Medistim Strengthens its US Operations and Expands the Sales Force

(Oslo, August 6th 2015) Medistim ASA (OSE: MEDI), a medtech company that develops and distributes surgical guidance and quality assessment devices, announces that the company is strengthening its sales organization in the United States. The company has hired 5 new sales representatives and is thereby increasing its capacity from 13 to 18 sales reps.
Globally, about 700.000 coronary bypass surgeries are performed per year and about 230.000 of these surgeries are performed in the USA. The US is therefore the largest and most important market for Medistim. About 80 % of the bypass surgeries are still performed with no other quality assurance of blood flow other than the surgeons experience by feeling pulse on the vessels using their finger. It is clinically proven that this method is not reliable. It is therefore a large potential and need for Medistims products in the USA. Medistim has large ambitions in the US market and so far Medistim has achieved a market penetration of about 14 %. The market penetration in Scandinavia and Germany is more than 70 % and in Japan the penetration is more than 80 %. Medistims ambition is to reach similar market penetration in the USA. In 2014 sales from the US amounted to MNOK 56.5.

Early 2014, a change in management took place and a change in the company’s commercial strategy was implemented. This included targeted initiatives to increase the use of Medistim equipment for existing customers and win new customers, as well as initiatives to get blood flow measurement and ultrasound imaging recommended as standard clinical practice through American guidelines drawn up by associations such as AATS (the American Association for Thoracic Surgery) and STS (Society for Thoracic Surgery). The company’s main initiative to increase routine use is the previously announced REQUEST study. This is a multicenter registry study, where leading centers in the USA like Mount Sinai Beth Israel in New York and George Washington University in Washington are attending.

These initiatives have produced results, and over the last four quarters the company has shown double digit volume growth in the US market.
Based on the positive trend, the company has now decided to expand its US operations. The company has hired 5 new sales representatives and is thereby increasing its capacity from 13 to 18 sales reps. New, regional sales territories have been drawn up based on thorough research, to ensure that new and existing resources are used optimally to target untapped potential in the market. The company consider 2015 as a training period for new sales resources and expect to see positive results on sales performance in 2016.

“We are very pleased with the development of our US business over the past 12 months,” says Kari E. Krogstad, President & CEO of Medistim ASA, and continues: “We consider that the time is right for further investments in our US sales operations. The US team has delivered solid growth over several quarters and shown that the change of management and commercial strategy are paying off. It is therefore important that we increase our capacity to exploit and further strengthen the positive momentum that has been built up, and to facilitate capitalization of the huge growth potential which exists in the US market. ”