“Plastics That Heal” Combine High Margins, Short Development Timelines

Portfolio managers know the high profit margins of drug manufacturers make them attractive investments. But they also know some of the disadvantages of investing in this industry; developing new drugs (or medical devices that incorporate drugs) is expensive, complex, and time-consuming. It takes, on average, 12 years and hundreds of millions of dollars to bring a new drug to market.

Rimon, however, offers investors a unique business proposition: the high margins of drugs with the short development timelines of medical devices. The company’s patented and patent-pending Theramers™ have therapeutic properties, and can be used to treat wounds actively (not passively, like bandages, for example). Because of this therapeutic potential, Theramers stand to yield the high profit margins of drugs. However, unlike drugs, Theramers are classified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as medical devices, and therefore require far less time and money to be spent on testing.

In addition, the chemistry of plastics is versatile, so these therapeutic plastics can be made into a variety of forms and used for a broad set of applications. Rimon is commercializing a growing portfolio of Theramers, each of which has a market in the billions of dollars per year. The company will be able to develop each of these products in 2-5 years, at a fraction of the cost needed to test new drugs.