By Sheldon Baker07.03.19
Seipel is also a diabetes educator, researcher, and award-winning natural products formulator with 30 years of experience in clinical practice. She pioneered the natural urological health category receiving a Nutrition Business Journal award in 2006 for innovation. During the 1990s, Seipel was a leader in establishing standards of education for Australian naturopathic colleges as an advisor to government boards, including developing nutritional training for Australia Medical Schools. During her research as product formulator for nutraceutical companies, she uncovered the significant prevalence and underreporting of urinary incontinence in women and then overactive bladder and incontinence in both men and women. Together, this led to her pioneering this natural health category. Understanding the significant health impacts and seeing no other companies willing to take on the challenge of improving bladder control, Seipel developed the initial formulation. Pilot research, published in the Australian Continence Journal, confirmed formulation effectiveness leading to the launch the company’s Urox product prototype.
Health E-Insights: Please discuss the science behind your products.
Seipel: Urox has undergone 20 years of research and development. Our science is thorough with the highest grade clinical research. The last of our five clinical trials was award-winning, conducted by the prestigious University of Queensland, Australia, published in January 2018. Improvements over two months showed results unmatched by other herbals with 60% reduction in occasional incontinence and urinary urgency, normalization of urinary frequency, and almost halving of night-time toilet trips. And 75% of Urox users reduced pad usage with 84% of users satisfied.
Health E-Insights: How prevalent are bladder health issues?
Seipel: Surprisingly, very high. Approximately 50% to 75% of postmenopausal women have urinary incontinence and more than 50% of men over 55 have overactive bladder and urinary urgency, frequency, and heading to the bathroom during the night. In 2012, the NIH reported that 58.6 million of Americans experienced urinary incontinence alone. In fact, bladder health issues could be one of the greatest health concerns in the future considering aging populations and that the prevalence of these issues increase with age.
Health E-Insights: Are Australian-manufactured products considered higher quality?
Seipel: The short answer is yes. And we achieve that in the U.S. as well. We manufacture in Australia under Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) license. TGA oversees pharmaceutical and supplement manufacturing to maintain the highest global standard for manufacture of therapeutic goods and dietary supplements. The TGA requires GMP-license and other, even stricter requirements to ensure product quality, safety, and efficacy. When we manufacture globally under GMP we insist our Australian TGA standards are maintained to ensure our company’s quality standards.
Health E-Insights: What is your company’s competitive advantage?
Seipel: Seipel Group has the only clinically researched herbal formula that is effective for urinary incontinence. Our formula has shown to be twice as effective as other researched herbal products for urinary urgency and more effective, within a shorter timeframe, for urinary frequency and nocturia. Urox is a superior formula for the neglected bladder supplement category. Apart from our superior published research results, another competitive advantage is that our formulations are based on clinical practice. Our experienced practitioners draw from their scores of years of patient experience and holistic knowledge.
Health E-Insights: Where will the most significant company growth occur in the next 18 months?
Seipel: Bladder health is a neglected supplement category. Our growth will occur in mainstream brands realizing the need for a product for bladder control. There is white space and we can fill it. The company is also expanding into other countries, but the U.S. is by far our largest market. The U.S. is more advanced and sophisticated in the dietary supplement arena compared to many other global markets.
Health E-Insights: Do you foresee trends in bladder or prostate health products?
Seipel:There is movement toward overactive bladder supplements as well as supplements for female stress urinary incontinence products. The prostate category is established yet 50% of male lower urinary tract symptoms are attributed to the bladder and not the prostate. A trend we envision will be male bladder formulations, targeted to the bladder, or combination bladder-prostate formulations. Childhood bedwetting is another neglected area we will see addressed in the near future.
Health E-Insights:What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your company?
Seipel: The most important decision as a leader, every day, is to stand strong and maintain integrity and focus. Often there are opportunities to make sales, do deals and sell product that are not necessarily the best in the long-term for us nor for our consumers. Our 20 years as award-winning global leaders of bladder control research and development shows our commitment to developing this category and providing efficacious, quality products that truly improve the quality of life for people with poor bladder control. Seipel Group will never compromise on integrity and efficacy.
Health E-Insights: Which is most important to your organization—mission, core values, or vision?
Seipel: Core values are the most important to our organization. That is who we are. It is what we do, how we communicate, our relationships with staff and colleagues. It guides our mission and vision. Seipel Group is a holistic company. We care and want to make a difference. And we do make a difference. Our people are smart, capable, and experienced. Everyone has an opinion that we value. We do and can make the world better, one bladder at a time.
Sheldon Baker is CEO of the Baker Dillon Group LLC and has created numerous nutraceutical brand marketing communications and public relations campaigns for many well-known supplement and food industry companies. For Health E-Insights interview consideration or brand marketing consulting, contact him at SBaker@BakerDillon.com.
Health E-Insights: Please discuss the science behind your products.
Seipel: Urox has undergone 20 years of research and development. Our science is thorough with the highest grade clinical research. The last of our five clinical trials was award-winning, conducted by the prestigious University of Queensland, Australia, published in January 2018. Improvements over two months showed results unmatched by other herbals with 60% reduction in occasional incontinence and urinary urgency, normalization of urinary frequency, and almost halving of night-time toilet trips. And 75% of Urox users reduced pad usage with 84% of users satisfied.
Health E-Insights: How prevalent are bladder health issues?
Seipel: Surprisingly, very high. Approximately 50% to 75% of postmenopausal women have urinary incontinence and more than 50% of men over 55 have overactive bladder and urinary urgency, frequency, and heading to the bathroom during the night. In 2012, the NIH reported that 58.6 million of Americans experienced urinary incontinence alone. In fact, bladder health issues could be one of the greatest health concerns in the future considering aging populations and that the prevalence of these issues increase with age.
Health E-Insights: Are Australian-manufactured products considered higher quality?
Seipel: The short answer is yes. And we achieve that in the U.S. as well. We manufacture in Australia under Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) license. TGA oversees pharmaceutical and supplement manufacturing to maintain the highest global standard for manufacture of therapeutic goods and dietary supplements. The TGA requires GMP-license and other, even stricter requirements to ensure product quality, safety, and efficacy. When we manufacture globally under GMP we insist our Australian TGA standards are maintained to ensure our company’s quality standards.
Health E-Insights: What is your company’s competitive advantage?
Seipel: Seipel Group has the only clinically researched herbal formula that is effective for urinary incontinence. Our formula has shown to be twice as effective as other researched herbal products for urinary urgency and more effective, within a shorter timeframe, for urinary frequency and nocturia. Urox is a superior formula for the neglected bladder supplement category. Apart from our superior published research results, another competitive advantage is that our formulations are based on clinical practice. Our experienced practitioners draw from their scores of years of patient experience and holistic knowledge.
Health E-Insights: Where will the most significant company growth occur in the next 18 months?
Seipel: Bladder health is a neglected supplement category. Our growth will occur in mainstream brands realizing the need for a product for bladder control. There is white space and we can fill it. The company is also expanding into other countries, but the U.S. is by far our largest market. The U.S. is more advanced and sophisticated in the dietary supplement arena compared to many other global markets.
Health E-Insights: Do you foresee trends in bladder or prostate health products?
Health E-Insights:What are the most important decisions you make as a leader of your company?
Seipel: The most important decision as a leader, every day, is to stand strong and maintain integrity and focus. Often there are opportunities to make sales, do deals and sell product that are not necessarily the best in the long-term for us nor for our consumers. Our 20 years as award-winning global leaders of bladder control research and development shows our commitment to developing this category and providing efficacious, quality products that truly improve the quality of life for people with poor bladder control. Seipel Group will never compromise on integrity and efficacy.
Health E-Insights: Which is most important to your organization—mission, core values, or vision?
Seipel: Core values are the most important to our organization. That is who we are. It is what we do, how we communicate, our relationships with staff and colleagues. It guides our mission and vision. Seipel Group is a holistic company. We care and want to make a difference. And we do make a difference. Our people are smart, capable, and experienced. Everyone has an opinion that we value. We do and can make the world better, one bladder at a time.
Sheldon Baker is CEO of the Baker Dillon Group LLC and has created numerous nutraceutical brand marketing communications and public relations campaigns for many well-known supplement and food industry companies. For Health E-Insights interview consideration or brand marketing consulting, contact him at SBaker@BakerDillon.com.
