It has been another good day for owners of Orthocell Ltd (ASX: OCC) shares.
In morning trade, the ASX All Ords stock is up 10% to $1.29.
This means that the regenerative medicine company's shares are now up 240% over the past 12 months.
Why is this ASX All Ords stock racing higher?
Investors have been bidding the company's shares higher today after it announced the appointment of its first four United States distributors of its flagship nerve repair product Remplir.
Remplir is a collagen wrap used in nerve repair surgery to assist surgeons to improve outcomes in the repair and regeneration of damaged nerves. It received US FDA 510(k) clearance earlier this month allowing for its immediate commercial distribution into the US.
The company is now moving quickly to capitalise on this approval and commence sales into the world's biggest nerve repair market, which it expects to lead to a material increase in revenue.
The ASX All Ords stock highlights that US distributors generally focus on specialist product lines within a given medical field in local geographic regions where they hold trusted relationships with surgeons and hospitals. Orthocell's first four distributors have a speciality in nerve repair with relationships in Michigan, Virginia, Colorado and Indiana.
They will market and distribute Remplir for use in the surgical repair of peripheral nerves across their respective geographic regions, undertaking medical education, targeted promotion activities, and initiating sales, as well as expanding the network of referring plastic and orthopaedic surgeons.
Orthocell's distributors will operate on a commission-based structure typical of US medical product distributor relationships.
The ASX All Ords stock's CEO and managing director, Paul Anderson, was pleased with the news. He said:
We have been working closely with a number of distributors in the United States in advance of our recently received FDA 510(k) clearance and welcome them on board as our first partners in the US. We are looking forward to our distributor network helping us to drive Remplir sales, and as a company, we are primed and ready to deliver Remplir into the US.
The distributor model is an excellent fit for us in the US. It allows us to partner with distributors that have existing strong relationships and established sales channels with both surgeons and hospitals which means we only need a small, but experienced, on-the-ground team of in-house employees. We are expecting to have ~10 distributors in place by the end of our financial year which would account for representation in approximately 25 states.
