The product was designed to be over the counter for a variety of reasons.
If one takes a prescription route, it takes usually four, five, ten years, sometimes even
15 years.
We know that from drug industry that greatest products available today were designed ten,
15, 20 years back.
It's a very long process.
Very expensive, and takes millions of dollars.
For a small, privately held company, designed in a physician's office like mine, over the
counter was the best approach.
The advantages of over-the-counter product is once you have decided, once you design
it, manufacture it, keep it ready for the shelf placement in the store, you can start
getting revenue right away.
You can see revenue in as little time, as six months.
NeilMed decided on January 1, year 2000, and we had our first revenue on May 1, in four
months.
So it was a very short cycle.
If we were to go prescription route, it would've taken three, four, five, ten years and perhaps
it would not have come out in the market.
Once you have the idea, and you do not need anything more than registration with FDA,
or other health regulatory affairs, depending on which country you're launching, usual time
is anywhere from one week to one month for registration.
I must tell this from the information perspective that in our observation, in launching in USA
and worldwide, they've concluded that more modern the country, more westernized and more
educated, registering product with health care authorities is much simpler, much faster.
Developing countries, they take much more longer time.
Basically it can take sometimes six months to one year to two years to three years and
it costs anywhere from ten times to a hundred times than what it would cost in a country
like Germany or USA or Japan.
Second thing is about physicians selling the product.
That's an excellent thing.
If physicians are going to sell the product, it already has validation by a doctor.
So, patient is going to be able to accept it, and patient is going to tell that, friends,
I got this from my doctor's office.
I know you are not a patient of my doctor, but maybe next time I go, I'll buy one for
you or I'll buy two for you or they buy for their whole family.
So, having physician acceptance in the office is one of the best things you can have.
NeilMed was fortunate that we had that.
For physicians to buy and sell it cannot be for the profit.
Most physicians who buy and simply pass it to the patients as a service.
Some physician would like to make sure that patients will follow proper instructions so
they would like to buy, give it a cost to cost and patient can take it home.
But at least patient got the product in the hand and did not forget slip in the pocket
or in the car and never bought the product till next visit.
But physician will buy the product, and pass it to patients or to consumers only if they
think product is safe of highest quality, simple to use, effective, affordable, and
validated by science.
And that's the reason physicians sold the product.
In the very first month of our launch, and as of today we still supply to few thousand
physicians who buy our product directly just to give a great service to their patients.