Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/709458
C h a i n D r u g s t o r e D a i l y Tu e s d a y, A u g u s t 9 , 2 0 1 6 3 8 NFI CONTINUES TO INNOVATE An interview with Susan Gregory, Chief Executive Officer, NFI. CDD: Tell our readers about your com- pany. SG: NFI is headquartered in Bristol, Tennessee, and is involved with sales and marketing of the Blue-Emu product line. Blue Emu has been around for more than 10 years, but our group acquired the products in the last two and a half years. CDD: What would you say makes your company unique? SG: Family. Our company is a second generation organization following our parent's success with King Pharmaceuticals. Many of our team were raised in the pharmaceutical industry, working across all areas. We attribute our success to teamwork, dedication to hard work and creativity. The family atmos- phere cultivated long ago by the older generation has been carried on with the team operating the company today. It really does feel like a family. CDD: What are you doing this year that's different from what you did last year? SG: NFI is unique in that for 2016, we operate without a media buying agency, allowing our marketing team to become much more aggressive and agile via dif- ferent marketing outlets. When we took over the company in 2014, we set out doing aggressive marketing via TV and radio for the Blue Emu brand and capi- talized on the popularity of our product spokesperson, Johnny Bench, and the addition of Richard Petty in 2015. It increased our customer awareness and opened the product up to exponentially more potential customers. We are con- tinuing this strategy, but trying to perfect it by managing a more strategic advertis- ing campaign on our own. CDD: What was the most significant event or series of events affecting your company over the past year? SG: The addition of new product line extensions, Blue Emu Maximum Arthritis, Blue Emu Anti Itch and Blue Emu Lidocare Lidocaine Patch. In the coming year, we will con- tinue to innovate and get consumers interested. Also, as we look for potential companies and/or acquisitions, we will be executing those deals quickly and effi- ciently. We expect to continue to work on new products while growing distribution for our current line extensions, and antic- ipate increasing sales in our main prod- uct, Blue Emu Original Cream. CDD: Are you introducing any new products? What distinguishes this new product from others already on the mar- ket? SG: We are currently working on several new possible line extensions for the Blue Emu brand. The one we feel has the most potential is Blue Emu Sports Gel, which we hope attracts sports enthusiasts and weekend warriors using a unique tech- nology in the external anal- gesic category. Our current product emphasis is lotions and creams, but we are constantly looking for other brands to bring under the NFI umbrella through innovation or acquisition. CDD: How do your products or services enhance your customers' ability to com- pete in the marketplace? SG: We are a unique product that con- sumers see as different from other tradi- tional brands in the external analgesic space. Utilizing emu oil to enhance our products capabilities has become a sta- ple in our organization. Potential cus- tomers can see the long list of current customers we currently provide product to, and our track record with them, and know that they can trust us with their business. Visit NFI at booth #1359. For more infor- mation, email wbarlett@nficorporate.com, call 800.432.9334 or go to www .blue-emu.com. PANTHERYX: INNOVATION IN DIARRHEA RELIEF PanTheryx's flagship product, DiaResQ ® , was recently selected by global experts in Reimagining Global Health as one of the 30 leading health- care innovations with great promise to transform global health by 2030 and to help accelerate progress toward the new health targets established in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This recognition was led by PATH and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, among others. DiaResQ is a different kind of diar- rhea relief because it's not a drug or antibiotic. It's a food made from natural- ly derived ingredients that reach the intestine to rapidly restore normal func- tion. It is a safe, gentle, effective solution for children as young as one year old. Easy to use DiaResQ packets have been used in the toughest environments. Originally developed to address a major health concern in places like India and China, DiaResQ is also effective for less severe cases of diarrhea. Diarrhea is not just a problem in developing countries; it is also an issue here in the United States. Every year there are approximately 45 million episodes in children under five years of age. In fact, children in the U.S. will have had seven to 15 episodes of diarrhea by age five (Johns Hopkins Medicine, Diarrhea in Children). When it comes to adults, approximately 179 million cases of diarrhea occur each year in the U.S. (The New England Journal of Medicine, Acute Infectious Diarrhea in Immunocompetent Adults). DiaResQ is a must-have at home, but also for travel. When traveling, be pre- pared. Don't let an episode of diarrhea ruin your vacation or trip. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), diarrhea attack rates range from 30 per- cent to 70 percent of travelers, depending on the destination and season of travel. Thanks to a new partnership with Passport Health Clinics, travelers now have access to DiaResQ. Passport Health is the largest and leading provider of travel medicine and vaccination services in North America, with more than 250 clinics nationwide. "This new and innovative product will great- ly benefit business and leisure travelers," said Carrie Falbe, Director of Product and Service Development for Passport Health. "We are very excited to make DiaResQ the cornerstone of our traveler's diarrhea standard of care." About PanTheryx PanTheryx is a Boulder, Colorado based company that innovates with a focus on improving global health and quality of life. Its mission includes ensuring that the most at risk populations have access to the benefits of its products. Visit PanTheryx, Inc. at booth #1956. For more information, go to www.diaresq.com and www.pantheryx.com. ROTECH HEALTHCARE SELECTS DESCARTES TO IMPROVE DISTRIBUTION OF HOME MEDICAL SERVICES, EQUIPMENT Descartes Systems Group, a global leader in uniting logistics-intensive businesses in commerce, announced that Rotech Healthcare has selected Descartes' cloud- based Route Planner™ On-demand solu- tion to automate planning, dispatch and data collection processes for its fleet delivering medical equipment and servic- es to patients across the U.S. "Quality care and managing patient outcomes are at the core of our business. Our distribution and logistics operations play an integral role in our ability to deliv- er on this commitment," said Tim Pigg, President and Chief Executive Officer at Rotech Healthcare. "As the current tide of healthcare reform adds more margin pres- sure to the home medical equipment (HME) industry, we are making signifi- cant technology investments to increase efficiency and drive down unnecessary logistics costs without sacrificing high quality service for our customers." Descartes' Route Planner On-demand is an easy-to-use cloud-based solution. It provides fast time-to-value for rapidly- growing companies, like Rotech, that need to consolidate delivery operations and move away from manual and paper-based practices for route planning and execu- tion. The solution offers advanced capa- bilities to optimize both static and dynam- ic routes by taking into account business rules, delivery assets and customer requirements. Planners and dispatchers benefit from better visibility and control over daily routes with a drag-and-drop visual planning user interface to make edits and monitor delivery status through- out the day. Mobile solution integration provides real-time GPS-based tracking, planned versus actual performance moni- toring and the electronic capture of proof- of-delivery (POD) information. "Descartes is excited to help Rotech Healthcare make its distribution and logistics operations more efficient and responsive," said Andrew Roszko, Senior Vice President of Sales at Descartes. "Providing medical equipment and serv- ices direct to patients' homes often involves significant complexity and transportation resources. Our cloud- based route planning, execution and mobile solutions are ideal for automating delivery management processes to sup- port the service standards that customers expect while reducing fleet costs." About Rotech Healthcare Rotech is a national leader in providing respiratory and sleep apnea treatment as well as home medical equipment. Each and every day, thousands of employees in the Rotech family of hometown companies contribute to delivering outstanding cus- tomer service and the very best in quality patient care through hundreds of locations nationwide. Its team is a dynamic group of top-quality healthcare professionals, including respiratory clinicians, customer service representatives, Medicare and insurance experts, patient service techni- cians and many others who are dedicated to helping you lead a more comfortable and productive life, every day. About Descartes Descartes is a global leader in providing on-demand, software-as-a-service solu- tions focused on improving the productiv- ity, performance and security of logistics- intensive businesses. Customers use its modular, cloud-based solutions to route, schedule, track and measure delivery resources; plan, allocate and execute ship- ments; rate, audit and pay transportation invoices; access global trade data; file cus- toms and security documents for imports and exports; and complete numerous other logistics processes by participating in the world's largest, collaborative multimodal logistics community. Its headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and it has offices and partners around the world. For more information, visit www.rotech.com and www.descartes.com.