Wilmington, DE - White Square Chemical (WSQ), a specialized materials technology company whose primary business is the manufacture and commercial exploitation of PNFTM (polyphosphazene technology), a specialty polymer, has confirmed that is has terminated an existing distribution agreement for its lead product, Novus™ a PNF-based denture liner, and that it has put in place its own distribution system to cover the United States with plans for further expansion into international markets.
Novus is a long-standing, FDA-approved denture liner that WSQ intends to commercialize through a series of investments and partnerships.
Commenting on the new distribution strategy, WSQ CEO Nick Hawkins said: “Novus has been a well-known and effective dental liner that has been performing well below its market potential for many years. WSQ has over recent years developed a proprietary process for the production of the base polymer aimed at guaranteeing a consistently high-quality product with robust supply from our facility in Woburn, Massachusetts. We are now replacing the previous distribution network so that we can ensure that this money-saving denture liner, which has significant practitioner and patient benefits, is reassessed by the market and can become the industry standard in the coming years.”
In the United States, more than 6.5 million new denture arches are fitted annually.
WSQ is focused on promoting Novus as a primary health care tool to address a historic issue with denture discomfort by providing an effective, long-lasting cushion between the traditional hard acrylic material from which the majority of dentures are manufactured and human soft tissue and the alveolar bone. In addition, Novus has a proven ability to reduce the incidence of bad breath resulting from bacteria build-up.
Hawkins added, “Novus is a win-win both in patient comfort and care and in the economics throughout the system. On average, a dentist may schedule up to 3 additional, nonrevenue-producing appointments after delivering the denture to the patient before the patient is comfortable. As a result, dentists across the United States lose approximately $1.8 billion in billable revenue every year. Given the inherent durability of the product, Novus also comes with a 5-year warranty, which could also save patients and their insurers a total over $5 billion a year. These figures, allied to the improvements that we have made at Novus, are a clear signal why our customer base of dental laboratories is showing consistent and increasing growth and why some of the largest denture manufacturers in the United States are now showing such interest”.
Novus is a PNF-based denture liner. PNF is made from dichloropolymer (DCP) and is an inorganic polyphosphazene material. The material was manufactured and sold in the 1980s and 1990s. PNF-based products were originally developed and manufactured on a commercial scale by Firestone Corporation with US Department of Defense funding. Novus was developed with a National Institute of Health grant and funding. Hygenic Corporation first commercially introduced the product into the international dental market in the late 1980s.
Since its formation in 2012, WSQ has been successfully developing a proprietary commercial manufacturing process for the production of DCP and PNF. The existing manufacturing process is used today to provide large-scale production at WSQ’s plant in Woburn for the purposes of manufacturing Novus.
