Oventus Medical Limited (ASX:OVN) Founder and Clinical Director Dr Chris Hart discusses the company’s obstructive sleep apnoea product, the O2 Vent.Oventus Medical is an Australian-based device manufacturer, and we're operating in the sleep-disordered breathing space. So, our first device is an oral appliance which treats snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea, and it's been shown to be very effective in the treatment of those two. And the point of difference between our device and other oral appliances is that we have incorporated into it a 3D-printed titanium airway, and that's approximating a human nose, so it allows patients with nasal obstruction to breathe unobstructed, bypassing the resistance in the nose and the soft palate, and at the same time stabilising the jaw to prevent obstructions from the tongue.
It works in two ways. Firstly, it can advance the mandible. By bringing the jaw forward, it prevents the tongue collapse. But, as patients suffer from nasal congestion obstruction through the night, and they struggle to breathe, we have a second airway in here that allows the air to bypass the nose and soft palate issues and get the air straight to the back of the throat. So, we stabilise the jaw, we bypass nose and soft palate issues, and we allow very low resistance and easy breathing for the patient.
At the moment, we're selling in Australia. The O2Vent T was launched in Australia in July. We have some very good early sales in Australia, and we've just also received FDA clearance for the O2Vent T in the US. We're in the process of setting up our beta sites there ahead of some early sales to patients on a pilot basis later this year.
The O2Vent Mono was a monoblock device, hence its name. And with a monoblock device, if the patient needs or wants to change their jaw position, they would have to go to see the dentist. The O2Vent T is this one here. So, the patient can use an Allen key to wind their jaw forward or back to adjust their jaw position, and it also allows lateral movement for comfort. And we've reduced the bulk by about 40% in the O2Vent T as well.
So, we have TGA registration for both the O2Vent Mono and the O2Vent T, and we have FDA clearance on both of those devices as well. And, because of the harmonisation of regulatory rules and our current ISO 13485 audit, that will enable us to sell to all jurisdictions around the world.
In terms of our financials, we have some very early cash flow, in terms of revenue from our early sales in Australia, and we're about to start pilot sales in the US as well. We have a very strong cash position after our IPO in July. It's only our first quarter as a listed company. And we would expect to see sales accelerating in the US in the second half of calendar year 17, and from there we'll have some visibility on when we might become cash flow positive. At the moment, very early stages, we're very happy with the early sales we've got.
Twelve months from now, I think it'll be a very different company. We should see some accelerating revenue in North America. We may have entered some Asian markets as well. We should see some solid sales in Australia. But, importantly, we'll have more of our products in the market. So, our first two devices are oral appliances alone, and our next device will allow connectivity to CPAP. So, for all of those patients, the vast majority of them, that can't tolerate CPAP due to high pressure and mask-related issues as well as nasal irritation, we'll have a solution for those patients, delivering CPAP without a mask and at drastically reduced pressure levels. So, I think that's going to be a really exciting evolution for Oventus.
