Starting to sell a medical product through a country's healthcare system is not easy. It is a long and complex process, not within reach of all manufacturers, even less so if they are small. Each administration establishes its own rules and requirements, with the aim of guaranteeing the protection of its citizens. At a business level, this translates into making oneself known and demonstrating with studies that the developed device deserves to be publicly funded.
EIT Health, a European body that promotes innovation in the health field, facilitates the internationalization of startups with its Bridgehead program, which has just selected nine Spanish emerging companies ---four of them are Catalan--- to help them reach new countries. One of them is Mowoot, which has devised a belt to relieve chronic constipation suffered by patients with spinal cord injuries or neurological pathologies.
Created in 2014, this Barcelona-based startup commercializes its product in five European countries, being available for purchase in private clinics or by users themselves, but it is only prescribed in Germany's public healthcare system. Not achieving sales through the healthcare system means reaching only 10% of the patients who could use it, explains its CEO, Markus Wilhelms. The aid granted by EIT Health, with a budget of 30,000 euros, will allow them to initiate procedures in France, covering expenses such as initial trips to the country to conduct interviews with local authorities and learn what tests they need to perform to demonstrate the validity of their product.
This is not the first support Mowoot receives from the European body for health innovation. The Bridgehead program has two modalities: expansion in member states and beyond European borders. During 2020, the emerging company was selected for its internationalization in the United States, with aid of 40,000 euros. They expect the process to enter the US market to be completed in 2023, when they will have to open a round to finish financing it.
Currently, the company led by Wilhelms is immersed in another round, with which they aspire to raise two million euros. They are doing it through EIT Health's crowdfunding platform, and these resources are intended to help them continue their European expansion, hiring more staff to target larger markets.
Mowoot's turnover in 2020 was 340,000 euros, with Germany accounting for 80% of sales. The forecast for 2021 is to exceed one million euros, but it will depend on the evolution of the coronavirus crisis, since the shutdown has delayed their contacts to reach new markets.
About to stop being a startup
The history of this emerging company began in 2013, when its founders ---Wilhelms himself, who had come to Barcelona to study his postdoctoral degree, and Immaculada Herrero, Angel Calzada and Marc Benet, all three Catalans--- participated in the first edition of the d·Health Barcelona program, promoted by Biocat. For eight months, the four were in charge of finding an unmet need among patients at the Guttman Institute, approaching it from the variety of their professional profiles: Wilhelms, a doctor in Microbiology; Herrero, a doctor in Biomedicine; Calzada, a doctor in Telecommunications, and Benet, a product designer.
Mowoot emerged from the first edition of the d·Health Barcelona program, promoted by BiocatThey managed to detect about 600, but they filtered them to find one that could interest a large audience and be innovative. They found that chronic constipation is one of the biggest problems for patients with diseases such as multiple sclerosis or ALS and that the available treatments, with enemas or laxatives, did not quite work for them.
Given the need, they created a belt that mimics the massage that therapists at Guttman perform on the abdomen to help patients go to the bathroom. The device works by wearing it ten minutes a day, much less invasive than an enema and with fewer side effects than laxatives. According to a study presented by Wilhelms, 80% of users who use Mowoot improve their intestinal transit, while between 40 and 60% of those who take laxatives do not find it effective.
Once the belt was developed, they became the first company born from Biocat's d·Health Barcelona program, which now has eight editions. From 2014 to 2018, they designed the first prototypes, patented the idea, conducted the first studies, developed the molds for industrial production, obtained the necessary certifications, and finally launched their product to the market.
After all these years, Wilhelms points out that they are about to stop being a startup. They expect to become sustainable in 2023, when they already have a foothold in the main European markets. With a staff of eight employees, their offices are in Esplugues de Llobregat, where they handle design and management, while production is outsourced to partners in Catalonia and Israel.
Others selected by EIT Health
EIT Health's Bridgehead helps companies reach new markets, introducing them to partners, but also providing them with knowledge about different regulatory systems. "We want to promote innovation beyond our borders. We want to help bring new products to new markets, accelerating the adoption of healthcare solutions, services, and concepts developed in Spain and throughout Europe. Ultimately, the program seeks to improve the lives of citizens not only on the European continent, but throughout the world," explains the general director of EIT Health Spain, Cristina Bescós.
"We want to help bring new products to new markets, accelerating the adoption of healthcare solutions, services, and concepts developed in Spain and throughout Europe," explains the general director of EIT Health Spain, Cristina BescósThe program has selected ninestartupsSpanish in the first call of this year, out of a total of 30. The Catalan companies, apart from Mowoot, are ZeClinics, Flomics Biotech and MJN Neuroserveis.The first two, from Barcelona, will receive aid for their internationalization beyond Europe: ZeClinics seeks alternatives to animal experimentation and Flomics Biotech facilitates the analysis of sequencing data. Likewise, MJN Neuroserveis, from Girona, calculates the risk of suffering an epileptic seizure using a headset.