AirXpanders Inc. (ASX:AXP) CEO and President, Scott Dodson discusses the company’s focus and market reach at the ASX Spotlight Series 2016, New York AirXpanders Inc.
(ASX:AXP) we’re in the breast cancer reconstruction space. So our device creates a pocket for a permanent implant, after a woman goes through and has a mastectomy, after her cancer diagnosis.
We’re really in the business to help women recover their bodies after their breast cancer surgery. And in doing so, helping them get back to more of a normalised life with prosthetic implants, after they’ve gone through these horrific experiences with regards to breast cancer. The size of the market in the United States, the addressable market, is about an $800 million space. That’s primarily driven off about 350,000 units that are used in the United States, on an annualised basis.
The biggest opportunity for growth is really market conversion. The existing technology that’s being used for a woman today really hasn’t changed in 40 years. So we believe that with our great technology out in the market, we could convert a considerable segment of that, over to our base of technology, while in effect growing the business as well. Now one of the great things that’s really driving that right now is the whole Breast Cancer Patient Education Act.
In the United States, only about a third of women are ever told that reconstruction’s an option for them. And with this passage of this new piece of federal legislation, all women now must be told there are reconstructions available for them, which is fantastic for women. Because the way that the legislature’s set up in the United States, if you’re a woman and you have a positive diagnosis of breast cancer, whether you’re a Medicare patient or whether you’re privately funded, your plan must take care and must fully pay for your reconstructive therapy.
We’ve really been blessed with a tremendous amount of uptake since we’ve been on the market in Australia, about last June in 2015. We put three direct sales reps out, one in Brisbane, one in Sydney and one in Melbourne. And in the first 90 days, they captured about 10 per cent of the entire market. The great thing about that base of business was that after the next 90 days, they captured another 10 per cent share. So exiting 2015, we were at about 20 per cent market share.
We believe that will serve as a great proxy, as we take a look at launching the product in the United States mid-year 2016, because of the similarities between the Australian market and the market in the United States.
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