SAN DIEGO, Sept. 30, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Akcess Pacific Group, the majority owner of Instead, Inc., announced plans to invest an additional $10 million to support trade and consumer marketing of the company's flagship product, the Instead Softcup, and help launch its new personal lubricant, which will be on-shelf early next year, according to Joseph Pike, managing partner of Akcess Pacific and Instead Chairman and CEO.
Instead, a developer of over-the-counter women's reproductive health products, owns and controls several innovative, patented products and technologies that give women control over their own reproductive health through every stage of their lives, from menarche to post-menopause.
According to Pike, the company is also seeking a strategic partner that has experience in the marketing, promotion and support of products in the reproductive health category.
Its flagship product, the Instead Softcup, was developed by Instead's predecessor company, Ultrafem, Inc., and has been on the market since its launch in the northwestern United States in early 1997.
Within nine months of launch, the Softcup had gained a 2.1 percent dollar share of the feminine hygiene category in the Northwest. Despite that success, Ultrafem filed for bankruptcy in 1998, and in 2000, Akcess Pacific took control of the company and changed its name to Instead, Inc. Pike is also managing partner of Akcess Pacific, which owns more than 90 percent of Instead.
"After 15 years of research and development and the expenditure of nearly $150 million, we feel that Instead is positioned to capture a significant share of this vast, worldwide market," Pike said.
"Since acquiring the company, we've streamlined operations and improved gross margins by more than 40 percentage points, increased distribution in the United States, secured marketing approval in 19 foreign countries, and established distributor relationships in each of them," Pike explained.
Currently, the Instead Softcup enjoys distribution in more than 19,000 drug, grocery and mass merchandise outlets in the United States and Canada, and more than 22,000 outlets internationally. In the United States, it is sold at Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Kroger, CVS and Rite-Aid, among others.
Early next year, the company plans to introduce a new personal lubricant that is an all-natural, acid-buffering, long-lasting formulation that is water-based and safe to use with all condoms.
The new lubricant is actually a compound that was developed at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago as part of an effort to develop an effective new-generation spermicide and microbicide.
Known as Acidform within the reproductive health research community, the compound has been shown to maintain a woman's natural acidic pH level. At that level, sperm and many STD-causing microbes, including HIV, are disabled. Pike explained that while the lubricant cannot be marketed as a contraceptive pending further clinical trials, women who are trying to get pregnant will be advised not to use it.
"The introduction of this compound as a personal lubricant is yet another step that our company is taking in its goal to give women total control of their reproductive health," Pike said.
Currently, Nonoxynol-9, the only spermicide available in the United States, has come under fire as a result of recent studies published by UNAIDS, the World Health Organization, the CDC and numerous peer-reviewed medical journals which have concluded that N-9 not only does not help prevent sexually transmitted diseases, but in some circumstances can also potentially increase the risk of contracting HIV and other STDs.
Following the lubricant introduction, the company intends to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to market a modified version of the Softcup as a disposable diaphragm. The Instead Softcup currently on the market is a feminine hygiene product that collects, rather than absorbs, menstrual flow.
"Long-term, our plan is to market a product that combines the spermicide/microbicide benefits of our personal lubricant with the Softcup diaphragm packaged like a condom and priced competitively to provide broad access to customers of all income levels," he said.
About Akcess Pacific Group
The Akcess Pacific Group is a privately held organization that specializes in acquiring companies for its own account. The company is headquartered in La Jolla, Calif., and has offices in 12 locations in the United States and in Toronto, London and Moscow. Since its founding, it has grown to over 50 partners or principals who have a wide range of experience and operate portfolio companies in areas including medical products and pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, broadband communications systems, environmental remediation services, real estate management and development, and special asset purchases. The Akcess strategy is to actively manage its acquisitions to ensure full achievement of their strategic, operating and financial potential.