For those followers not on our email list, here's what I sent out this morning: To all Firebrick shareholders and followers,
Today, we announced an amended license agreement in the Philippines, which will allow Nasodine Nasal Spray to be launched in that country without any additional clinical studies. Under the amended agreement, our existing pharmaceutical marketing partner, SV More, will arrange local manufacture of Nasodine in the Philippines rather than import the product from Australia.
Why is this a big deal?
Because the latter arrangement required approval in Australia and ‘certificate of free sale’ in Australia as a prerequisite for marketing in the Philippines; clearly this is not happening any time soon because of TGA. However, if the product is manufactured locally in the Philippines, we avoid the need for Australian approval and can launch the product in the Philippines without additional clinical studies.
In fact, based on written advice obtained from the Philippines Food and Drug Administration (PFDA), the product would be classified as an OTC drug product and allowed to be marketed as a ‘disinfectant spray for the nasal passages’. From a practical marketing perspective, this is essentially the same positioning as in Singapore where the product is sold as a ‘nasal antiseptic’ and promoted for preventing or reducing the risk of catching respiratory infections.
But here are the big differences between the Philippines and Singapore:
- The Philippines is a large pharmaceutical market with a population of 119 million, 20 times that of Singapore.
- In the Philippines, we have a committed marketing partner in place that has been seeding Nasodine with key opinion leaders ever since the pandemic with samples provided by Firebrick; SV More is now very keen to use its professional marketing team to drive Nasodine sales through drugstores across the country, and build a strong consumer franchise based on both pharmacist and doctor recommendation; in Singapore, the product is available online only at this stage (although we hope to see that change in the next 12 months).
- In the Philippines, SV More will be responsible for managing the manufacturing and the working capital commitment; in Singapore, Firebrick currently bears that cost.
In fact, this deal in the Philippines is the epitome of what we hope to achieve in many markets – local manufacture, expedited approval and a committed partner to manage the marketing, while Firebrick receives a royalty or similar payment on sales.
Making Nasodine available online in the US and Singapore has succeeded in making Nasodine available and many shareholders have been able to legally buy Nasodine from our international website (nasodine.com); however, online sales will never deliver the real potential of Nasodine, and in both the US and Singapore, we intend to drive towards drugstore distribution and partnering over time and hopefully find ourselves in a similar situation to the Philippines.
I am very excited about today’s announcement.
Peter Molloy
Executive Chairman
