Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EarWay (EarWay: a simple, safe and efficient medical device for earwax removal)
Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2019-08-31
a. The technical feasibility of EarWay®, a homecare solution for safe, simple self-removal and management of earwax accumulation and impaction. According to this technical feasibility study, it is possible to implement several improvements to our EarWay® prototype to:
1.) Develop and integrate the handling system that will anchor EarWay helical heads and integrate to the device a camera that will give users the possibility to take pictures of their ear canal and check for ear drum inflammation either through sending pictures to a data server containing an eardrum inflammation detection algorithm or directly send the pictures to a healthcare professional. Both can be guaranteed as long as we set a strong data protection management we will develop in the project.
b. The economic feasibility of EarWay® with foreseen sales of 732,291 units and a 0.2% market uptake (conservative scenario). Overall this would translate into €5.6 million net profit accumulated by our company in the 3 years post-market launch (2022-2024) and a payback period of 1 year post-commercialisation (by 2023).
c. The commercial feasibility of EarWay®, provides a clear roadmap to follow for a successful commercialization, communication and dissemination during the project and beyond. Phase 1 has allowed identifying key mitigation contingency procedure to the EarWay® regulation and has allow to draw a preliminary strategy for communication and dissemination. Furthermore, we have identified key partners that would foster our commercial development including several distributors in Europe and a global strategic partner.
Phase 1 has also allowed to: a) confirm by a FTO assessment that no patents block EarWay® commercial development; b) plan the intellectual property strategy and; c) identify the dissemination and distribution channel instruments to deliver EarWay® to target public for a successful commercialization of our product in EU and US.
Since the creation of the company, EarWays Medical has been closely working with ENT specialists on the development of EarWay®. EarWay® is innovative: it is based on a unique patented- technology providing the only earwax removal method that uses a flexible helical open-profile to wrap the earwax instead of pushing it. EarWay® is efficient: the flexible neck allows for manoeuvring in three-dimensional space of the ear canal towards the earwax achieving an efficient (usually 100%) collection of the earwax at once. And EarWay® is safe: EarWay technology ensures safe and effective cerumen extraction, without harming the ear canal or eardrum.
According to the market study developed during phase 1, EarWay® is clearly superior to competing alternatives in term of safety but also easy to use. EarWay will mainly target the European and US markets, where, assuming a conservative 0.2% market uptake, EARWAYS Medical estimates sales of 732,291 units and €25.07 million revenues in the 3 years post-market launch (2022-2024). Beyond becoming an essential asset for the company´s growth and job creation (i.e. around 26 jobs created in 5 years), EarWay® will benefit the European and US societies offering the only safe and reliable solution to million people in need of accessible ear-care solutions.