Cashing in on a pain in the neck

A small Waiheke business has big plans for its invention - to take it global. Or to be precise, to have someone else take it global.

Promax Technologies' sole product is Necprotech, a neck support device designed to prevent strain and injury caused by long periods of looking up.

Having spent several years designing, developing and presenting the neck brace, chief executive Nigel King and designer Darrell Poole are now keen to pass their baby on to someone else.

The company's goal was to establish Necprotech as a global product. King realised early on that the fastest, most effective way to achieve that was to find a company interested in buying the manufacturing and distribution rights.

An initial payment and royalties will compensate the pair for their invention, investment and work.

"I really enjoy getting an idea to this stage and then flicking it on," King said.

"I don't want to be stuck in an office for five years looking at figures. It's a lifestyle choice."

Endorsements from the University of Otago's Human Performance Centre and the NZ Chiropractic Association have helped with the credibility of the product - which King says is a world first.

Promax has the New Zealand patent for both the concept and the product and is well on the way to gaining United States and European patents.

Necprotech had global potential as millions of people suffered from neck pain, King said.

In New Zealand alone, ACC paid $12 million in the last nine months to workers with bad necks.

Not surprisingly, it was a sore neck arising from a rock-climbing accident that prompted the invention by outdoor enthusiast Poole.

The designer's near-death experience was caused by his belayer - the climber's buddy who watches the climbers ascent and feeds out the rope to ensure that it stays taut in the event of a fall.

Poole fell about 7m due to the slackness of the rope - the belayer had stopped looking up because his neck hurt.

The idea of a support to protect the neck when raising the head above the horizontal was born.

Poole quickly realised that the market was not restricted to rock climbers, but could be extended to painters, plasterers, electricians, forestry workers, window cleaners and others.

The Necprotech combines the bracing of an upper-body harness (which helps to maintain correct posture) and a neck support, which is built into the top of the harness.

The product is stocked by the largest safety retailers in New Zealand and a number of tradesmen have been using it for more than a year.

Promax uses third parties to make the device. That was necessary to ensure the Necprotech achieved recognition, but is not something the company wants to continue - hence the search for a larger firm to buy the rights.

Apart from freeing him for other opportunities, King said a larger company would be able to reduce the production costs of the Necprotech (the present retail price is about $250).

"We also want to find an organisation that has the global distribution channels," he said.

"The idea was always to get a bigger company to come on board."

It has to be the right deal, though.

King recently backed away from a potential deal in the United States after eight months of negotiations.

"The key is to make it into a global product in the shortest time possible," he said.

King and Poole may find they have to go global pretty quickly themselves if Team New Zealand lose the America's Cup. The Alinghi physio this week bought a Necprotech for one of the Swiss syndicate's trimmers.