Catalyst, Community, Funding, Insight, Partners, Resources, Strategy, Team »

Dialed-In recently had the opportunity to interview Steve Couture, vice president of marketing and retail sales with Union Springs Pharmaceuticals (USP), a specialty health care company based in Erlanger, Kentucky.

Dialed-In: Union Springs has accomplished a lot in its first 4-5 years in business. Talk a little about this success and what has been the catalyst?

Steve Couture: USP was founded by Roger Griggs in October of 2006.  The company began to license and develop a delivery platform product called DAPP (Disinfectant Applicator Pocket Pen), which formed the cornerstone product for the “Clyns” brand. Later innovation and additional refinement led to the final version which became MyClyns.

USP was initially focused on first responders (police, fire, EMS, prisons because of their level of third-party bodily fluid exposure. Our first patent was granted for MyClyns in July of 2008, and MyClyns received its registered trademark in July, 2009. USP has identified, and is poised to launch, a number of other products that complement MyClyns.

It should be noted that USP’s sales force is supplemented by agreements with leading distributors in the first response markets, as well as domestic and foreign military and government markets. We are actively selling MyClyns and its other products throughout the world (30 countries). We have had more than 3,000 fire, police, prisons, EMS departments buy from us a total of more than 150,000 units.

Steve Couture, USP

In May 2009, I was hired as USP vice president of marketing and retail sales to expand MyClyns into the consumer market. We created our retail strategy around a customer focus group, designed our packaging and pricing, developed our marketing plan, and “went to town.”

DI: What make USP unique from your competition?

SC: MyClyns is the only product available with a broad spectrum of germ-killing action that can safely be sprayed, without toxicity or irritation, directly into the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and open wounds after an exposure to potentially harmful pathogens. In addition, most all USP products have a unique “cross-over” of existing technologies that together make a revolutionary combined product that does not exist elsewhere.

DI: What are your top  challenges as an emerging pharmaceutical company?

SC: First, getting in front of the right buyers quickly. I had a demanding CEO (big heart) who wanted to launch MyClyns in retail by the fourth quarter 2009 (no excuses).  To meet retailers more effectively, we went to conferences such as the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and ECRM, where retailers and manufactures get to meet.  They are usually expensive, but you get to pitch your products to many retailers. It is definitely less expensive than flying all across the United States (taxis, hotels, plane fares, etc).

Our second challenge was building trust in the consumer market.  To build trust we started leveraging “the story.” People like stories. We would share with them that our product was used by police, firemen, and EMS crews and it is now available to you!  We started with heavy public relations and social media efforts. We have found that people typically buy a new product in a store when they heard about it somewhere.

Third, we had to get past the challenge of getting people to spray our product on their face when they can’t SEE the harm. Police, fire and EMS personnel get it when they have blood splattered on their face, eyes, and mouth after dealing with injured and disorderly people. They see the threat. Prison personnel also understand the threat from saliva and other bodily fluids targeted at them. Again, they can see the threat on their face. However, H1N1 and other airborne viruses are invisible. So building the value proposition is more difficult and expensive. We switched to positioning MyClyns for facial cuts and scrapes (no product can do this.)

Finally, we face the challenge of continuing to grow revenue in a difficult market. Now that we are in the first responder markets and retail stores, we have to identify where our next growth area is going to take place. We are now looking at the direct sales models like Amway, only with products focused on germ protection products for home, work and play. Unlike Lysol and Clorox, we are taking it further with products that keep protecting surfaces for longer durations (i.e. typical hand sanitizer works until the alcohol evaporates so you have to reapply every time you have a possible exposure. These products dry your dry-out your hands, require repeated applications, which requires additional investment in more product)  We have a solution that lasts 24 hours, is non-alcoholic, which means it won’t dry out the skin, and it doesn’t require repeated applications, which save users money.

Read the full story »

Catalyst, Community, Funding, Insight, Partners, Videos »

Lindsay Fello of G2G Consulting discusses how & why small life science companies can be interacting with the Federal government as a funding source. Lindsay provides a quick overview of the various types of Federal funding to pursue, Ohio’s Third Frontier initiative, how to prepare your company for funding and the type of timeline you can expect.

You can contact Lindsay at:

Lindsay Fello, Government Affairs Manager
G2G Consulting, LLC
1000 East Capitol Street, NE, #4
Washington, DC 20003

(216) 658-3995
lfellow@G2GConsulting.com

Catalyst, Community, Insight, Partners, Resources »

FDA Issues Assessments of the 510(k) Program and Use of Science in Decision-Making

Recommendations focus on innovation, regulatory predictability, and patient safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued two comprehensive evaluations containing recommendations that address three key objectives of the agency’s public health mission as it relates to medical devices – foster device innovation, create a more predictable regulatory environment, and enhance device safety.

The FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health assessment consists of two preliminary reports. One report focuses on ways to strengthen and clarify a premarket review process called the 510(k) program for medical devices that do not need to undergo a full premarket approval review. The other evaluates CDRH’s use of science in decision-making, with an eye toward adapting to new scientific information, while maintaining regulatory predictability necessary for innovation.

The two documents overlap in several places and cross-reference information. The documents can be found online.

Read the full story »

Catalyst, Insight »

Recently, David Skok, a five time serial entrepreneur turned VC at Matrix Partners, wrote an article on what he believe drives great entrepreneurs. Skok attributes his success and the success of companies that he has been a part of to passion for the work.

He commented, “if your primary focus is on making money, you usually won’t make money. When you work because you are passionate about your work, I believe you will maximize your chances of making money.”

Highlights of the article include:

• “…if you are hoping to sell your company, you don’t control that process or decision. As is often repeated in the startup world: companies are bought, not sold.
• “…if you are attracted to the world of startups, ask yourself this question: are you here because you are passionate about what you will be doing? Or are you here because you think this is a great way to make money?”
• “…there were two types of employees: the one type saw a startup as just another job, and put in just the right amount of work. The other type bought into the vision, and dedicated most of their waking hours to finding creative ways to make the vision come true”
• “…startups need to be focus energy on selling the Why, and not the What.”

Visit forentrepreneurs.com to read the entire article.