Invent Medic signs distribution agreement in Australia
Spotlight-listed Invent Medic has recently taken further steps in the company’s market expansion. Together with the newly appointed distribution partner Pelvic Floor Exercises, the company will market Efemia Bladder Support in Australia. BioStock contacted CEO Anna Lindström for a comment.
Lund-based Invent Medic has a product portfolio that focuses on women’s health. The first product, Efemia Bladder Support, is a continence support aimed at women suffering from stress urinary incontinence. Following the acquisition of Malmö-based FlowCup in early 2023, Invent Medic broadened its product portfolio with more new products with a focus on menstruation. In 2023, the company has significantly increased sales. Recently, it was able to report a revenue increase in Q2 of 170 per cent, compared to the same quarter in 2022. Learn more.
New agreement in Australia
The strong growth is partly due to sales success for Efemia Bladder Support in the UK. It is with this product that the company now continues its market expansion. Together with the new distribution partner Pelvic Floor Exercises (PFLEX), Invent Medic will market the product on the Australian market. The agreement is Invent’s third distribution agreement in 2023, which means that it thus exceeds this year’s target of signing two new distribution agreements during the year.
PFLEX a well-established partner in Australia
PFLEX is an established player in women’s and sexual health in Australia, with its own direct sales to consumers and an established contact network among healthcare professionals. In a press release, Invent Medic states that Australia’s healthcare system does not subsidise the group of incontinence aids that Efemia bladder support belongs to, but it is still interesting to establish a distributor in the country as there have been a number of inquiries during the year.
The CEO comments
BioStock contacted Invent Medic’s CEO Anna Lindström for a comment on the latest agreement and her expectations.
Anna, you now have a distribution agreement in place in Australia. What is the timetable for the launch of the product in the country?
– Before Efemia bladder support can be marketed and sold in Australia, the product must be registered with TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration), which is part of the Australian Department of Health. It is difficult to state an exact time when this will happen because the TGA has tightened the requirements and many products therefore need to be re-registered.
– PFLEX is positive and sees no problems standing in the way of Efemia Bladder Support receiving market approval since the product is already approved according to the new European MDR directives.
How important is this expansion for your future growth?
– For some time now, we have noticed an increased demand from Australian women who have heard about Efemia bladder support, often through family and friends in the UK who tell us about the positive properties of continence support.
– In addition, the TGA approves the European CE marking, so obtaining market approval does not require much effort.
– Our main focus for increasing growth is in European countries with prescribing where, as in the case of the UK, we can see faster sales development. At the same time, we are now spreading the knowledge about Efemia Bladder Support outside Europe.
Sales in the UK are growing strongly – what is the strategy for Australia?
– To begin with, PFLEX will target the healthcare sector by visiting trade fairs and congresses and teaching healthcare professionals about the product. The procedure is similar to the one in the UK, with the exception that the product is not subsidised. Australia cannot therefore be compared with the United Kingdom, but rather with Spain or France.
Finally, what other markets might be considered for expansion?
– The important thing is to find the right distributors who reach out to the profession and educate about the product. We are currently working very actively with our distributor network, both to review the ones we have and to see if we can establish ourselves in more countries than the ten we currently have sales in.
– Our focus is on Germany, where we are on prescription and where we have not yet seen the sales we expect.
The content of BioStock’s news and analyses is independent but the work of BioStock is to a certain degree financed by life science companies. The above article concerns a company from which BioStock has received financing.
