Investment bank Morgan Stanley believes the gap between the world’s renewable supply of water and demand is expected to be 40% by 2030.
That alarming figure underscores the urgent need to develop innovative technologies to address the growing water scarcity threat to hundreds of millions of vulnerable people - especially children - around the world.
For New York-based Healixa (OTC:EMOR) Inc, this emerging environmental and humanitarian crisis has long been top-of-the-mind for the company.
In fact, the company has developed a game-changing clean water technology called Atmospheric Water Harvesting (AWH) that can draw potable water directly from the air anywhere on earth with minimal energy using solar to power its product called the Global AquaDuct.
Freezing water vapor on contact is at the heart of the technology, which mimics the natural process in the polar regions and mountain tops where water vapor is trapped and converts into solid ice that later melts into freshwater.
The machine’s AWH technology is not reliant on relative humidity (which makes it applicable in dry places), and it can be operated sustainably to provide at least 200 hundred liters of potable water a day to combat the chronic, deadly ills of contaminated water and dehydration from poor access to clean water.
“Every moment counts, so what we're doing now is putting together this initial Global AquaDuct unit to go out to the most needed places in the world, and then we're going to ramp up manufacturing to address commercial needs,” said Healixa CEO Ian Parker. “The water crisis around the world is devastating communities. We have to get our units out and get the potable water to those communities.”
Central and South America is the first target, as the company just recently secured a $37.5 million order for 2,500 Global AquaDuct units from WATERisLIFE, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that ensures households, schools, orphanages, and medical facilities have access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene programs. The units, which can supply 190 million liters of clean water a year to the various WATERisLife projects in Central and South America (Guyana as well).
Healixa also plans to target the defense industry with its technology, which seems like a natural fit for soldiers on the move in remote locations that lack clean water access.
“Self-generating water system obviously frees up a lot of speed of movement for the military eliminating logistical columns that would be flying in bottles of water and/or driving tankers into contested areas. Generating clean water on-site protects the health of our troops and keeps those logistical columns out of harms way,” he said.
Parker acknowledged that his company is not the first to build an atmospheric water generation system, but the Global AquaDuct unit is the first of its kind that “solves all three market adoption issues” - price, installation and maintenance, and power supply.
“Those are the three problems to be solved. The biggest thing is that power generation has to be self-contained and off-grid,” he said. "That's why the market has been waiting for us to show them what makes us different.”
Saas platform for indie pharmacists
While Healixa plans to ramp up production and commercialization of its clean-water technology, the company is actively pursuing a second commercialization strategy in the digital health (digital pharmacy or healthtech) market.
Parker said the company is targeting underserved independent pharmacists who need new digital services to boost their poor profit margins, typically 2%-4%, as they compete against big-box competitors that enjoy the obvious benefits of economies of scale.
“The independent pharmacist is one of the highest touchpoints for all patients. But they are absolutely getting crushed in the pharmacy market,” he said. “They're not able to develop digitally the same way the bigger box competitors can. They need help when it comes to more sophisticated systems in order to keep up with the digital demands of the population.”
Parker added: “The pharmacy benefit managers and the carriers and the manufacturers have sucked a lot of the margin out of the industry. So, you have an industry that's suffering from a margin standpoint.”
Healixa’s SaaS platform to help the pharmacies generate more revenue and increase margins is three-fold – therapy logistics, patient engagement and remote patient monitoring.
“The whole concept here is first we're going to introduce the logistical application and the digital engagement applications,” he said. “That helps them get their therapies to patients either same day or next day with their own drivers or with other courier services.".
And the service will allow a pharmacy to keep their patients informed throughout the process with texts, emails, etc.
“Think about what you get from a CVS and all of the notifications you get, all of the things that happen and all that is a very sophisticated process that's happening behind the scenes to keep you informed and engaged with CVS,” he said.
“Independent pharmacies can't spend that kind of money on technology. So, we've spent it for them. That's going to help them start to claw back some additional margin. Once we introduce this sophisticated technology, we're going to help them derive additional revenue and clawback additional margin by adding remote patient monitoring and additional patient engagement," Parker added.
To help connect with pharmacies and to drive its commercialization plans. Healixa recently brought on Diane Koontz to its advisory board – she is president of Managed Health Care Associates Inc. (MHA), the largest group purchasing organization (GPO) in the US that represents 13,000 independent pharmacies.
“We could not ask for a better advisor than Diane. She understands the pain points for the independent pharmacy segment and she recognizes the value we can bring to this segment,” he said.
Looking ahead, Parker said the company has enough capital to conduct its current operational plans but will look for ways to raise additional funding, including uplisting to a national exchange as it advances its Global AquaDuct device and digital services for independent pharmacies.
“On the pharmacy side the goal right now is to sign the initial contracts,” he said. “For the water units, the goal is going to be to deliver as many of the indications of interest we getting right now in 2022.”
Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com
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