02.11.14
Tissue Regenix Wound Care Inc. is gearing up for its American debut.
The British medical device firm --- which opened a subsidiary in San Antonio, Texas, in 2012 --- is slated to launch its first product in the United States by the end of next month. The company has signed seven independent regional sales agreements for distributors to begin promoting its DermaPure tissue regeneration product in 25 states, including Texas. The distribution agreements will allow more than 40 sales representatives to promote DermaPure to U.S. hospitals in the 25 states.
The technology, which helps heal chronic and acute wounds, will be available to hospitals and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care institutions in those areas.
The company's parent firm, Tissue Regenix Group (publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange), is hoping to sign more agreements to expand product sales to all U.S. metropolitan areas by the end of 2014.
DermaPure removes DNA and cells from human donors' skin, which then is used as a scaffold to repair wounds by attracting the tissue recipient's cells to the repair site, where they can regenerate.
The product requires only a one-time application rather than repetitive surgeries and does not need to be stored on dry ice, said Greg Bila, president of the company's San Antonio office. The company has spent the past year developing and commercializing U.S. products for wound and surgical care, vascular repair, cardiovascular support and orthopedic repairs.
An analysis by Jefferies International Ltd. predicts the company's shares could double in value as its first sales are generated.
"At this point in time, we're not giving an estimation of what (U.S.) sales will be," Bila said. "But we're looking at Tissue Regenix as having the potential to become a $1 billion market cap organization."
The company's San Antonio office now employs six people, including Bila, a former Kinetic Concepts Inc. director of sales, leadership and training development.
But the size of its workforce is likely to increase.
The number of people ultimately hired for Tissue Regenix's San Antonio operation depends on the reception of its first U.S. product, Bila said. "We're quite confident from the acceptance that we've had from physicians involved in clinical research and the acceptance from clinicians that have heard about the product," Bila said.
The company's U.S. products currently are manufactured in Ohio, but it is possible those manufacturing duties also could expand to Texas at some point, he said. The Jefferies report, issued late last year, predicts global medical technology companies could eventually show interest if Tissue Regenix's products deliver on "promising" early results.
"The trial results and initial sales over the next 12 to 24 months could see Tissue Regenix become a takeover target," the report states. "The large medical device companies are grappling with how to move beyond metal and plastic implants, and Tissue Regenix is positioned to deliver a neat solution that is both affordable to bring to market and affordable for the payer."
Based on historical takeover valuations, Jefferies predicts the company's product areas combined could be worth about 10 times the current share price in a "break-up and take-out" scenario.
"This would be several years into the future, but highlights the upside potential," the report states.
Tissue Regenix Group began in the United Kingdom in 2006, evolving as a corporate spinoff from the University of Leeds.
The U.S. subsidiary, supported by British funding sources so far, might start raising investment capital in America at some point because the domestic market is one of the fastest-growing areas in regenerative medicine, Bila said.
The British medical device firm --- which opened a subsidiary in San Antonio, Texas, in 2012 --- is slated to launch its first product in the United States by the end of next month. The company has signed seven independent regional sales agreements for distributors to begin promoting its DermaPure tissue regeneration product in 25 states, including Texas. The distribution agreements will allow more than 40 sales representatives to promote DermaPure to U.S. hospitals in the 25 states.
The technology, which helps heal chronic and acute wounds, will be available to hospitals and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs health care institutions in those areas.
The company's parent firm, Tissue Regenix Group (publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange), is hoping to sign more agreements to expand product sales to all U.S. metropolitan areas by the end of 2014.
The product requires only a one-time application rather than repetitive surgeries and does not need to be stored on dry ice, said Greg Bila, president of the company's San Antonio office. The company has spent the past year developing and commercializing U.S. products for wound and surgical care, vascular repair, cardiovascular support and orthopedic repairs.
An analysis by Jefferies International Ltd. predicts the company's shares could double in value as its first sales are generated.
"At this point in time, we're not giving an estimation of what (U.S.) sales will be," Bila said. "But we're looking at Tissue Regenix as having the potential to become a $1 billion market cap organization."
The company's San Antonio office now employs six people, including Bila, a former Kinetic Concepts Inc. director of sales, leadership and training development.
But the size of its workforce is likely to increase.
The number of people ultimately hired for Tissue Regenix's San Antonio operation depends on the reception of its first U.S. product, Bila said. "We're quite confident from the acceptance that we've had from physicians involved in clinical research and the acceptance from clinicians that have heard about the product," Bila said.
The company's U.S. products currently are manufactured in Ohio, but it is possible those manufacturing duties also could expand to Texas at some point, he said. The Jefferies report, issued late last year, predicts global medical technology companies could eventually show interest if Tissue Regenix's products deliver on "promising" early results.
"The trial results and initial sales over the next 12 to 24 months could see Tissue Regenix become a takeover target," the report states. "The large medical device companies are grappling with how to move beyond metal and plastic implants, and Tissue Regenix is positioned to deliver a neat solution that is both affordable to bring to market and affordable for the payer."
Based on historical takeover valuations, Jefferies predicts the company's product areas combined could be worth about 10 times the current share price in a "break-up and take-out" scenario.
"This would be several years into the future, but highlights the upside potential," the report states.
Tissue Regenix Group began in the United Kingdom in 2006, evolving as a corporate spinoff from the University of Leeds.
The U.S. subsidiary, supported by British funding sources so far, might start raising investment capital in America at some point because the domestic market is one of the fastest-growing areas in regenerative medicine, Bila said.