Beta glucan immune ingredient manufacturer pivots toward direct marketing
Immudyne announced that is was selling its yeast beta glucan manufacturing business to Mark McLaughlin, who at the same time resigned after five years as CEO of the overall company. The company had been developing the ingredient for a number of years and had founded a finished product brand based on the ingredient called INS Wellness MD.
Company mirrors broader trends in market
But two years ago the strategy of the company shifted toward a direct response model, and away from being a vertically integrated manufacturer. In that sense, the company was in step with developments within the overall industry that has seen new product development occur in channels outside the traditional developer-manufacturer-distributor mode based on contacts made at trade shows.
“Historically, 80-90% of new product launches fail within the first two years. Depending on the product and industry, new product launches may require millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in outside capital. Given this historically high failure rate, investing in new product launches with limited data to gauge consumer demand has been an extremely risky business. At Immudyne, we’ve developed a model to directly market products with multi-billion-dollar potential with very low initial capital requirements and a proven return on investment on marketing spend prior to product launch,” the company said in a statement.
New direction
“Immudyne’s direction has changed considerably since the acquisition of our online marketing division over two years ago, and I agree with the board of directors’ decision to divest of our legacy manufacturing business and refocus the company’s resources on what has become our core business,” McLaughlin said.
The new CEO, Justin Schreiber, who was also a member of the company’s board of directors, founded Immudyne’s direct response business and with his partner Stefan Galluppi provided the bulk of the financing. Schreiber is the founder of JLS Ventures, LLC, a San Juan-based venture investment and advisory firm that specializes in emerging growth publicly traded healthcare and technology companies. Galluppi is an entrepreneur with experience in technology and direct response marketing.
The newly reconstituted company now lists four consumer wellness products. Those include the beta glucan immune support dietary supplement, a hair growth product, a cosmetic based on the beta glucan ingredient, and scar healing topical product that will launch shortly.
As a development stage company, Immudyne has languished for years in penny stock territory, trading on the OTC Bulletin Board. Schreiber said the goal for 2018 is both to launch additional products and to qualify for the stock to be listed on a national exchange.
