Zila Professional Pharmaceuticals, a division of Zila, Inc., international provider of healthcare and biotechnology products for dental/medical professionals and consumers, announced it has appointed World Medical Trade Organization, Inc. (WMTO) as distributor of ViziLite(TM) disposable chemiluminescent oral examination kits and of Zila's OraTest(R) oral cancer detection products in major Asian markets. WMTO will market and distribute the products through its existing distributors in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Peoples Republic of China, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Viet Nam. While WMTO will also distribute the ViziLite product in Japan, a license to market OraTest products in Japan is held by Azwell, Inc., a $3 billion pharmaceutical and medical device company. WMTO will be responsible for obtaining any regulatory clearances that may be required in its designated markets.
Representatives of WMTO and their Asian distribution subsidiary President Medical Technologies Corporation will be on hand for the official United States marketing launch of the ViziLite product at the Chicago Mid-Winter Dental Meeting, February 22-24. Zila expects to begin shipping ViziLite Kits to WMTO in the second quarter of calendar 2002.
WMTO is a subsidiary of the California investment banking firm Pacific Republic Capital Group, whose owners include the billion-dollar (annual revenue) Uni-President Enterprises Corporation, a Taiwan-based conglomerate. WMTO coordinates the interests of U.S. manufacturers of life-sciences products with experienced and efficient Asian distributors, speeding the commercialization of products with increased efficiency in a region that includes 32 percent of the world population and 21 percent of the world economy. With an aging population, growing personal income and an increasing focus on preventive medicine, Asia represents a major market opportunity for medical technology products.
In general, U.S.-made medical products are sold in Asian countries through local distributors, rather than directly by U.S. companies. The reasons for this relate to the general complexity of doing business as foreigners in such countries. Local distributors are familiar with the market and business practices of their territories, paving the way for an efficient distribution channel for U.S. products.
Pacific Republic Capital Group is a major investor in The Trylon Corporation, a privately-held California company that perfected the medical use of the chemiluminescent light technology. Trylon licensed Zila to use the technology for oral examination, in exchange for Zila common stock and royalties on sales of the ViziLite product. Through that arrangement, Pacific Republic Capital Group also became a holder of Zila common stock.
Trylon originally developed and obtained FDA clearance for use of the light technology in a product called the Speculite(R) visual screening device for cervical cancer. Clinical research demonstrated that the illumination device, incorporated into Trylon's PapSure(R) cervical exam, doubled cervical cancer detection, from 40 percent with a Pap smear alone, to 90 percent using PapSure and the Speclulite illumination device. Trylon awarded Asian distribution rights for PapSure and the Speclulite illumination device to WMTO, putting that company in the efficient position of representing both the oral and cervical application of the light technology in the broad Asian market. (Trylon licensed Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to distribute PapSure and the Speclulite device in the U.S.)
"The impact of all this," said Zila President Joseph Hines, "is that Zila has partnered with companies that have extensive financial resources, broad Asian marketing reach, and considerable motivation to make a success of Zila's OraTest and ViziLite products in their region of the world."
In Asia, oropharyngeal cancer is the leading cancer in men, and the third most frequent cancer site in women. With more smokers than any other region of the globe, Asia has an obvious need to detect and treat oral cancer. The World Health Organization reports that China alone has over 300 million smokers (one-third of the world's smoking population, and more smokers than the entire U.S. population); nearly 73 percent of men in Viet Nam and 60 percent of Japanese men smoke; and, according to the New York Times, tobacco consumption is growing in Asia at the fastest rate in the world.
Olivia Ho Cheng, WMTO President , said, "Joint marketing of the two Zila products should be productive -- they are complementary. The ViziLite device is less expensive; it is quicker, involving only one, clear rinse; and it causes lesions to appear vivid white. In contrast, OraTest Swabs and the OraTest rinse product are slightly more expensive; they involve three rinses, including one that selectively stains tissue vivid blue; and countries such as the UK have approved the OraTest product for screening, detection of second primary lesions, and defining margins of lesions for biopsy and surgery."
Ho Cheng continued, "In countries where both the ViziLite and OraTest products are marketed, we believe many clinicians will screen patients at risk for oral cancer first with the ViziLite device, and then either follow-up suspicious cases with an OraTest exam or refer those patients to specialists who will use the OraTest product."
Dr. Ralph Green, Vice President and General Manager of Zila Professional Pharmaceuticals, said Zila's patented single-use ViziLite Test Kit is being distributed to U.S. and Canadian dentists exclusively by Patterson Dental Supply, Inc.
Using the ViziLite Test Kit in combination with a conventional visual oral mucosal examination, healthcare providers can improve the identification, evaluation and monitoring of oral mucosal abnormalities in those at increased risk for oral cancer. The American Cancer Society advises that the risk factors for oral cancer are cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking; use of smokeless tobacco; and excessive consumption of alcohol. Incidence rates are more than twice as high in men as in women and are greatest in men who are over age 40.
Dr. Green noted that while the ViziLite device has been cleared for marketing by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the OraTest product has not yet been cleared in the U.S. and is the subject of an on-going Phase III clinical trial, being conducted for Zila by ILEX(TM) Oncology Services.
