Thérapie Medical Group is planning to open three fertility clinics in Dublin and Kildare this summer following a €10 million investment.
The group has teamed up with leading fertility practitioner Dr John Kennedy to open a first Thérapie Fertility clinic in Carrickmines in Dublin this month. Satellite clinics will follow in Malahide and Newbridge later this summer, with a wider expansion nationally planned to begin later this year.
Thérapie Medical Group has been in operation for nearly 20 years and offers a range of treatments, including laser hair removal, anti-wrinkle injections, and clear braces. It has operations in Ireland and the UK and also owns Optilase, the laser eye surgery provider.
Latest accounts for Fellerim Ltd show that it made a profit of just under €2 million on turnover of €42.3 million in 2019. Its ebitda (earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation) more than doubled in the year to just under €5 million.
Philip McGlade, chief executive of the Thérapie Medical Group, told The Irish Times that its revenues, profits and ebitda all more than doubled in 2020 in spite of being closed for six months due to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions during the year.
He attributed this growth to the opening of a number of new clinics. Mr McGlade said Dr Kennedy has an equity stake in the group and the €10 million investment has been covered from the company’s cash resources.
Services
Dr Kennedy said the clinics main services will revolve around IVF (in-vitro fertilisation), egg freezing, and IUI (intrauterine insemination).
Dr Kennedy said the venture would make fertility treatments “affordable and accessible to many women and couples for whom it would otherwise not have been an option”.
He estimates that between 8,000 and 10,000 couples here seek IVF treatments each year. “At least half of them are leaving the country to do IVF,” he said, noting that Greece, Spain and the Czech Republic are the most likely overseas destinations for treatments.
Dr Kennedy said the Carrickmines clinic would be able to handle “up to 1,500 IVF cycles per annum” when operating at full capacity. This would make it the largest such clinic in the country, he said.
All-inclusive standard IVF packages will be available for €3,995, or €135 per month under a payment plan option, a price point that Dr Kennedy said was below what is currently available in the country. He claimed equivalent prices in the Irish market would probably be €6,000.
Dr Kennedy said Thérapie’s package was cheaper due to “efficiencies . . . newer models of care”, and use of the “latest technology”.
“This is an area that is ripe for disruption and has been for some time,” he added.
