Press release from Companies

Published: 2019-05-15 08:45:00

BrainCool AB: BrainCool AB (publ) recruits Director of Sales Europe and establishes new sales and marketing organization

BrainCool has recruited Elmar Landwehr as Director of Sales for the European market, with a focus mainly on the German-speaking markets. Elmar has acted as part-time consultant for the company, but after several successfully completed evaluations of the BrainCool™ System and BrainCell concept, followed by the publication of the PRINCESS trial, he will now take on a full-time position exclusively with BrainCool AB.                                                                 

Director of Sales, Elmar Landwehr, comments;

-        BrainCool, although not the largest company in the temperature management market, has the advantage of having an extraordinary well-suited technological platform. This factor in combination with an organization structure that enables swift decision making and market adaptation are two factors which are key to becoming the most successful company in this field in the future. The platform will enable intelligent solutions for further development on existing products, while short decision paths facilitate rapid execution onto the market thus providing BrainCool with a competitive edge compared to the larger companies in the space.

Elmar Landwehr has worked with several temperature management products and has built the market for Alsius and later for Zoll Medical products during 2002 - 2012.

The US organization is led by Bryan Nicholson, who will exclusively focus on the US market, being the largest and most important market for BrainCool. A separate update of the US market and BrainCool Inc’s organization will be presented shortly.

In Europe, the German speaking markets are of highest priority, being the largest medical device markets in Europe. The focus will initially be to translate the importance of early out of hospital cooling with RhinoChill, as evident from the PRINCESS study, and cascade it to the market. A key factor will be to adapt the notion of early cooling in the ERC guidelines for the treatment of cardiac arrest patients. Around 50.000 patients yearly in the EU are treated with hypothermia after cardiac arrest. Another promising field for early hypothermia is PCI`s (Percutaneous coronary intervention, management of the coronary artery with catheters) which are 600.000 realized every year in the EU. The third application for RhinoChill™ in combination with the BrainCool™ System are Thrombectomies. Currently, more than 50.000 stroke patients are treated by thrombectomy in Europe every year – but with a very high growth rate.

To reach the goals for the upcoming years it will be necessary to setup up a sales organization for the German speaking countries. To keep the costs low, BrainCool will start with three consultants working solely on commission.

BrainCool will arrange a number of satellite meetings, on the two major emergency medicine meetings in Germany (Berlin, June 12th- 14th(https://2019.dgiin.de/) and Hamburg December 4th – 6th https://divi2019.de/) and the European Resuscitation meeting (Ljubljana September 19th – 21th http://www.resuscitation2019.eu/en/home/) with in-depth presentations of the PRINCESS trial and patient cases of the use of BrainCool products in Germany and Sweden;

  • Use of the RhinoChill™ in the neuro Cath Lab followed by BrainCool™ System in the ICU for thrombectomy patients
  • Use of RhinoChill™ in the cardiac Cath Lab followed by BrainCool™ System in the ICU for PCI
  • Use of RhinoChill™ from the ER followed by the BrainCool™ System in the ICU for cardiac arrest patients (sub study of the TTM 2)

BrainCool’s CEO, Martin Waleij, comments;

-        With clinical evidence and positive product evaluation within a number of market segments, BrainCool is ready for market launch of the RhinoChill™ System, BrainCool™ System and the BrainCell concept. These clinical data assessments of the efficacy of early-stage medical cooling will result in successful market launch of our products, ultimately resulting in increased market share. The ambition of BrainCool is to position itself as a leading global medical device company in the field of temperature management.

Developing business in the German-speaking countries in addition to the US will be the foundation for the development of partner sales. Sales through distribution for the period 2019 and 2020 will only be focused on Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Partner sales operations will be driven by company co-founder Christian Strand, Director Sales Partners.

Overview of the market for temperature management

The market is in a high growth stage with the widest implementation of temperature management taking place on the US market, in Germany, Korea, and Japan. The main technologies available within temperature management can be divided into three main categories; Surface cooling (such as BrainCool™ System), catheter-based cooling methods (Thermoguard from Zoll Medical), and selective brain cooling methods (such as RhinoChill™ and the PolarCap® System).

Surface cooling is by far the method with highest penetration and implementation in the market, which in the US constitutes of up to 80 % of the total market of approximately MUSD 180 in 2018. A major part of the market is one-time use of consumables.

The surface cooling segment could be divided into advanced controlled maintenance cooling or water blankets.

A success factor within surface cooling is the recent decision of implementing reimbursement for surface cooling products in the Korean market, where the US product Artic Sun has received 900 USD per use while other surface-based product (water blankets) have been valued only to 200 USD per use.

The BrainCool™ System (marketed as IQool™ System in the US) is positioned as an advanced surface-based cooling system with the goal to overtake market share from the competition, implementing several new features compared to the current market leader. Moving forward, BrainCool will implement the BrainCell concept in Europe followed by other international markets. The BrainCell concept is the unique combination and integration of the BrainCool™ System and the RhinoChill™ System, the only portable medical cooling system to deliver targeted cooling to the brain, significantly earlier than conventional cooling methods.


For more information

Martin Waleij - CEO                                                               
+46 - 733 -93 70 76                                                                                          
E-mail: martin.waleij@braincool.se                       


About BrainCool AB (publ)

BrainCool AB (publ) is an innovative medical device company that develops, markets, and sells leading medical cooling systems for indications and areas with significant medical benefits within the healthcare sector. The company focuses on two business segments, Brain Cooling and Pain Management. BrainCool AB (publ) is based in Lund, Sweden, and its share is listed on Spotlight Stock Market.

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