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Belluscura debuts on AIM raising £17.5m at 45p

09:06, 28th May 2021
Francesca Morgan
Vox Newswire
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On its first day of dealings following its admission to trading on London’s AIM market this morning, the medical device developer Belluscura (BELL FOLLOW) hailed the strong support from investors after it raised £17.5 million at 45p through an oversubscribed fundraising.  

The Group, which develops medical devices focused on lightweight and portable oxygen enrichment technology, is focused on commercialising its product portfolio in this space.  

Prior to its IPO and since 2018, Belluscura has raised around $11.7 million in a number of fundraising rounds in order to develop and commercialise its product portfolio. Upon its admission to aim, the Company held a market capitalisation of just under £51 million. 

The global respiratory care devices market is estimated to be $23.4 billion in 2021 with the market expected to reach $28.6 billion by 2024, growing over $1.7 billion per year. 

Within this wider market, the supplemental oxygen therapy devices market was forecast in 2018 to grow by 6% per year from $3.2bn in 2021 to $4.2 bn by 2026. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in this growth forecast to 11% per annum. 

As a result, the market is now forecast to reach $5.7bn by 2026, an increase of 66% over the next 5 years. In fact, to give a scope of this market, the World Health Organisation ("WHO") announced on 24 June 2020 that it would be purchasing 184,000 oxygen concentrators, valued at over $100 million, in order to address oxygen shortages across 120 countries. 

The Directors have stated that around £3m of today’s proceeds will be used to launch the X-PLO₂R, the company’s FDA cleared portable oxygen concentrator ("POC"), while some £8m will be applied to progress Belluscura's wider oxygen enrichment product portfolio. 

“We believe our patented X-PLO₂R range of small and discreet portable oxygen concentrators, delivering more oxygen by weight than any other device in their class, will be well-received in the large, expanding supplemental oxygen market,” said CEO, Robert Rauker. 

Belluscura recently received 510(k) clearance, a premarket submission which demonstrates that a stated device to be marketed is safe and effective, from the US FDA for X-PLO₂R. 

Belluscura, which has a manufacturing agreement to produce its products in the US, plans to launch the X-PLO₂R shortly and the X-PLO₂R CX and X-PLO₂R DX in the next 12 months. 

Following a soft launch, Belluscura plans to appoint distributors in the US to give US-wide coverage; this is expected to occur in the 2H21 and into 2022. It will also start International Regulatory clearances in 2021 and 2022 before expanding distribution globally. 

Following a US launch the Company intends, in due course, to pursue commercialisation across the UK, EU, Japan, South Asia, Australia, South America and Latin America. 

As part of its commercialisation strategy for X-PLO₂R portfolio, the Directors of Bellascura have adopted a five-phase process which will commence with its initial launch in July 2021. 

In a Q&A with Vox Markets, CEO, Robert Rauker discusses the use of the funds from today’s fundraising which includes regulatory clearance, staffing and marketing as most R&D costs have already been covered leading to the expected break even within two years. 

CFO, Tony Dyer also discusses the expected growth of the supplemental oxygen markets which was estimated at 6% pre COVID but has increased to 11% post COVID. He also elaborates on FDA and international clearance and their future regulatory pathway.  

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