Martin Health System Unveils Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot™ more

Jesuit High School Alumnus Donates Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot to His Alma Mater more

BiO2 Medical Announces Successful Completion of the Angel® Catheter Pivotal Clinical Trial more

Xenex Awarded Premier, Inc. Group Purchasing Contract to Offer Germ-Zapping Robot™ Room Disinfection Technology to Premier Member Hospitals more

SA bioscience companies strike new deal to expand scope of stem cell research more

TFS Corporation share price flat despite soaring earnings more

TFS Corporation doubles quarterly profit more

Innovation makes money grow on trees more

Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot™ Destroys Ebola Virus & Anthrax Spores in New Study Performed at Texas Biomed Biosafety Level 4 Lab more

Indian sandalwood oil producer ramps up production to supply new markets more

Cytocentrics Inc. wins Innovator Award at recent event more

Key Opinion Leader (KOL) Calls for New Standard to Close Port-Site Hernias in Lap and Robotic Surgeries more

Surgical Site Infections Decrease 100% after Trinity Medical Center Implements Infection Control Bundle more

Court Order Requires Tru-D to Cease False and Misleading Statements more

Merck and DNAtrix Announce Phase 2 Immuno-Oncology Collaboration more

San Antonio biotech firm CEO is heading west more

Sandalwood grower smells a fortune more

Explore the UV LED market that is expected to reach USD 369.58 million by 2020 more

Ten Life Sciences Companies to Watch in Central Texas more

San Antonio’s Xenex signs national contract with HealthTrust more

Xenex Signs Agreement with HealthTrust; Germ-Zapping Robots™ Added to the HealthTrust Portfolio more

Benzac® Intensive Spot Treatment Named Best Acne Treatment of 2015 by HEALTH Magazine more

neoSurgical® Reports Commercial Milestone of 2000 US Procedures more

Launch of latest hyaluronic acid based filler range more

Galderma Laboratories Announces the Nationwide Availability of Benzac® more

BioMed SA Celebrates 10th Anniversary more

TFS completes US pharma acquisition more

Finally, Good News for Anyone Looking for a Gentle Acne Treatment more

4th Peer-Reviewed Study to Credit Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots for Infection Rate Decrease more

A pair of biotech VCs take aim at raising SA’s status more

BiO2 Medical raises $4M for device that prevents embolism more

How SA landed Cytocentrics more

Sandalwood firm sticks to forecasts more

Two New Studies Show Decrease in Hospital Acquired Infections after Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots Used for Room Disinfection more

Xenex Offers Industry’s First HAI Reduction Guarantee; Multiple Hospitals Report Decrease in Infection Rates When Using Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots for Room Disinfection more

Xenex to expand sales of ‘germ-zapping robots’ to more European nations more

West Australian Indian sandalwood oil producer purchases American drug companies more

Sandlewood grower to buy US-based pharmaceutical firms more

Cytocentrics has big plans for San Antonio more

TFS Corporation Limited jumps on acquisitions: What you need to know more

Australian firm acquires multiple San Antonio bioscience companies; Deal could be worth $270 million more

TFS To Acquire ViroXis And Santalis Pharma - Quick Facts more

DNAtrix Collaborators Present Data on a Novel Oncolytic Adenovirus Expressing OX40 Ligand that Promotes Antitumor Immunity more

San Antonio expected to become bigger global research player as result of Cytocentrics deal more

Cytocentrics Wins $1 Million Incentive and Warm Welcome to San Antonio more

San Antonio approves major incentive deal to lure German biotech firm more

German Biosciences Company Relocating Headquarters to San Antonio more

Cytocentrics looking to relocate HQ to San Antonio, create 300 jobs more

Cytocentrics CEO: Biotech company passed up bigger financial offers to move to San Antonio more

Milwaukee VA center cleared to use germ-zapping robots more

GAO Affirms VA Contract for Mercury-Free UV Disinfection System, Milwaukee VA Hospital Orders Xenex Full-Spectrum™ Germ-Zapping Robots™ more

Pivotal Investigation of BiO2 Medical's Angel Catheter Exceeds Enrollment Expectations more

Alcyone Lifesciences and DNAtrix Enter Clinical Collaboration for Brain Cancer more

Here’s why these 4 companies are soaring higher today more

Harvard gets wood more

2 Works for You helps teen diagnosed with brain cancer denied access to experimental treatment more

Harvard University sees the good oil in NT sandalwood plantation more

San Antonio bioscience companies to team up on critical research more

Germ-zapping R2-D2 look-alike works at Renown more

Are TFS Corporation Limited shares an absolute bargain? more

Med tech start-up exits Bank of Ireland Seed Fund with US$21m valuation more

Galway-based NeoSurgical exits Kernel Capital more

Xenex sells Germ-Zapping robot to Iowa nonprofit hospital more

Broadlawns Employs Xenex Robot to Eradicate Germs more

Benzac® Acne Solutions Premieres Its First-Ever “Insta-Dramedy” Webseries more

Sandalwood grower enlists F1 star more

StemBioSys closes $8m in funding to help launch its stem cell culture system more

Irish start-up neoSurgical has just signed an exclusive distribution deal for the US market. But, as founder and CEO Barry Russell explains, it has taken persistence and courage to get the company this far

When neoSurgical was first poised to hit the US market, its team and products seemed to tick all the right boxes. “We knew the industry well and saw the opportunity in laparoscopic surgery for a new port closure device,” explains founder and CEO Barry Russell. “For the past 20 years or so, all closure devices have gone about the task in much the same way. But the market leader only had 15 per cent share, so we knew it was open to a new entrant. We also saw a very different way of doing it; one that requires less dexterity and experience. Young surgeons in training can use it without any difficulty – and that makes it a time-saving, game changer.”

PRODUCT POSITIONING
Sure enough, the basic concept was sound. But in finding the right position in the market, neoSurgical has learned a lot of lessons along the way, Russell reveals. That in itself is cause for thought, given the team’s enormous prior experience. Russell himself is an engineer with both R&D and senior commercialisation experience, gained over 15 years working at a senior level for leading medtech companies. His handpicked executive team has similarly strong credentials, and the chairman, Pauric O’Grady, was MD of Johnson & Johnson in Ireland until his retirement in 2007.

In launching any new product, there’s a process to go through, Russell says. “Developing and protecting the IP, raising money and jumping the regulatory hurdles are just the beginning. Commercialisation is the most difficult piece of all. Large multinationals own the supply channels into hospitals across the globe, and they are consolidating all the time. To go up against that, no matter how good your product, is really difficult.”

PICKING A PATH
For any new medical device, the US is the best market to launch in, in Russell’s view. “Europe may be a big market of 300 million people, but there are huge language issues and different health service nuances to cope with in each country. In the US, you’re talking one price and one system.”

However, the challenges of obtaining FDA approval usually force most new medical devices to launch in Europe first. Fortunately for neoSurgical, even though neoClose is novel, it is sufficiently similar to devices already on the market in the US to skirt this problem.

The US market may be homogenous, but that does not make it easy. “In the US, you could sign-up with a big distributor – but do that and you’re left with no strategy and no leverage. If all goes well, that’s great. But any problems and you could be out in the cold, wondering where to turn next.”

Another possible option, quickly rejected, was putting in place a direct sales force. The cost of that in the US – ¢300,000 to €400,000 a person per year – is prohibitive, Russell says, adding that a viable direct sales force requires a portfolio of more than one or two products. So neoSurgical narrowed its list of options down to a couple of distributors and signed up with one of the smaller ones, fully intending to build its own network across the US.

TRIAL AND ERROR
“But with this kind of product, you simply cannot launch a beta version and tweak it as you go along,” Russell says. “After launch, we quickly got feedback from the market that, although it worked well if the surgeon had good technique, we really needed to change the delivery guide. We could either leave it as it was, a moderate product which would do OK, or we could take a step back and get it 100 per cent right.

“That was a hard decision to make mid-stream, after four or five years of hard work, but we took the view that the product deserved it, and we went back into redesign. It was a brave move at the time, but it took us less than five months to produce a redesigned product, including completing the FDA filing. That’s the advantage of small companies – and you do need that kind of agility to survive. When we brought the revised neoClose back to the market, the reaction was the difference between night and day, and we quickly received a lot of interest from corporates.”

Russell says the other mistake neoSurgical made was in its distribution strategy. “We had been advised to start small, launching in one state, one city or even just one hospital. ‘You don’t need to launch widely,’ we were told. ‘When you go widely, you go very shallow. Narrow and deep is best initially.’ But we had our own ideas.”

“With the relaunch, the big question was what route we were going to take this time. We went all the way to the altar with one of the very big distributors, but had we gone ahead with them, we would have been undervalued. With hindsight, they were simply trying to buy cash flow.

Ultimately, deciding not to go that route was the best thing we could have done. Instead we decided that we needed to prove the product out in the marketplace and re-evaluate our strategy entirely. We also needed to raise more money, but what was our story for investors going to be on our goto- market plans?”

NEXT MOVES
neoSurgical decided to stay small. “We ran a competitive process with a number of midtier players, ones where we’d be significant to them, in return for a national, exclusive deal. For close to four months, we ran through the process with four or five companies. We were assessing each other, looking at prices and margins.

The eventual winner, Symmetry Surgical Inc, was changing its business model at the time. That meant neoClose was going to be its lead product, positioning it as an innovator in the marketplace and helping to pull through its other products.” neoSurgical already has a number of other IP ideas to bring to the market. “The trick is to boil one egg at a time,” Russell says. “The arrangement with Symmetry gives us both the confidence and the channel to start boiling the next egg.”

That in itself creates further tension. Should neoSurgical focus now on the next product or on launching its original one in more markets? “We will focus on neoClose in the US over the next six to nine months,” Russell says. After that, it will look at how best to move into Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada.

“Every week, we receive approaches from international distributors but we just won’t hand over to them to get international traction. We’re not prepared to make that move yet. We are going to stay focused on achieving success in the US, and that will give us options. Good logical, rational decision-making dictates that you cannot do too many things at one time. You simply don’t have infinite resources.”

Source: http://www.enterprise-ireland.com

April 17th 2015 back

Xenex exporting hospital-cleaning robots to Europe more

Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots Arrive in Spain; Clece Chooses Xenex for Hospital Disinfection more

Takes $8M to Build Homes For Stem Cells more

San Antonio biomedical company StemBioSys scores major funding more

Lexington Fire Department chosen to conduct trial on new EMS Equipment more

Xenex Rebuts Clorox Attack Following NAD Press Release more

San Antonio’s Xenex files lawsuit against Cloroxn more

Lexington Fire Dept. Among First In Kentucky Testing New Device more

Here’s why today is a good day to buy TFS Corporation Limited shares more

Over-the-counter (OTC) remedies rescue consumers from skin and health issues that are—at the time—more pressing than fine lines and wrinkles more

Germ-zapping Dalek-like robots trialed at King’s Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital to reduce the spread of infection more

Seven Women Run Tech Startups in San Antonio to Watch more

UV light from robots disinfects hospital rooms more

TFS rises on upgraded guidance more

Biological assets boost valuation for TFS more

NPSF Patient Safety Coalition Welcomes Xenex more

UV Disinfection Equipment Market is Expected to Reach $2.8 Billion by 2020 – Allied Market Research more

Scent of success more

BiO2 Medical Begins Enrollment for the Pivotal Investigation of the Angel® Catheter more

Baptist Health's new germ-zapping robots use untraviolet light as a disinfectant more

Baptist Health adds "cleaning robots" more

The Only Full Spectrum™ Pulsed Xenon UV Disinfection System more

Benzac® Acne Solutions Launches in the US more

State of health care: Xenex CEO says company is winning war against deadly infections more

The Health Cell to present event focusing on San Antonio’s health care and biosciences sector more

San Antonio developing biotech executive talent more

Xenex’s latest funding exceeds expectations, expands international opportunities more

San Antonio bioscience company Xenex secures major funding more

Germ-Zapping Robot Makes House Call for Texas Baby more

Hospitals name their disinfecting robots to add personality more

The robot will clean up now: More hospitals buying automated systems to reduce infections more

New Study Shows Pulsed Xenon UV Light Effective in Reducing C. diff, MRSA and VRE in the Hospital Environment more

Forecast: Three San Antonio biomedical companies to watch in 2015 more

Here’s why these 4 stocks are soaring higher today more

Sandalwood the good oil for US funds more

Oil Investment Could Put A Smile On The Faces Of Harvard Students more

Harvard takes stake in TFS more

Aromatherapy at home can be easy more

TFS up on US acne product launch more

BiO2 Medical Receives IDE Approval to Initiate Pivotal Investigation of the Angel® Catheter more

StemBioSys Inc. to Present at Biotech Showcase™ 2015 more

Galderma Laboratories Launches Its First Over-the-Counter Acne Regimen, Benzac® Acne Solutions more