BREATH OF FRESH AIR

Tweed company helping asthma sufferers breathe easier

AIRPHYSIO’S mucus clearance and lung expansion device won’t win any awards for “sexiest” new product – but the team behind the product is confident it can tap into lucrative markets both here and abroad in China.

Tweed-based AirPhysio was launched in 2015 by managing director Paul O’Brien, Stephen Owen and Wayne Daley.

Simply, the founders believed that there was a gap in the market for an “oscillating positive expiratory (OPEP) mucus clearance and lung expansion device” – designed to help people with lung conditions, such as asthma, breathe easier. Users blow into a pipe with a hardened plastic mouthpiece at one end, a plastic protective, perforated cover at the other end, and a high-density stainless steel ball resting in a plastic circular cone on the inside.

“When you blow into the device, it works similar to when you breathe in. So when blowing out you create positive pressure in the lungs which helps to inflate the lungs. What that does is separates the air and gets it behind the mucus to help push it up.”

The devices are not new and have been around for 30 years. Flutter is one.

However, Mr O’Brien said AirPhysio’s device has a wider range of applications than competitors.

“The Flutter device – this has been around for 30 years.

“The talking – issue is – through to respiratory therapists is the device works great but only for those people that have normal lung capacity,” he said.

“That makes its usefulness limited. They also have only ever been used in hospitals so they do not have features like ours, such as the child safety lock.”

Mr O’Brien said the design process took 12 months and AirPhysio launched its product to the market in 2016.

Last year the business notched up several successes, including having the device winning the International “Best Product” award at the Yiwu Import Trade Fair.

It is China’s third largest import trade fair with more than 3500 exhibitors from 100 countries.

In November AirPhysio won the national “Start-Up Business of the Year” award at the Optus MyBusiness awards.

But AirPhysio’s biggest exposure will come next month when Mr O’Brien will appear on TV after filming a segment with US show Modern Living with Kathy Ireland.

The show, which has an estimated audience of 86 million, is running a series about medical innovations.

“We sent out a media release about our product and received an email in November last year from the Kathy Ireland show. Originally I thought it must be a scam, but after researching the show, I realised it was legitimate.”

Mr O’Brien said they talked about lung health and how AirPhysio helped.

Mr O’Brien is coy on sales of the device, stating it has sold “a few thousand”. But he said the company is excited about a new product it plans to market to China. It includes the device and also a can of “Blue Mountains” air, which Mr O’Brien said tapped into awareness of Australia as a clean, green environment.

THERE WAS A GAP IN THE MARKET FOR A … DEVICE TO HELP PEOPLE WITH LUNG CONDITIONS, BREATHE EASIER.