics. And Dwight, it's great to have you back on Yahoo Finance. Your stocks sold off. A lot of that, I think, has to do with more so the outlook.

Because if you look at the 2020 numbers, they were pretty solid. And I know a lot of that has to do with the demand for your COVID-19 test kits. You sold over 10 million of those. Talk to us just about your outlook right now and also your reaction. I know you don't want to comment too much on the stock's move, but the reaction that we've seen such a significant drop in shares over the last five days.

DWIGHT EGAN: Seana and Adam, it's great to be with you. And we believe that $1.52 per share in earnings and all of the other financial metrics that were achieved by the company in 2020 were, by all measures, fantastic results. And so, our view really is that we're excited about the progress that the company is making and experiencing so far this year, both internationally and domestically. And for us, the story is not so much about a great 2020, but it's about our vision and strategy for the future of molecular diagnostics testing. And in terms of how and where testing is going to be done, especially real-time PCR testing in the future, as society endeavors to normalize and such.

And COVID-19 has been a catalyst for the development of a very wonderful technology put together by Co-Diagnostics and our partners that will enable us to test at home and at point of care settings with a beautiful device that deliver real-time PCR results in less than 30 minutes. It's cheap, fast, and accurate. It's cheaper than the cost of a copay. And we believe that it will give individuals the power to know by themselves their COVID status.

And as the world normalizes, both in the United States and elsewhere, this type of testing is going to be critical as we move along. We're not going to be vaccinating our way out of this to 8 plus billion people in the world right now. And this type of going forward strategy for testing is, we think, going to be critical.

ADAM SHAPIRO: So, let's pick up on that because we keep hearing how this will be like the flu. You got to get a flu shot every year. Perhaps we're going to have to get a COVID shot every year. But one of the ways to minimize the variants that might appear is testing. So are investors perhaps being short-sighted when they don't-- or they dismiss the fact that tests like the one you provide will be around for a much longer period of time?

DWIGHT EGAN: Yes, we believe COVID-19 will be here till the end of time. And we believe that robust testing will be required in order to normalize. We sort of fantasize about normalization in the United States, as though we've normalized. And, you know, whether we're talking about working at an office or kids going back to school or eating in a restaurant or being able to go to a major sporting event or get on a plane, we're really clearly not normalized. And normalization is going to equal more testing.

And the real game changer is going to be fully at home self-tests and do-it-yourself tests in multiple settings. That's where the power shifts to the individual. And again, as I said, a cheap, fast, and accurate test, real-time PCR test. And that's not available yet, but with Co-Diagnostics's new platform forthcoming, it soon will be.

SEANA SMITH: Well, Dwight, let's talk about that timeline. When are you hoping to have-- bringing those products to market?

DWIGHT EGAN: We expect to be able to submit this product to the FDA for submission for FDA EUA submission regulatory approval in midsummer. And so it's a very fast track. We've engaged the very brightest minds literally in the world in designing and engineering the device. It's a little small, but 4 and 1/2 by 4 and 1/2 inch cube. A patient simply needs to spit into a small tube that is-- or put a swab into the tube and insert it into the machine. The machine is activated by a command from a smartphone.

And less than 30 minutes later, you'll be able to get your result on the smartphone. You can go back to work, do whatever you're doing in your home. So it's an exciting new technology. The COVID disease certainly was the catalyst for this type of development. We put a lot of energy into this for almost the last year to be able to finally bring this type of product to market.