Embracing Global Health Opportunities
Shared from the 3/31/2022 Financial Review eEdition
Life sciences is one of the fastest growing industries in the world, with companies investing heavily in scientific research for the betterment of humankind.
The industry comprises companies operating across a broad spectrum; engaging in the research, development and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology-based food and medicines, medical devices, biomedical technologies, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, food processing and other products.
Indeed, each of these sectors enjoys staggering volumes of revenue and eye-watering growth trajectories. Turnover for the global pharmaceutical industry alone was an estimated $US1.3 trillion in 2019, and has continued to increase with the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the need for vaccines.
The size of the global biotechnology market, meanwhile, was put at $US449 billion in the same year and is expected to grow to $US727 billion a year by 2025, while the global medical device business was appraised at $US456 billion in 2019.
All of these industries share significant growth forecasts due to an ageing global population and myriad new diseases and illnesses that threaten to sweep the planet, combined with people’s strong desire to not only live longer but to enjoy a better quality of life as they age.
In its 2021 Global Life Science’s Outlook, Deloitte examined the role of life sciences during the pandemic as a pointer to the future, concluding that ‘‘digitalisation is broadening the horizon of new possibilities in the life sciences sector’’. It found that life sciences would continue to embrace redefined workplace environments, a shift in healthcare delivery and innovative collaborations to create efficiencies coupled by technological advancements.
The report revealed that corporate funding for digital health topped a record $US21.6 billion in 2020 – an increase of 103 per cent over the previous year – with digitalisation in the life sciences sector leading to new point-of-care health systems, digital pharmacy setups and easy and efficient access to healthcare.
‘‘Novel strategies and technologies, including real-world evidence, platform trials, remote clinical trial monitoring and advanced analytics can help organisations succeed in the new regulatory environment, compress timelines and accelerate insights,’’ Deloitte added.
EZZ Life Science is one company looking to capitalise on this growing demand for improved health and wellbeing.
“Our vision is to improve the quality of human life,” says Glenn Cross, the company’s nonexecutive director and chair. ‘‘In our journey to become a top life science company in Australia and New Zealand, our core focus has been on genomic health but our product development pipeline will increasingly feature healthcare solutions based on genomics research.
“At this stage, the company offers health supplements, health food and probiotics as well as skincare products under two brands, EZZ and EAORON respectively. It owns the EZZ brand and is an exclusive wholesale distributor of the EAORON-branded products to pharmacies, supermarkets and specialist retailers in Australia and New Zealand.
“EZZ is a consumer health brand focusing on four key areas of human health, including longevity, weight management, human papilloma virus, and helicobacter pylori.
“EAORON is a leading facial-care focused skincare brand, developed and produced by the company’s related party Australian United Pharmaceuticals.”
Cross says EZZ will continue to broaden its approach by investing in genomics research to increasingly feature scientifically formulated products, while seizing future growth prospects through ‘‘the ongoing development of technology capacity, and the expansion of in-house e-commerce capability and data-backed analytical capability’’. This would enable data-driven decision making to unlock scale efficiencies.
“Furthermore, our skilled management teams will be briefed to drive long-term earnings growth and deploying best practice principles in operational execution through added capacity, employment development and more sustainable practice,’’ Cross adds. “At the same time, we will market greater brand and product discovery through omni-channel strategies.
“The central platform to this strategy is the transformation to a fully integrated life science company with strong cross-functional support.’’
South-east Asia is a key target for expansion, with Singapore the first country to have started selling EZZ-branded products, with negotiations under way with potential distributors in Malaysia. The company also sees opportunities in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia.
“Sales from our flagship stores on Tmall Global – China’s largest cross-border B2C online marketplace – have accrued $11 million in revenue since our launch in August 2020,” Cross notes.
“We are expanding to other major e-commerce platforms in mainland China, as well as via online and off-line distribution channels in Hong Kong and Taiwan. We started selling EZZ-branded products through social-commerce channels and we are in discussions with TikTok as an alternative direct-to-consumer channel to Tmall Global and expect to have it up and running by the end of 2022.”