Alltracel Pharmaceuticals - Gerard Brandon

www.alltracel.com

Foundation / Location

Alltracel Pharmaceuticals PLC was incorporated in October 1996 with its head office in Sallynoggin, Co. Dublin and research and development subsidiary based in the Czech Republic and most recently concluded a UK acquisition with production and out-sourcing facility in Shenzhen, China.

Employees

In January 1997 the company employed two people. The Company was designed as a hollow organisation with the majority of sales, marketing, production, logistics, research and development out-sourced. The full time employment levels within the overall organisation has not exceeded 50 (14 in Ireland) highly skilled experienced and expert management personnel with wage levels of about 2 million Euro per year in Ireland alone.

Customers / Suppliers

There are over 50 Brands in 40 countries using, promoting and selling the Alltracel M-DOC® Brand. From Boots, Superdrug, Tesco in the UK, Walmart, CVS, Rite-Aid, in the US. Market penetration in less than two years since launching the Seal-On® range has reached US 85% weighted distribution and 74% in the UK. Continued roll-out includes many national, regional and multi-national corporations such as Novartis in their Savlon range and 3M in their Nexcare range all promoting M-DOC® as their stops bleeding partner and many others undisclosed for pre-launch commercial reasons expected to expand the business model further and faster.

Key and unique product features

1. M-DOC® is the Trademark owned by Alltracel and used to identify the end processed product of the patented technology (Micro-Dispersed Oxidised Cellulose), where used in wound care products and medical devices as a Blood Stopping Agent).
2. Blotters® is Alltracel’s branded blood stopping thin film technology for the consumer first aid market. The Blotters® are small thin, film strips (similar to Breath Freshener strips) impregnated with M-DOC® that form a gel like layer over nicks and cuts (from shaving) when in contact with blood to stop bleeding fast and can then be simply wiped off.
3. Seal-On® is the world’s first ‘First Aid’ treatment brand featuring stops bleeding M-DOC® as standard. The Seal-On® range has seven delivery systems, sprays, nasal plugs, patches, powder, plasters, dressings and Blotters®, each designed for a specific usage occasion and all containing the stops bleeding M-DOC® ingredient brand.
4. M-DOC® is provided on a royalty free basis to all wound care brands who actively promote and advertise the M-DOC® brand in association with their consumer brand similar to Dolby, Intel business model. This unique business model has within three years delivered the M-DOC® ingredient brand co-branding partnership program with a growing number of Brands around the world exceeding 50 and being sold in more than 40 countries. It is the only wound care Brand now available in the top 15 markets with no competitor.

Benefit to Customers

Consumers achieve the benefit of a range of products that are designed for occasions of use, such as shaving nicks, nose bleeds, sports bleeding injuries that deliver the benefit of ‘Stops Bleeding Fast’ for a price that is well within the consumer impulse purchase price for these products.

Retailers achieve incremental sales and higher margins, an additional category in what was up to the time of the launch of Alltracel’s M-DOC® Stops Bleeding Category, a dormant but essential store product range of First Aid.

Manufacturers and Proprietary and Private Label Brand owners are able to offer an active ingredient M-DOC® that enhances their range of products, achieves incremental sales and margins by promoting the M-DOC® brand inside their Consumer Brand.

Alltracel Pharma (Trade subsidiary of Alltracel Pharmaceuticals PLC) achieve multi-level promotion of their M-DOC® Brand and by association with Household name Brands, such as Boots and Savlon®, CVS and Walmart in the US, gain significant consumer recognition as being a trusted Health-Care brand that will have the ability to further extend the range of products through the rapidly expanding sales channel.

Scale of achievement

• The creation of a portfolio of 44 patents from a single technology platform with no patent due to expire before 2017
• The creation of multiple globally recognised brands within the wound care industry as unique and beneficial to the consumer
• The creation of an international ingredient brand M-DOC® that is fast becoming the world standard for ‘Stops Bleeding’ recognised by the Trade, Retail and the Consumer by association with 50 Household national, regional and international health-care brands
• Products sold with M-DOC® ingredient inside available in over 300,000 outlets around the world, on 5 continents, in 40 countries, on 50 brands, all promoting the M-DOC® brand, at no additional marketing cost to Alltracel Pharmaceuticals PLC
• With an average of 700 brands being launched every year into more than 2.3 million existing brands around the world currently being tracked, the chances of creating an international impact with a single brand is exceptional. To have all three brands from one small company achieve that goal within three years, not limited by the amount of financial and personnel resources available, when the estimated cost of creating a global brand is over $500 million, Alltracel Pharmaceuticals PLC has used less than $10 million inclusive to build all three and a marketing team of 4.
• The creation of a further health-care benefit from the same platform technology, which human clinical studies have recently shown to reduce cholesterol. The resultant product, classified as a non-drug has resulted in the Company being in discussions with a number of multi-national Pharma, food and beverage organisations with a view to commercialisation and evaluation of routes to market. IPO on the London Stock Exchange AIM, July 2001.
  
  Total investment to date from 1997-2005 – Euro 23 million.
  Sales Euro 2003 = 1.0m Euro
  Sales Euro 2004 = 4.6m Euro
  Sales Euro Q1-2005 = 4.1m Euro
  (forecast 2005 >20m Euro).

Innovation / Creativity - What aspects of your operation do you regard as being particularly creative or innovative?

Alltracel was founded on the basis that in order to achieve success with the limited financial resources at its disposal initially which were less than five hundred thousand euro, we had to be creative and innovative. Any business plan that would have been put together in advance of the hiring of scientists, the registration of 10 patents around the world, the cost of the expected clinical trials and regulatory approvals process around the world, even before a single product is designed produced, packaged, marketed, sold, distributed into a global market would most likely have shown that we needed millions of Euro, so the only way to succeed was to be both creative and innovative in every aspect of the business. This included how funds were raised, having 440 shareholders even before we listed on the stock exchange, to out-sourcing virtually every expertise requirement from R&D, to toll-manufacturing and appointment of vendor of record in major markets, such as the US and appointing the most experienced and successful field sales force in each target country and region

Initial Expansion - How did your initial phase of market expansion occur?

The major expansion occurred once we had signed up our first key internationally recognised account which was Boots in the UK and presented our range of products at the US National Association of Chain Drug Stores Convention in San-Diego in 2003. The result was the appointment of our US manufacturing out-sourcing partner and sales organisation.

They in turn went on to sign up the major drug stores, by presenting our marketing model, new ‘Stops Bleeding’ category to the buyers of First Aid and our range of products which were designed for occasions of use, rather than competitive products, such that the buyers realised the benefit of incremental sales rather than cannibalising of their existing range of First Aid products.

Obstacles Overcome - What are the toughest issues you deal with as you continue to grow your business?

Alltracel Pharmaceuticals PLC is growing at an exponential rate and now the second phase has begun. The commercialisation of the Cholesterol treatment, derived from the M-DOC® Platform Technology, is now ready for market. As with any expanding business, the greatest risk is over trading and balancing the cash-flow aspect of the company to the requirements of commercialising the exciting next generation of consumer benefits. Management of expansion of demand is not the worst problem a company could face, thankfully that is ours.

Organisational Culture - How would you define the culture within your organisation?

The culture is very much creative dynamic team-work with a sense of purpose and humour. During the transition from Entrepreneurial start-up to managing the vision going forward there is a focus on the creation of layered management to drive the next expansion phase. This management layer is crucial to the rapid, yet smooth growth of Alltracel and acquiring the skill-set within the recent UK acquisition along with the team already in place has been the order of recent months.

Impact on Lifestyle - How do you recharge your batteries?

I stepped down as CEO in August 2004 because Alltracel had reached the point where I could do more by contributing to the appointment of my successor than by trying to manage its growth. My contribution as a consultant takes up about 20% of my time. FarmaBrand TM, my next project which takes up 80% of my time is a ‘New Era” pharmaceutical company in Ireland and Poland. With 95% of the listed World Health Organisation (WHO) essential life saving drugs off patent and $1

45 billion of Blockbuster drugs coming off patent within 5 years FarmaBrand TM provides consumers and the World’s Healthcare Systems with a trusted low-cost brand alternative to both Big-Pharma blockbuster and “dubious” generic drugs. I don’t class what I do as work, so I always enjoy what I am involved in though I have learned to enjoy travel so much more than I used to and am quite fond of a social life that includes music and dance.

Role models - Have you a role model who has influenced your approach to business?

Success for me is survival. Not being an A-Student means that I always knew I was never the one to manage the company once it got past survival level. I know quite a lot about many of the projects I am involved in, but I don’t know everything about one thing in particular. In fact by hiring A-Student employees, they always made me look great.Alltracel survived and is a success because of the exceptional skills of the people in Alltracel.

As an Entrepreneur I was lucky enough to merely create the excitement and provide the environment for a collection of exceptionally skilled, creative and loyal people to work as a team to deliver on a vision. The rest they did themselves. When you get an opportunity to work with so many experts who are number one at their chosen profession in one organisation and around the world, everyone in Alltracel is a role model and each one has had a significant influence on my approach to business.