Interview with Álvaro Lafuente in the official magazine of the College of Physiotherapists of Andalusia.
Alvaro Lafuente Barquero, physiotherapist and Brand Manager of Pentalium Pharma, stars this month in an interview in the ICPFA Colfisio magazine where he shares the main factors that have favored the growth of this company at national and international level.
Want to know all the details of the interview? You can read the full interview below:
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PENTALIUM PHARMA, ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN PHYSIOTHERAPY
When a physiotherapist thinks about entrepreneurship, he usually imagines opening his own practice, entering the world of research / dissemination and even developing his personal brand in RRSS. But there are still few who dare to explore the possibilities that a physiotherapist has in the world of eHealth, Pharma or IoT (Internet of Things) startups.
Today we talk to Alvaro Lafuente, physiotherapist and Brand Manager of Pentalium Pharma, a startup founded in 2020 and currently present in more than 6 countries, relieving musculoskeletal pain and improving the quality of life of thousands of people.
What is Pentalium Pharma?
Pentalium is a group of professionals with a strong health focus and a clear purpose: To develop treatments for pain, especially at the level of the locomotor system, ranging from common tendinitis to degenerative osteoarthritis. So far, we have developed five topical products, formulated with natural ingredients and analgesic-anti-inflammatory effect, useful for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation. In this aspect, we seek to innovate and offer new solutions that improve people’s quality of life, which is why we use cutting-edge active ingredients of 100% natural origin, such as Capsaicin or Cannabidiol (CBD), an ingredient that is positioning itself as a solid option for the treatment of pain. This boom has been propitiated by the recent recognition of its therapeutic benefits by the WHO and by the acceptance of its use in competitive sports by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Although in Spain there is still a long way to go in this area, from Pentalium we are sure that with the outreach work we do every day, it will soon be a commonly used therapeutic ingredient among physiotherapists.
What have been the keys to your success?
I believe there are four factors that drive our growth:
- A great need, since in Spain alone, according to data from the Spanish Society of Neurology, 30% of the adult population suffers from some type of pain and up to 8 million people suffer from it chronically. These chilling figures continue to grow unstoppably after the settlement of teleworking, sedentary life or stress, among other factors. The high efficacy of products to relieve pain and modulate inflammation. This has generated a great word-of-mouth effect and has led to high performance athletes such as Alvaro Ríos or Pilar Lamadrid and media such as La Razón or ABC to share and report on the benefits of our products.
- The great business and institutional support we have at the health and sports level. Thanks to the support of entities such as OAFI, Clínicas Beiman, SETRADE or SEMDOR and at the sports level of brands such as Adidas, we have strengthened our image significantly within the sector of natural therapeutic products.
- A multichannel business model with a strong online presence at an international level on platforms such as Amazon or Promofarma and also offline, through pharmacies, physiotherapy clinics, medical-sports centers and specialized stores. In this way we manage to reach all stakeholders (health professionals, patients and professional athletes) generating a community in favor of a new health phenomenon, which is based on physical activity and wellness as the main drivers of change.
What is my goal now?
As a physical therapist, I can help patients «one on one» in the clinic and with Pentalium I feel that I can contribute positively to people’s health without geographical or temporal limits. That is why we have to keep innovating and developing tools for physiotherapists and resources that empower people who want to prevent, maintain or improve their quality of life. Currently, at Pentalium Pharma, we are focused on addressing other major health problems such as alterations in the quality of sleep, lack of energy or stress, all through food supplements of natural origin.
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