Cool deals for cryotherapy pioneer

Sheryl Moore revisits a business she first wrote about 25 years ago

Hello Rainmakers,

We’re all ready and primed for our Rainmakers conference tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll see a few of you there.

Today’s story is a real journey for TheBusinessDesk.com Yorkshire editor Sheryl Moore who first encountered Glenn Paxman, founder of Paxman Scalp Cooling a quarter of a century ago.

A lot has happened since, including a Swedish stock market float and some M&A activity, as he explains.

It was more than 25 years ago when, as a young(ish) business reporter at the Yorkshire Post, I came across a start-up in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.

That business was Paxman Scalp Cooling. The company was borne out of a husband’s determination to help his wife who was going through the trauma of losing her hair during gruelling chemotherapy. Using his knowledge and expertise of the refrigeration industry, Glenn Paxman, with the help of his brother Neil, pioneered a scalp cooling system that enables people having chemotherapy treatment to maintain their hair. The first device to combat this side effect was installed at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in 1997.

I was intrigued when reading about the business and arranged to meet Glenn at his Huddersfield headquarters. It was an inspirational interview, and I never forgot the passion that Glenn had for his system and the desire to ease the suffering of cancer patients. In fact, I remember being moved to tears at the story and cried all the way back to the office!

It was also a story that stayed with me over the years and last week I was delighted to become reacquainted with him when I reported the ambitious company’s takeover of its main rival, Dignitana in a deal valued at 153 million Swedish Krona.

Why Swedish Krona you may ask? Well, it appears that since my last encounter with Paxman a quarter of a century ago, the company has gone global. In fact, Paxman now sells into 60 international markets, helping hundreds of thousands of patients around the world.