Gelteq Limited (NASDAQ: GELS) is a healthcare company specializing in the development and manufacturing of edible gel products, with a focus on areas like pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, pet care, and sports nutrition. The company’s gel-based oral drug delivery system is designed to enhance the administration of medications and nutrients, addressing issues like dysphagia and pill fatigue.
In an email conversation with AlphaStreet, Nathan Givoni, Gelteq’s CEO and co-founder, and Simon Szewach, executive chairman and co-founder, discussed various aspects of the business.
When founding Gelteq, what market needs were you aiming to meet with your gel-based oral drug delivery system?
The gel-based oral drug delivery system was developed initially to aid in making it easier for the elderly to consume larger volumes of their required nutrients in a concentrated form, that was also both easier to swallow and tasted better.
Gelteq has been continuously evolving to expand our applications and audiences. Our customizable technology can cater to those with dysphagia, children, adults, seniors, and even animals. Gelteq is incredibly comprehensive and flexible, covering both the human and animal markets for nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, and other food options.
Can you shed light on the important milestones and achievements Gelteq has reached so far?
Our biggest milestone to date has been completing our recent IPO on Nasdaq in October 2024 under the ticker GELS. Since completing the IPO, the company has continued to execute on its plans, including putting 400,000 units into production and hiring our first US-based executive to begin our scale-up of U.S. operations. Healthy Extracts, our largest U.S. customer, also increased its initial purchase order of Gelteq collagen and Mynus sugar blocker gels by 50%, citing high demand and popularity of the products. The FDA also approved our suitability petition for a new animal drug under development. From a scientific perspective, we have hired our first Chief Scientific Officer, along with lodging more scientific patents which allows growth and evolution of the product while securing our technology.
What are the main challenges the company has faced in bringing its products to market, and how did you overcome them?
One of the largest challenges we faced as a company was having too many product ideas and prioritizing what we could work on. Staff were getting spread too thin and it was limiting the actual products that we were able to complete and deliver. We have learned extensively from this and have put in place better qualification and development systems to manage each project. We have also expanded our team and placed people on specific verticals and projects and given them ownership. This new process has increased efficiency which enabled more products to be market-ready and available for sale, as shown by the 400,000 units in production now.
Can you discuss your long-term goals and where you see Gelteq five years from now?
We believe our gel-based drug delivery system is revolutionary in the drug delivery space and believe this is where we will see phenomenal growth in the next five years. As FDA approvals are hopefully granted and more of Gelteq’s gel-based drug products are released into the market via pharmaceutical clients, we expect there will be a fast shift to adopt our technology. By solving the issues of dysphagia and pill fatigue, Gelteq offers a system that will meet the needs of the people impacted. Within five years, we expect to see pharmaceutical and veterinarian shelves having a section dedicated to gel-based drug products, just like they have for pills, capsules, and gummies.
We will also be continually working on new opportunities and evolving the technology and believe that in five years, our technology will have been incorporated into many other products widely available across the nutraceutical and food sectors for both humans and animals.
What are the upcoming products and innovations Gelteq is currently working on?
Gelteq continues to be an innovator in the gel delivery space. We are working on new products across the nutraceutical, pet, and sports verticals, and we will continue to release a range of products that are available for clients to white label and have on shelves in a matter of months. As this happens, we are continuing to work with client requests for developing new gel-based products for their existing ranges of pills, capsules, powders, and gummies. Our near-term projects are focused on the nutraceutical space, with FDA approvals needed to drive new pharmaceutical products in our gel base hopefully arriving by late 2025.