INNOVATOR
AEROGEN, Galway Business Park, Dangan, Co Galway.
Tel: 091 502550. www.aerogen.com
Cutting-edge
care
Operatinginahighlysophisticated
andtechnicalmarket,Aerogenhas
developedaproductitbelieves
istopoftheclass
‘We went into a very technical
area and have developed
a product that is now
regarded as the best in the
world in that space’
John Power
LTHOUGH the global economy is taking a Having been through a number of transitions since it to be a market leader in its space.”
A
pounding at the moment, healthcare is started out, Aerogen merged with an American company Power believes that, given the big emphasis on patient
probably the least affected of the sectors, in2000,andwentpubliconNasdeq.Thecompanywasthen care globally, Aerogen’s products stack up well in this
which is good news for Co Galway-based subsequentlyboughtbyanotherAmericancompany,Nek- regard.“Wefeelourproductsgivegreatvalueastheyreduce
Aerogen. tar Therapeutics, in 2005. Two years later, Power bought theamountofdrugrequiredtotreatapatient,andthere-
Set up in 1997, Aerogen is a medical-device company the business back through a management buyout. fore reduce the possibility of hospital-born infection.”
specialising in acute-care aerosol drug delivery. Nektar kept a minority shareholding in the company Aerogen invests about 40pc of its operational expenses
Viahisbackgroundinlife-supportventilatordesign,com- when it was spun out, but it recently sold that part of into research and development (R&D). “People are look-
panyfounderandmanagingdirectorJohnPowerspotted its business to pharmaceutical company, Novartis. “It’s ing at cutting costs all over the place and reducing their
a gap in the market for a good drug-delivery system to be very good for us because one of the biggest drug com- product costs. It’s a bad trend to start reducing your
used in conjunction with ventilators. panies in the world now has a minority shareholding in product prices. You need to ensure your customers per-
“Ventilators are probably at the top of the pile when the business,” Power notes. ceive the value they’re receiving from your products,”
it comes to medical equipment,” explains Power. “If the Starting out with just two employees, today 36 people he explains.
equipment doesn’t work, people die. If you imagine are employed at the firm. In the past 18 months alone, Innovation within companies is something that can
someone is on a life-support ventilator and has all the the workforce has grown by 50pc. Internationally, there only continue, he believes. “When things are tight, peo-
tubing in, our major product line delivers aerosolised are four employees in America, plus a European team. ple start thinking more. When there are downturns in
drug into that tube set to carry the drug down into the With sales having grown by 59pc last year, Aerogen the economy, markets become less served with new
patient’s lung. exports 90pc of its products worldwide, supplying lead- innovations as companies aren’t putting out new prod-
“Wewentintoahighlysophisticated,verytechnicalarea ing medical-care companies. There are 35 US and inter- ucts and cut back on R&D. Actually, there is a far better
and developed a product, now regarded as the best in the national patents attached to Aerogen’s products and opportunity for us as a company to listen to what cus-
world in that space,” he says. technology. tomers are looking for; accelerate R&D and bring more
Almost all the employees at Aerogen have a science or Growth is very innovation- and marketing-driven, products into that space.”
engineeringbackground,uptoPhDlevel.LastNovember, Power explains. “It’s what we call value innovation. We In what’s a sure sign of a company poised for further
AerogenwasalsonamedwinneroftheGoldAwardatthe follow a strategy called Blue Ocean that came out of growth, Aerogen is about to break ground on a new
prestigious Irish Medical Device Association (IMDA) INSEAD in France, which identifies uncontested market 20,000 sq ft site in Galway, four times the size of its cur-
ExcellenceAwards.Powersaysallthemajormedicalcom- spaces.Wedon’tcompeteonacommoditybasis.Our rent premises. With manufacturing outsourced to Amer-
panies buy its product to use with their own. “Our prod- products have to be unique. The main criterion we have ica and the Far East, the intention is to bring some of the
uct is considered the gold standard in that field.” in our product development process is that it’s going high-end process back to Ireland, says Power.
32 SFA NATIONAL SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS WWW.SFA.IE/AWARDS
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