SomnoMed starts business in Spain and Portugal

THE ROADHOUSE PHARMACY: SomnoMed Limited (ASX: SOM) announced it will commence marketing the company’s SomnoDent® products from July in Spain and Portugal.

The company is now looking to appoint a national sales & marketing manager to be based in Barcelona or Madrid.

To facilitate its operation in Spain, SomnoMed has entered into an agreement with Mondental, one of the leading orthodontic laboratories in Spain to provide handling and after sales service.

Mondental, based outside Barcelona has also been granted agency status to sell the SomnoDent® product line to its client base of more than 1,000 dentists in Spain and Portugal.

“After concluding agreements and starting operations in Finland and UK/Ireland very recently, Spain and Portugal was the third area we were planning to start marketing our SomnoDent® products in the financial year 2014/15,” SomnoMed executive chairman Dr Peter Neustadt said in the company’s announcement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

“Spain and Portugal, together with the other newly opened markets in Europe, should allow SomnoMed to cement its leadership position in Europe and secure growth for years to come.

“I am very pleased that we were able to identify a high quality fulfillment partner, and enter into agreements in time to commence operation at the beginning of the new financial year.

“Our preparation for the education of dentists and physicians has started and we hope to see first sales during the Northern summer.”

With the inclusion of Spain and Portugal, SomnoMed is operating in 16 countries in Central, Northern and Southern Europe.

All of these European operations are managed directly by SomnoMed and its own sales operation, with the exception of Italy, which is currently represented by a third party distribution partner.

Europe represents 40 per cent of SomnoMed’s global sales and is experiencing fast growth, which the company identified is due to insurers increasingly adopting oral appliance therapy as a more patient friendly and compliant therapy for obstructive sleep apnoea than CPAP.

Website: www.somnomed.com.au