Cash in on a breath of fresh air for asthma victims
LUNG conditions, from asthma to bronchitis to long Covid, are on the rise. More than 500 million people suffer from severe respiratory issues, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, which has become the third biggest cause of death globally, according to the World Health Organisation.
Sufferers are often barely able to leave the home, spending hours stuck in bed or an armchair, strapped to a huge piece of kit to help them breathe. But it does not have to be that way.
Portable oxygen machines allow users to go shopping when they feel like it, meet friends or even go for gentle hikes – and Belluscura has developed a set of devices that are lighter and more effective than any on the market to date.
The company floated on AIM at 45p in May 2021. The shares shot up to £1.20 by January 2022 but they have since drifted back to 56p. At this level, they are a strong buy.
Portable oxygen machines are not new but Belluscura has taken the concept to a new level. Its first device X-PLOR, weighs just 3½ pounds, can be strapped to the back or worn over the shoulder and delivers 95 per cent pure oxygen to patients whenever they need it.
The second device, DISCOV-R, will be launched early next year and is even more sophisticated, able to deliver oxygen both continuously and on a pulse basis, depending on users’ preferences.
Weighing just over 6 pounds, it is heavier than X-PLOR but still half the weight of competitor products, while packing more of a punch. Both models are 10-20 per cent cheaper than rivals too. They come with an app – called Nomad – that tracks users’ oxygen levels throughout the day. The information can be shared with their doctor.
Belluscura was founded in the UK but it is headquartered in
Texas and run by Bob Rauker, a patent lawyer, who has spent most of his career in the medical device sector and is an inventor in his own right, helping to create the XPLOR machine.
Both X-PLOR and DISCOV-R have been approved by US health watchdog, the FDA, and last week, the company received ISO certification, which should allow the group to sell its kit in the UK, Continental Europe and Asia by 2024.
Even as Belluscura goes through the approval process, the group is set fair, signing deals with major US healthcare firms and launching its own ecommerce shop so individuals can buy the kit directly, for around $2,000 (£1,750).
Oxygen machines are currently made in Texas, under Rauker’s watchful eye, but earlier this year, he signed an agreement with a leading electronics manufacturer and the Chinese authorities to open a plant in China, home to 100million sufferers from COPD. The new facility will take its lead from the Texas plant and should double Belluscura’s manufacturing capacity. It will also lower costs and provide access to China and the Asian market more broadly.
Analysts expect great things from Belluscura. Last year, Rauker sold 377 pieces of kit. This year, sales of 2000 are forecast, rising to 18,000 next year and 70,000 by 2025.
The company is loss-making right now but should make a small profit next year, soaring to $15.6million 2024 and more than $40million in 2025. Even at this rate of growth, Rauker’s firm will still only be a minnow in its field. The portable oxygen concentrator market is forecast to grow at around 14 per cent annually over the next four years, reaching $2.76 billion by 2026.
That gives Belluscura plenty of scope to expand. And the app should drive growth too, with hospitals already interested in how it might help their patients.