IPO-bound Ventus Medical eyes market growth

Ventus Medical, the US-based medical device company pursuing an up to $40 million IPO on the ASX, will use the proceeds to fund its efforts to carve a slice of the multi-billion dollar sleep apnea market.

In an interview with Board Room Radio, Ventus Medical president and CEO Peter Wyles said that the company's goal with the IPO is “to raise enough capital to really allow us to push forward with our commercialisation efforts.

“Our lead product is already on the market today, so we want to use all our proceeds at this point to generate a lot of further adoption in the marketplace.”

Ventus launched the public offer process at the end of last month.

The company's lead product is Provent Sleep Apnea Therapy, which consists of two single-use devices designed to keep the patient's airwaves clear during sleep.

But the company is also preparing to debut its second product, an anti-snoring device, in the US market in the second half of the year.

Wyles said Ventus' two products “address two different marketplaces.”

He said the sleep apnea treatment “addresses a much more physician driven, diagnosed and recommended product place, and the other is a much more consumer direct model, where people can diagnose whether they snore or not and then they can just purchase the product directly.”

Asked to estimate the potential market for its products, Wyles said there was “a multi-billion dollar opportunity for sleep apnea alone across the world.”

He said manufacturers of continuous positive airwave pressure (CPAP) devices, a gold standard treatment for the disorder, are earning revenues of about $3 billion a year from the products while only covering an estimated 15% of the total market.

As for the snoring product, Wyles said the company was comparing its market potential to that of BreatheRight, a consumer based product marketed by GlaxoSmithCline. This business is worth around $200 million a year, he said.

Wyles said that as well as launching its snoring product, a major goal for the company is to grow its marketplace in Australia and New Zealand.

“We're very focused on Australia and New Zealand as our second [major] marketplace” after the US, Wyles said. The US currently accounts for over 50% of the world's sleep apnea market, he added.