MMRGlobal 2014 "This Is Our Year" Letter to Shareholders
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 1, 2014) - MMRGlobal, Inc.
(OTCQB: MMRF)
As another year of reporting has ended with the filing of our
Annual Report, I wanted to take a few minutes discussing why we
believe 2014 is "our year." MMR's primary business is to offer and
sell Personal Health Records ("PHRs") and license our patented
health information technologies that help make them work. Starting
January this year, at least fifty percent of all patients seen by
eligible providers must have the ability to view, download and
transmit their health information within four days after the
records are available to the doctor or within 36 hours after a
hospital discharge. As a leading provider of Personal Health
Records, this means your Company is in the right place at the best
of times.
Based on Meaningful Use requirements under the stimulus bill's
HITECH Act, we got ready for prime time by investing millions of
dollars in patents, intellectual property and technology preparing
for 2014, the year of Transformation of Healthcare. And so did the
U.S. government, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars, in
fact more than $379 million, educating consumers on the health
insurance marketplace and the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"), and the
importance of having a Personal Health Record.
And we were right to invest. Seven million people have already
enrolled in ACA through HealthCare.gov and it is expected that over
30 million more will ultimately be covered. Those 30 million and
the rest of the insured population are being offered PHRs and other
health & wellness tools as part of the everyday office routine
in an effort to deliver better patient outcomes at reduced
costs.
And when providers offer PHRs as part of the office routine, MMR
stands to benefit.
Wall Street has also been right to invest in health information
technology ("HIT") companies. In fact, less than two weeks ago
Castlight Health Systems, a company that sells products and
services to patients and employers similar to MMR, went public on
the NYSE. Castlight debuted with $13 million in sales, trading at
more than a 150 times revenue or in excess of two billion dollars
in market cap. This clearly demonstrates the strength of the equity
market for HIT companies like MMR.
We have always believed that protecting our technology and
intellectual property is of utmost importance and have pursued
patent protection since the Company's beginning. We have invested
millions of dollars and thousands of hours on our health IT patent
portfolio and operating technology, products and services, and the
results speak for themselves. Through the Company's wholly owned
subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc., we own ten U.S. patents, with a
recent Notice of Allowance signaling number eleven, 17 pending U.S.
applications and more continuing to be filed, and we are seeing
financial results, directly attributable to the licensing of our
patents. In the first quarter of 2014, MMR settled its first patent
infringement case against a Fortune 50 company setting the stage
for continued revenue not only in the quarter but for the long
term. Weeks later the Company entered into a Patent Agreement with
Cerner Corporation.
The Company is also actively engaged in licensing and strategic
partnership discussions with several of the largest EMR companies
and Big Box retailers in the U.S. Over the next few weeks and
throughout the year, you will continue to learn about developments
pertaining to MMR's patent licensing strategy including
announcements relating specifically to licensing and revenue.
Through our patents and other intellectual property we are
creating barriers to entry for competitors selling Personal Health
Record products and services, Patient Portals, and other Electronic
Health Record Systems. The MMR HIT patent portfolio also includes
numerous issued patents and pending applications in other countries
or regional authorities of commercial interest including Australia,
Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico, Japan, Canada, China, Hong Kong,
South Korea, Israel and Europe.
The Company is also currently engaged in four patent
infringement claims in Federal Court while actively investigating
additional claims against others. The four cases are scheduled for
a consolidated Markman Hearing in August 2014 (MyMedicalRecords,
Inc., United States District Court for the Central District of
California, at http://www.pacer.gov/).
We are a provider of Personal Health Record products and
services with our MyMedicalRecords PHR, MMRPro document imaging and
scanning systems, and MyEsafeDepositBox storage solutions. We
strive to constantly offer new, improved products and services for
patients and healthcare professionals. In 2014 we launched
MMRProPlus, the most cost-effective way for healthcare
professionals to scan and digitize medical records while providing
patients timely online access to their personal health information
through MyMedicalRecords. MMRProPlus is also an integrated,
end-to-end document scanning and imaging solution that works with
virtually any Windows-based or Mac OS scanning system at one-third
the cost of the original MMRPro network scanning solution.
In MMR's 10-K filed yesterday, the Company reported that
Subscriber Revenue increased by 9.7% as compared to the same period
in 2012. We believe the increase was driven by the awareness of
Personal Health Records driven by the money spent on advertising by
HealthCare.gov and the resulting media exposure about the
importance of having a PHR. Notwithstanding the positive trend, the
Company's overall Revenue decreased from reduced MMRPro sales and
Biotech Licensing Fees. The decrease in MMRPro was due to
unforeseen delays in the opening and setup of new sales channels
with major distribution partners and the changes in the product to
make it work with any scanner. The decrease in the Biotech
Licensing Fees is due to delays in reaching specific milestones
under the Company's major biotech licensing agreement. We believe
at least one of those milestones should come due during the current
fiscal year.
The Company's Cost of Revenue decreased by 55% and overall our
Gross Profit in 2013 was higher than 2012 by 50.5%. Our General and
Administrative expenses increased by nearly $2 million dollars over
2012, mainly due to increased legal and consulting expenses, which
included costs to prosecute additional relevant patents and other
continuation claims both in the U.S. and internationally, not
including litigation costs pertaining to the Company's patent
infringement claims in the United States. The investment in these
expenses has already begun to pay off in 2014. For a complete
description of the Company's 2013 results we encourage you to read
our 10-K on file with the SEC available on the Company's Investor
Relations site.
In 2014, we also project that we will receive significant income
from existing license agreements pertaining to our biotech assets,
which we acquired through the Company's 2009 Reverse Merger with
Favrille, Inc. These assets have particular utility for the
treatment of cancer and other diseases of the immune system. These
assets which include patient samples are now owned and/or
controlled by the Company, which has identified licensing
opportunities and agreements that include milestone payments in
excess of $13 million dollars.
In 2013, the Company received its first U.S. patent issued for
"Antibodies and Methods for Making and Using Them," followed by
patents issued in Australia and South Korea. Additionally, another
U.S. patent was issued for our "Method and Composition for Altering
a B Cell Mediated Pathology," giving us four U.S. patents under
this title and significant manufacturing patent protection in the
U.S. Our biotech intellectual property portfolio covers patents and
applications directed to protection of our anti-CD20 monoclonal
antibodies and idiotype cancer vaccine. In addition to the U.S., we
also have patents issued in numerous other countries including
Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and throughout Europe, and
patents pending in various other countries of commercial
interest.
In 2014, the Company expects to benefit from the growth in
Telemedicine and smartphone usage in healthcare which requires
connectivity to patients through a Personal Health Record. MMR
already has connectivity to Telemedicine systems built into the
Company's PHR platform. Through Alcatel-Lucent's ng Connect
Program, MMR offers direct connection to physicians and other
connected health and wellness management tools. Also, in February
2014, we began plans to enter the medical cannabis industry
providing Personal Health Records to dispensaries for patients to
securely store recommendations from physicians.
We will continue to use social media including Facebook and
Twitter to build greater awareness of and sell our products and
services and communicate with shareholders. The Company is also
expanding affiliated marketing programs that enable publishers,
advertisers and health-related websites to offer Personal Health
Records to their customers on a "Per Acquisition" basis,
significantly reducing advertising costs to the Company.
Find out more about why this is our year. Join management in a
Shareholder Conference Call, Tuesday, April 8th, at 1:30PM Pacific
Time, entitled "The Year-End Review and the Year Ahead." Details on
how you can access the call are available on the Company's Investor
Relations website at www.mmrglobal.com, or by emailing
info@mmrmail.com. You may also register in advance to assure your
place on the call at
http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/uwaz5o88/lan/en.
MMR's 2014 management agenda is to participate in the strong
equity markets and current marketplace comparables for HIT
companies and work toward uplisting to the Small Cap Nasdaq,
American or New York Stock Exchange. We think that this would be
one of the most responsible agendas we can put forth. Finally, the
Company plans on selling our products and services and licensing
our HIT IP by taking advantage of the Transformation in
Healthcare.
About MMRGlobal MMRGlobal, Inc., through its wholly-owned
subsidiary, MyMedicalRecords, Inc., provides secure and easy-to-use
online Personal Health Records ("PHRs") and electronic safe deposit
box storage solutions, serving consumers, healthcare professionals,
employers, insurance companies, financial institutions, retail
pharmacies, and professional organizations and affinity groups. The
MyMedicalRecords PHR enables individuals and families to access
their medical records and other important documents, such as birth
certificates, passports, insurance policies and wills, anytime from
anywhere using the Internet. MyMedicalRecords is built on
proprietary, patented technologies to allow documents, images and
voicemail messages to be transmitted and stored in the system using
a variety of methods, including fax, phone, or file upload without
relying on any specific electronic medical record platform to
populate a user's account. MMR's professional offering, MMRPro, is
designed to give physicians' offices an easy and cost-effective
solution to digitizing paper-based medical records and sharing them
with patients through an integrated patient portal. MMR also offers
its MyEsafeDepositBox service which provides secure online storage
for vital financial, legal and insurance documents in addition to
medical records using patented technologies that drive the
MyMedicalRecords PHR service. Through its merger with Favrille,
Inc. in January 2009, MMR acquired intellectual property biotech
assets that include anti-CD20 antibodies and data and samples from
its FavId™/Specifid™ vaccine clinical trials for the treatment of
B-Cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. To learn more about MMRGlobal, Inc.
visit www.mmrglobal.com. View demos and video tutorials of MMR's
products and services at www.mmrtheater.com.
Forward-Looking Statements All statements in this press release
that are not strictly historical in nature, including, without
limitation, intellectual property licenses, intellectual property
enforcement actions, infringement claims or litigation, and future
performance, management's expectations, beliefs, intentions,
estimates or projections, constitute "forward-looking statements."
Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause MMR's actual results
to be materially different from historical results or from any
results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Some can be identified by the use of words (and their derivations)
such as "need," "possibility," "potential," "intend," "offer,"
"development," "if," "negotiate," "when," "begun," "believe,"
"achieve," "will," "estimate," "expect," "maintain," "plan," and
"continue," or the negative of these words. Actual outcomes and
results of operations and the timing of selected events may differ
materially from the results predicted, and any reported results
should not be considered as an indication of future performance.
Such statements are necessarily based on assumptions and estimates
and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those
relating to the possible invalidity of the underlying assumptions
and estimates and possible changes or developments in economic,
business, industry, market, legal and regulatory circumstances and
conditions and actions taken or omitted to be taken by third
parties, including customers, suppliers, business partners,
potential licensees, competitors and legislative, judicial and
other governmental authorities and officials. Factors that could
cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not
limited to: unexpected outcomes with respect to intellectual
property enforcement actions, claims of intellectual property
infringement and general intellectual property litigation; our
ability to maintain, develop, monetize and protect our patent
portfolio for both MMR's health IT and biotechnology intellectual
property assets in the U.S. and internationally; the timing of
milestone payments in connection with licensing our intellectual
property; our ability to establish and maintain strategic
relationships; changes in our relationships with our licensees; the
risk MMR's products are not adopted or viewed favorably by the
healthcare community and consumer retail market; business
prospects, results of operations or financial condition; risks
related to the current uncertainty and instability in financial and
lending markets, including global economic uncertainties; the
timing and volume of sales and installations; the length of sales
cycles and the installation process; the market's acceptance of new
product and service introductions; competitive product offerings
and promotions; changes in government laws and regulations
including the 2009 HITECH Act and changes in Meaningful Use and the
2010 Affordable Care Act; future changes in tax legislation and
initiatives in the healthcare industry; undetected errors in our
products; the possibility of interruption at our data centers;
risks related to third party vendors; risks related to obtaining
and integrating third-party licensed technology; risks related to a
security breach by third parties; risks associated with recruitment
and retention of key personnel; other litigation matters;
uncertainties associated with doing business internationally across
borders and territories; and additional risks discussed in MMR's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additional
information is set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013. MMR is providing this
information as of the date of this release and, except as required
by applicable law, does not undertake any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of
new information, future events or otherwise.
CONTACT: Michael Selsman Public Communications Co.
ms@publiccommunications.biz (310)
922-7033