Investor Information and Profile

Market Demographics
The number of anaesthetics administered in the USA and Western Europe is 8-10% of the population pa (Rosenberg, Anaesthesiology 82(3) Mar 1995 803-5). Based on a population of 294m (USA) + 360m (W. Europe) = 654m total, this gives an estimate of 52.3m-65m anaesthetics annually. Of these, 30-50% will require a tracheal tube placed using a laryngoscope, resulting in approximately 20- 30m laryngoscope uses pa in the USA and Western Europe. With a current world population of 6.4 bn, this equates to 150m laryngoscope uses pa worldwide.

Worldwide sales of laryngoscopes are in excess of 10m units pa. With a selling price of £90-100 per unit, this represents a world market worth approximately £1bn pa. 39% of the world laryngoscope market is in EU countries, 42% in N. America and 11% in Asia. Hospital anaesthesia accounts for 28% laryngoscope sales: paramedic ambulance units and resuscitation trolleys account for 72% sales.

Assuming that ShakerScope captures 5% of the world market, the potential for the laryngoscope application alone is in excess of £50m and will be the main target market in the initial stages of commercialisation.

In addition to the laryngoscope market, other interchangeable heads enable the ShakerScope light source to be used as an ophthalmoscope and otoscope which makes the device attractive for General Practitioner (GP) market. There are currently 24,000 GPs in the UK alone (Royal College of GPs, 2006). The estimated number of uses of the ophthalmoscope worldwide is 250,000 per day, or over 91m ophthalmoscope uses pa. Worldwide sales of ophthalmoscopes are 0.6m units pa, 60% of which are within EU countries. With a retail price of £100-150 per unit, this represents a world market worth approximately £80m pa.
Worldwide usage and sales of the otoscope is similar to that of the ophthalmoscope. With a retail price of £60-£100 per unit this represents a world market worth approximately £48m pa.

Further attachments are currently under development which will allow the ShakerScope light source to be used with other instruments for examination of the nose, bowel and skin, thereby opening up other potential markets worldwide.
Modifications of the above instruments are under development to allow the technology to be used by veterinarians, opening up another potentially lucrative worldwide market.
(Source: UK TradeInfo 2005 data)

Market Trends & Growth Patterns
The recent increase in acts of global terrorism as well as natural disasters such as the New Orleans floods and Asian Tsunami have led to a need for emergency medical equipment which can be stockpiled for use when required. The ShakerScope is ideal for use in these situations as there are no batteries to deteriorate or leak during storage.
Recent reports (Hospital Doctor 2/6/05) have criticised the poor provision of essential medical equipment on board commercial airliners worldwide. There are currently approximately 6800 commercial airliners in operation in the USA alone. The compact robust ShakerScope would be ideal for this market.

Recent concerns regarding the potential transmission of prion disease such as vCJD via surgical instruments has led to a trend towards single use blades and possible adoption of single-use light sources to reduce cross-infection rates. This will increase the demand for and turnover of medical instruments including laryngoscopes and ophthalmoscopes (Dept of Health: The Decontamination of surgical instruments in the NHS in England update report 15/6/05).

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