South Side-based Rinovum Women’s Health has received FDA authorization to market its initial prescription product, The Stork, a tool to support couples in overcoming several fertility problems and conceive in the comfort of their own home.
IVF has grown manifold and, with its ever-evolving techniques in the healthcare industry to help people with fertility problems, couples and single mothers alike tend to opt for this technology. Looking at ivf cost and assisted reproductive technology, many who intend to be parents could take help of this procedure, or maybe choose to go for the Stork!
The product will launch in Pittsburgh in the first quarter of 2013. Rinovum also plans to move into a larger facility in the near future; manufacturing will take place in Pittsburgh, reports Stephen Bollinger, founder, president and CEO.
Rinovum, formerly Intimate Bridge 2 Conception, believes that moving out of the doctor’s office and into the home (and bedroom) will help couples better achieve their reproductive goals.
“One of the biggest challenges with physician office assisted approaches (intrauterine insemination or IUI) is the loss of privacy, where the male has to perform in the doctor’s office,” explains Bollinger.
“A third of all candidates can’t and the couple go home frustrated. Our technology allows the couples to have supported conception while delivering a higher concentration of semen to the cervix in the privacy of their own home.”
The Stork is targeting the 7.3 million couples in U.S. who experience difficulty in conceiving. It is specifically created to bridge the gap between natural intercourse and more aggressive approaches like IUI and Invitro fertilization.
The Stork should be a couples first step in the path of assisted conception, says Bollinger. A way to “nudge the Stork.” It works through a condom-like vessel for the collection of fresh semen, which is then placed into a tampon-like device and delivered into the vaginal tract to the cervix.
Last year the company received a $4.3 M round of venture capital to move the product into commercialization. Seko MedTec Solutions in Pittsburgh is partnering with Rinovum to do order fulfillment out of Western Pennsylvania.
The company is currently at 10 people and plans to hire in early 2013; positions range from quality and regulatory manufacturing to operations. By second quarter 2013, Rinovum hopes to have its CE Mark and be selling overseas.
While fertility is Rinovum’s primary focus, the company plans to expand into other areas of women’s health care, Bollinger says.
“Women are smart consumers,” he says. “We’re taking a look at technology that is proven and of clinical-based benefit that can be offered over-the-counter or be more consumer friendly. That’s what Rinovum is all about.”
Source: Stephen Bollinger, Rinovum
Writer: Deb Smit
