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among all emerging markets, it is by far the biggest and holds the our tissues using supercritical CO₂ instead of solvents. This will bring
greatest potential. However, it demands significant education efforts. It significant advantages: improved product quality, better environmental
is not just about selling products; a large part of our business is about outcomes, and safer working conditions. This is a substantial innovation
educating and training dentists to apply our products correctly so that happening behind the scenes — but it exemplifies how we operate at
the clinical outcomes are of high quality — which is ultimately what Geistlich.
the customer wants.
Another observation is that e-commerce, though growing in other MediMedia: Geistlich is the world leader in regenerative dental
countries, has not gained much traction in India yet. So far, we have products. What part of your overall business does the dental line
not been successful with e-commerce here. That is something that will constitute and what role does the other vertical – Regenerative
have to grow over time. technologies play? Do you plan to introduce those business lines in
Overall, the growth prospects in India are very exciting, and I India?
believe that we have only scratched the surface.
Dr. Geistlich: Besides dental, our regenerative technologies also deal
MediMedia: Besides India, which other global markets are key to with the regeneration of cartilage and skin. We treat cartilage defects
Geistlich’s growth strategy? and chronic wounds using our matrices.
However, for India — and in fact for the entire company — the
Dr. Geistlich: Emerging markets are certainly in our focus. India dental business remains the major pillar of our operations and is our
plays a very big role, but China and the South Asian markets are also primary focus here.
of major importance. Addressing these markets is a core part of our At present, we have no immediate plans to introduce the other
growth strategy. vertical in India. While this may be considered in the future, it is not
currently part of our roadmap.
MediMedia: Apart from the existing products, are there any other
products in the pipeline for India? MediMedia: Regulations and approvals for new products have
become more stringent in India as well as the other countries in the
Dr. Geistlich: Yes, absolutely. We have now started to actively work recent years. How does Geistlich deal with this?
in soft tissue management and have introduced Geistlich Fibro-Gide
to the market — a new matrix. We are already working with Geistlich Dr. Geistlich: All our products meet every global and local requirement.
MucoGraft, and we plan to bring more new products as well. I am proud to say that Geistlich was the first biomaterials company to
Additionally, we are expanding our offering with bone scrapers and receive full MDR certification in the European Union — a significant
will introduce a new bone scraper this summer. These are significant milestone that required a great deal of work and administration.
developments, particularly for the surgical field. We have strong management systems both at our headquarters in
Switzerland and across all affiliates. Thanks to our scientific approach
MediMedia: What characterizes your innovation strategy? and our commitment to quality, we have been very successful in
navigating regulatory environments. That said, it is true that registration
Dr. Geistlich: By nature, we are a scientific company, and science lies and regulatory processes are becoming increasingly challenging for all
at the heart of Geistlich. Since our initial innovations with Geistlich companies — Geistlich included. But with our strong protocols and
Bio-Oss and Bio-Gide, we have now introduced new matrices from systems, we manage these tasks effectively.
Wolhusen, Switzerland, specifically for soft tissue management. This is
a major pillar of our research and development efforts. MediMedia: Geistlich has set up several foundations. Could you
Moreover, we have started adding carefully selected third-party broadly describe their activities and purpose?
products into our portfolio to make the dentists’ work easier. For
example, I mentioned the scrapers that we added — and there are other Dr. Geistlich: We have three foundations. The most prominent is the
complimentary products from third parties that will be added in the Osteology Foundation, which is focused on dentistry. We founded it 21
future as well. years ago after realizing the need to connect science with practice and
education. The Osteology Foundation is a strong network of scientists,
MediMedia: Could you give us an overview of Geistlich’s clinicians, and teachers. It helps educate people and fosters knowledge
manufacturing facility in Switzerland and the role of R&D in sharing in the field of regeneration.
maintaining your industry leadership? The foundation provides grants for research and education, and
over the years, we have given out numerous grants. Increasingly, we are
Dr. Geistlich: Our headquarters in Wolhusen, Switzerland, is the working to involve young researchers and scientists through national
centerpiece of both our R&D and production. This is where the core of Osteology groups in several countries.
our company lies and where much of the success of Geistlich globally It is also worth mentioning that in April, we are hosting the APEC
originates. Everything we do here is of the highest possible quality — Young Leaders Symposium in Seoul — I would encourage every young
our products, our processes, and our staff. We have many engineers Indian regenerative leader to attend.
and scientists of all specializations working together in Wolhusen, The other two foundations are the OsteoScience Foundation, which
forming an excellent team that continuously advances our products. operates only in the US and focuses on oral and maxillofacial surgeons,
One innovation I would like to mention is a new process we have and the ON Foundation, which supports orthopedic regeneration.
been developing for years. Soon, we will introduce products that are However, in India, the Osteology Foundation remains the most
produced solvent-free. We have been working on a process to extract relevant. n

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