DEVICES: Raymond Cohen oversees an unprecedented product rollout at Axonics

CEO Says Urinary Implant Well Received

Axonics Inc. says its launch of an implant to treat overactive bladders has had one of the three most successful debuts in American medical device history.

That surge has resulted in Irvine-based Axonics reporting $150.3 million in the trailing 12 months ended June 30—an astounding 4,509% growth from the same period two years prior.

Axonics places first on this week’s Business Journal list of OC’s fastest-growing public companies, which ranks firms by their two-year growth rates.

“It’s been an impressive trajectory,” Axonics Chief Executive Raymond Cohen told the Business Journal.

“There are lot of women suffering with these problems and we have a great longterm solution that’s been well received.”

The company’s been rewarded on Wall Street (Nasdaq: AXNX), where its market cap has risen tenfold to $3 billion since going public on Halloween of 2018.

Cohen said the sales growth could have been even higher had COVID-19 not struck.

The coronavirus “has certainly been a challenge,” Cohen said. “In certain regions, hospitals have restricted elective procedures.”

“Growth continues to go well for the company despite the COVID headwinds.”

87M Affected

Overactive bladders affect an estimated 87 million adults in the U.S. and Europe, Axonics said. Another estimated 40 million adults are reported to suffer from fecal incontinence and accidental bowel leakage that the company’s product also treats.

Axonics’ main product, the r-SNM, is a sacral neuromodulation device that sends electrical signals to nerves in the spinal cord to help regulate the bladder and bowels. Axonics’ typical patient is a 55-year-old woman suffering from bladder incontinence.

Cohen, who co-founded Axonics in 2013, has a long history selling medical devices.

He took the reins in 1996 at cardiac defibrillator maker Cardiac Science Inc., which became among the fastest-growing company in the U.S. He earned an Excellence in Entrepreneurship award from the Business Journal in 2002.

Cohen eventually proceeded to run several other local medical device upstarts. In 2010, he restarted Vessix Vascular, a device maker of products that treat hypertension, and sold it to Boston Scientific for $425 million two years later.

12,000 Patients

To date, more than 15,000 patients have been implanted with Axonics’ rechargeable sacral neuromodulation system since its U.S. commercial launch in 2019.

The company is involved in patent disputes with medical device giant Medtronic PLC (NYSE: MDT), which previously had the only sacral neuromodulation device on the market.

Axonics’ said its implanted devices can last up to 15 years while Medtronic’s current implants last about five years.

“They’re just upset that Axonics broke up their monopoly,” Cohen said of Medtronix patent cases.

“This is a typical thing that large companies do when new entrants come in. It doesn’t matter if true or not. It’s part of the game.”

Sales Jump

Analysts are expecting Axonics sales to jump 68% this year to $187 million and another 36% to $254 million in 2022.

The company plans to continue growing with new products and a focus on U.S. sales, he said.

“We’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing,” Cohen said.

In the past 18 months, it’s hired more than 300 employees bringing its total to 550, including 250 in Irvine.

“We are proud to have created high quality jobs with good healthcare benefits right here in Irvine,” Cohen said. ■