Unlocking Market Advantage: Kirkman’s Journey to the First FIGO-Certified Prenatal Supplement

In today’s episode, we focus on how the early adoption of new operational models or early achievement of new certifications can lead to higher competitive advantage, increased market share, improved customer loyalty, and enhanced brand reputation. We dive into how our featured brand, Kirkman, a leader in the dietary supplement industry, increased its advantage by having the first certified prenatal supplement by FIGO (International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics).

Joining us on the podcast are Jeanne Ann Conry, MD, PhD, Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBGYN), who is the Past President of FIGO, and the Current founder and president of the Environmental Health Leadership Foundation; and Eric Gripentrog, CEO of the Kirkman Group. In a few minutes, they reveal how, though operating separately, their shared purpose to improve and sanitize the supplements and vitamins industry has created an environment where only the safest and best supplements are available to buyers.

Jeanne’s efforts at ridding the industry of contaminated pregnancy supplements led to the creation of FIGO’s safety standard which the P2i™ by Kirkman® is the first to meet. Tune in now to hear how the company is leveraging this unique opportunity to expand market size and increase growth.

In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we cover:

•  The importance of constantly monitoring your market for opportunities that could be turned into a competitive advantage.
• How an obsession with producing high-quality products pays off in the long run for entrepreneurs and customers.
• Marketing ideas for leveraging competitive advantages to your benefit. 
• And so much more!

 
Visit their website to learn more about the P2i™ by Kirkman® and why it became the first and only FIGO-certified prenatal supplement.


To be a guest on our next podcast, contact us today!

Do you have a brand that you’d like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands totaling over $2 billion in revenues? Visit HarvestGrowth.com and set up a free consultation with us today!

Transcript

Jon LaClare [00:00:00]:
What would you do if you had a window of time to sell your product? With no competitors, today's guests have this unique opportunity as the only product that is certified in a space where certifications are crucial and they share how they are growing their business to help as many people as possible.

Announcer [00:00:16]:
Are you looking for new ways to make your sales grow? You've tried other podcasts, but they don't seem to know harvest the growth potential of your product or service as we share stories and strategies that'll make your competitors nervous. Now here's the host of the Harvest Growth podcast, Jon LaClare.

Jon LaClare [00:00:36]:
Welcome back to the show. I'm really excited to be speaking about a little different category than we often do. It is a supplement, but there's a lot of science behind this one, and we are honored to have, I would say, the marketer as well as the developer and sort of the expert behind all of this, or certainly to be able to answer all the questions with a very unique couple of guests on today that can really explain what we're talking about in terms of the science behind the product, some of the stories behind the benefits of it as well. So before we dive in, I do want to introduce our two guests today. So we've got Dr. Jean Connery. She has, I probably don't have time to go through her entire background, she's done so much over the course of her career, but she is a board certified OB GYN doctor. I think everybody knows what those acronyms are for. But obstetrician and gynecologist, really helping to deliver babies.

Jon LaClare [00:01:29]:
Right. And certainly on any topic of women's health. If I could summarize really short, and hopefully I got that correct. But beyond that. So after practicing for many years as a board certified physician, Dr. Connery went on to be the president of a couple of really major organizations in this field, the first of which was the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or ACOG, and then a little more recently, the president of FIGO, which is the International Federation of gynecologists and obstetricians, an international organization really leading the science that helps all obstetricians and gynecologists, and currently is the founder and president of the Environmental Health Leadership foundation. We'll dive into a little bit on how that connects to our product we're going to talk about today, but also on our, or in our interview today, we've got Eric Gripentrag, and he has been in the supplement field for a long time. He runs a company that has been doing clean manufacturing of supplements since 1949, back when they originally developed an autism supplement. And in order to have that supplement function well, you need it to be completely clean of contaminants.

Jon LaClare [00:02:41]:
And that's where the story fast forwards to today. We're going to talk about a prenatal supplement. So anybody watching, listening, if you know anyone that is either getting ready to be pregnant or even in childbearing age, definitely they'll want to listen and learn about this product and some great business stories and scientific learnings along the way. So I'm personally really excited about this interview. Welcome to the show, Dr. Connery and Eric as well.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:03:06]:
Thank you so much, John. It's wonderful to be here.

Eric Gripentrog [00:03:09]:
Thank you, John. Looking forward to the conversation.

Jon LaClare [00:03:12]:
Likewise. So let's dive in a little bit and talk about prenatal vitamins. So let's just start at ground zero, at least briefly. What are prenatal vitamins and who takes them and why are they important?

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:03:25]:
You know, prenatal vitamins really make up for what women don't get in their normal diet. And I like to say it's a vitamin that we recommend preconception through pregnancy and postpartum, so it's not just enough to take them during a pregnancy. A woman really needs to take them before she ever conceives. So at least three months before she gets pregnant, pregnant and then keeps taking them while she's breastfeeding. Because 50% of pregnancies are surprises. I usually tell women of reproductive age, just take a prenatal vitamin every day. It's the safest way we know it reduces birth defects by taking folic acid. And there's the right amount of folic acid in prenatal vitamins.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:04:07]:
So there's just no doubt it's a benefit for women.

Jon LaClare [00:04:12]:
And can you answer there? I believe are a lot of other benefits beyond folic acid or ingredients beyond that are generally helpful in prenatal vitamins. We're talking about the p two I, specifically the Kirkman group prenatal vitamin we'll dive into in a second. So what are other ingredients maybe that are helpful beyond folic acid?

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:04:29]:
Absolutely. We've got calcium because we need it for bone development. We've got iron because we know most women, or many number of women, are anemic before they become pregnant. And we know that that affects survival during a pregnancy if a woman hemorrhages and she's got adequate iron stores. So those are very, very important. We also know that there are other supplements that a woman can take. We know iodine is very important for brain development. We've got choline for proper neurodevelopment, omega three s for proper neural development.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:05:03]:
So you'll see some variation of a number of different types of ingredients. In fact, the National Institute of Health is just now putting together a panel to look at prenatal vitamins and what their content should be.

Jon LaClare [00:05:17]:
Fantastic. And I just want to reiterate, you talked about, I think we've got four kids in my audience. I'm sure I've mentioned that many times. So we've been through this, and I think back to now, 20 odd years ago, when our first child was born, you start to plan, right? And I think most people will do that, where they start taking prenatal vitamins when you are expecting a pregnancy or trying for, or planning a pregnancy. And it's so crucial and important. But it's a great idea, as you mentioned, for women's health in general, if there's even the possibility of it, just to avoid potential birth defects in your children. But also along the way, it's not just for that. You're getting better health.

Jon LaClare [00:05:52]:
You need to have vitamins and minerals anyways, for general women's health. So I just want to reiterate, I think that's a great point. Can we talk about this specific product? So the p two I is different in that it's certified to be free of contaminants, and you can speak to this better than I can, but I know there's figo standards in terms of cleanliness that I think are fairly new. And so a lot of current prenatal vitamins on the market have, or potentially have contaminants in it that the P two I supplement is certified to be free of. So can you speak to that a little bit, the findings that are new to the market?

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:06:29]:
Yeah. P two I stands for preconception to infancy. And really, we're trying to bridge that environment and health role from preconception to infancy with a vision that all women will minimize the impact of environmental exposures on their health and the health of their families. So that's our basic tenant there. But the AHA moment was when some of the research came out in 2018 that said prenatal vitamins are contaminated. And I will tell you that most clinicians, physicians, nurse midwives, nurse practitioners do not know the research. I didn't. I was shocked.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:07:10]:
What? I thought they were clean. So there's research that shows that there are contaminants found in vitamins and that there is no agency that really is assigned post production to look and make sure that vitamins are clean. So you would think, oh my gosh, they're sold, they're over the counter, they must be clean. That's not true. And the third is that we know that exposure to potentially toxic chemicals, it can impact health. Whether we're looking at birth defects or we're looking at just fertility for a woman trying to conceive, we know that chemicals can impact an ability to conceive. Certain toxic chemicals can affect neurodevelopment. So there are all these kind of concerns about contaminants.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:08:00]:
And I would say most clinicians are absolutely, and patients are blind, they don't know that this is out there. And it was 2018 for the research. And then our own government accounting office, when they saw the research and heard complaints in December of last year, published in January of this year, they did a search on twelve vitamins and found that there were toxic chemicals in half of them. So it's not just crazy studies going on out there, it's studies that said, nobody's looking, there is a problem. And that was our aha moment. And then I should continue. Then you said, you know, what is Figo's role? Well, Figo, as the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, we have a committee chaired by Doctor Nate Danacola. And it was under Doctor Ditus Desina's view.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:08:53]:
We looked at this and said, we need to have a standard out there. We need to put together a group. So we took scientists from around the globe during our Covid time, 2020. So we had a lot of zoom time and put together a group of scientists and said, what would you say are chemicals that women should not be exposed to, that it can affect fertility, it can affect a pregnancy? Let's come up with it. So we went over a number of different lists. We took Cal, EPA, we took EPA, we took European Union lists and looked at them and came up with a list of heavy metals and then chemicals like pesticides, PFAS, PAFOA, and said, those should not be in products, and then those should not be in products in a broad sense. And then we said, gosh, with this vitamin research that's come out, let's focus on vitamin C to begin with and say this really is an area of concern. And in October of 2023, at our World Congress in Paris, we opened with that and presented the statement, a very powerful statement, saying, these are our expectations that we should not have, women should not be exposed to it.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:10:01]:
And to make it easy. If it says p two I on the label, that's all you have to see. It means that somebody's met a standard of clean, clean, toxic, free meets our standard of chemicals and we approve of them.

Jon LaClare [00:10:19]:
Thank you. That's so helpful. And it's kind of scary to think about. I read a study or an article recently talking about a major retailer where they went in some scientists and tested the ingredients in various supplements that brands that we all know and may take in our daily lives. And they were surprised to find not only contaminants, but also a lot of the ingredients were not included to the same levels as they were on the label, or maybe not at all. There were so many variations. And, you know, I think so many of us think, well, hey, if I see it in target, Walmart, Walgreens, Costco, whatever it might be, then somebody's done the work to make sure that it's safe and has the ingredients in there. But as you mentioned, several of these were tested specifically for contaminants.

Jon LaClare [00:11:04]:
And they're major brands that we find. It's not just some obscure website that we're buying these from, but it's even major retailers. Unless we have those studies done, we really can't understand or confirm that the contaminants are not in there, that they're not clean. They may not be clean for us.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:11:24]:
You hit it exactly. Because we've all heard that supplement, and I would say that every physician looks at prenatal vitamins different than a supplement. So we've just assumed that they're fine. And in fact, if you look at some of the original research going back, physicians, we look at everything from our medical view. We know what a pharmaceutical has had to do to come on the market. So that there's a double blinded case. You know, first there's animal studies and there's double blinded case controlled studies on humans, and then finally a pharmaceutical is released to the market. And then in the post pharmaceutical world, they're still being studied.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:12:03]:
That's not the way of most chemicals in the industry. We've got 76,000 chemicals that have been released into our environment. Whether it's on our, you know, in the creams that we put on our face, it's our food or anything that we're using for products. They have not been tested for the most part. And what it does is put vitamins in that same group. And I would say there's. Most physicians have no idea. That's true.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:12:28]:
I had no idea. And I've been giving lectures about chemical world versus the pharmaceutical world. And this was an aha moment for me when the research came out and we said even our prenatal vitamins are contaminated. Wow.

Jon LaClare [00:12:46]:
And I don't, you know, I assume you guys would say the same thing. I don't think we're trying to throw other manufacturers or supplement manufacturers under the. Under the bus intentions may be good. I think the difficulty is the ability to manufacture in a clean environment in a clean way. It's not a common occurrence in these manufacturers. And maybe, Eric, you could speak to the clean manufacturing capabilities of Kirkman group specifically, and how. What's the difference that makes these able to be manufactured in a clean way?

Eric Gripentrog [00:13:17]:
Yeah. We've been producing supplements and vitamins for multiple decades. For the last several decades, it's really been focused on families that have either children with autism or they have dietary sensitivities. And if we can help that family kind of stabilize that child, the last thing that can happen is to throw anything to upset that apple cart. So if all of a sudden lead now is included in a B vitamin, it's really going to move that child in a different direction. So after a number of years finding the raw materials that are clean, the amount of testing that we conduct, I think we're very proud of the fact that we produce clean supplements for those families that have dietary sensitivities that are truly helping, I think, the parents out. And this has kind of taken that next step. So if we can.

Eric Gripentrog [00:14:08]:
The vitamins that we have been producing is kind of after the fact. Now we're trying to produce the vitamin before the fact, so we're trying to preempt it. And I think. I think Figo's position statement back in October, I think, is a great stake in the ground where they said certification of prenatal vitamins becomes the standard of care. So I'm happy to be working with Jeanne and Nate to try to spread this word, and I feel very fortunate that we have the opportunity to have our product in the market that will pass the 24 heaviest metals test, the allergens that are on there, the 24 heavy metals, 120 pesticides that are there. So very happy to get guidance. I'm not a doctor, and so to hear Jean, who's, I think, very well renowned, going like, holy cow, this actually happened. So we need to do something about it.

Eric Gripentrog [00:14:55]:
And, you know, because we've been number of years, a number of decades producing clean supplements, I don't want to say it was an easy feat, but it's something that we've practiced over the course of multiple years to get to the point. So I'm happy where we are, and I'm happy that we can get this product out to the marketplace and to truly help women, you know, with their supplementation and the proper diethyde so they can have a healthy child at the end.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:15:18]:
And Eric, I think what's important is you have proven it's possible. So the concern is people will just say, your manufacturers will just say, we can't get it clean enough, that this is too high a standard. And you've shown that the standard isn't too high. And we will continue to review the list of chemicals on an annual basis to see what else should be added. And it's not to throw the FDA under the bus. That's not what we're trying to do. The FDA has been given a specific mandate that's very different than the pharmaceutical world. And they have been told, I have to read the name.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:15:52]:
It's the Dietary Supplement Health and Education act of 1994. And that specifically said that manufacturing and distribution of supplements and dietary ingredients that they are, must be produced unadulterated and can't be misbranded. And it is up to the company to make sure that those standards are met. So the FDA hasn't been given the oversight that they are in other areas. But we have met with the FDA, my colleagues have met with them, and they said, you let us know what your concerns are and we can act upon it. So we're very happy to be able to have that kind of, or foster that relationship.

Jon LaClare [00:16:32]:
And this is new science or new development. Right. And also a new product, really, this is the first product that is certified to be free of these contaminants. And with that comes opportunity. So from a business perspective, obviously, the opportunity is the most important is to help mothers. Right, and their, and their babies as well, to have better health. Right. Along the way, though, there's a unique opportunity to be able to really grow this market where there's little competition.

Jon LaClare [00:16:57]:
It's almost like having a patent where you've got this window of time where it's the only one that's certified. Eric, because of the expertise that you have in enable the ability to manufacture in a clean way where others don't, there's this catch up time so you can be ahead of the market. What is, can you speak to maybe some business plans and what do you do in that, when you've got this window where, okay, it's really just us in this open opportunity space and time. How do you capitalize?

Eric Gripentrog [00:17:22]:
Yeah. If money was no object, I'd be hiring a whole slew of marketers and extra doctors and salespeople. So I think what we're working on is building up all the necessary marketing assets. So educational videos that will go out to the OBGyns, educational videos that will go out to the mothers. We're working on affiliate programs to really just get the word out, because I think once people realize, and I think Jeannie's, I think reaction is, I was actually at the ACOG conference a few weeks ago in San Francisco, and I'm sharing the story that we're sharing now. And it was no surprise. It was a lot of surprise to a lot of the doctors. They had no idea.

Eric Gripentrog [00:18:04]:
So it's just like, how do we get this out? Because in the end, we do want to have healthy babies and healthy mothers, I think, during pregnancy years. So with that being said, we're building a lot of marketing assets to kind of spread the word and get the information out. The other thing that we're working on, which is it's been a long process, is to conduct an ipo, so to go public, and those funds would be invested in the business to kind of help accelerate the distribution, the access to the product itself, to all the mothers, primarily in the uS, but also looking beyond. Beyond that, because Kirkland does have reach on a global scale. So at this point, it's to move as fast as we possibly can, manufacture as much as we can, get this in the hands of the doctors, get it in the hands of the mothers, and really educate the people that's out there, and hopefully, knock on wood, that generates incremental business, not only to Kirkman, but I think for me, primarily, it's all about the health of the mother and the baby.

Jon LaClare [00:19:00]:
Yeah, I love that. That's a great way to say it. Where at the end of the day, and really, I think any business should and likely does have the goal, at the end of the day, it's not just about dollars in. It's about what we do as a company to help others in various ways. Right. I think it's easy to see the help that you're doing with this specific.

Eric Gripentrog [00:19:16]:
Product, something I've attended a couple conferences, and it really hits home when you talk to a family that has a child with autism, and they come up and they are so appreciative of, I think, of what Kirkman has done for their family over the course of 18 years, 25 years, it puts me to tears to actually listen to their stories. About how we've actually helped kind of bring that child back into a more operational state of mind, so to speak. So I think now it's like, it's great. That's wonderful. Now it's like, hey, let's help more people in the world and give them a very clean supplement that passes these very challenging stipulations in the fecal document. So again, I think from a dollars and cents perspective, we're going to try to take advantage of it as much as we possibly can, can leverage the story for our IPo, and then reinvest that back into hopefully further down the road, even make more products that help more people love it.

Jon LaClare [00:20:16]:
Well, this has been a really fun interview, and I'm sure our audience is going to learn a lot and really benefit from this and hopefully realize, okay, really, all of us, maybe not me and Eric, right. But anybody who's a potential mother or we all have friends and family that are in need of these or potentially in need of this. If you're anybody in childbearing age, it's what an important thing to do to help with their health can learn more. I want to tell our audience@kirkmangroup.com. it's Kirkman group.com. well, Eric or doctor Connery, is there anything I didn't ask that you think could be helpful for our audience?

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:20:52]:
No, I think you've covered it really, really well, and I appreciate it. I think what you helped put on is that perspective of what's so critical about the prenatal vitamins, why it has to be a joint effort. I always say this is truly about empowering women. Women make the decisions for their families. We are trying to empower women to make the decisions for their health, and if or when they decide to conceive for a child's health. So it really is about women's health.

Eric Gripentrog [00:21:23]:
I think there's one thing I'll probably ask Jean, and I don't know the specific timeframe, but there was something I think I learned from Jean and Nate about the time that it takes from a decision that's actually made, from the time that it actually gets implemented, and it's quite significant.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:21:37]:
Oh, it's awful in the medical field.

Eric Gripentrog [00:21:40]:
So I'm hoping to break that mold, quite honestly, with her help. So it doesn't take that long to make these types of changes, and then we can make them as quickly as possible, obviously, for all the benefits that we've mentioned. And, John, I just want to appreciate having us on and taking the time out of your schedule. To hold this podcast. And gene, as always, it's great to see you, and I appreciate everything you're doing on behalf of not only Figo and ACOG, but all the moms that are out there. So thank you both.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:22:10]:
Thank you. I hate to say it that the average time has been, we've jokingly said 17 years. We don't have 17 years. So the fact is, when there is something like a certification, it jump starts. It changes the timeframe because now it makes it very easy.

Eric Gripentrog [00:22:29]:
So hopefully it's 17 years to 17 hours. That would be fantastic.

Jeanne Ann Conry [00:22:32]:
That's it.

Jon LaClare [00:22:35]:
Love it. Love it. Well, thank you both for your time. This has been a lot of fun. I do want to say to our audience, just a reminder, did you know you can meet with a member of my team at Harvest Growth absolutely free for a 30 minutes strategy consultation? We've launched and grown hundreds of products since 2007 and learned some of our strategies while growing Oxiclean back in the Billy Mays days. We're here to help, so please go to harvestgrowth.com and set up a call if you'd like to discuss further.