Medikidz has marked a major milestone - selling a million copies of a series of comic books designed to help children around the world understand medical conditions.
Medikidz was developed by University of Otago graduates Dr Kim Chilman-Blair and Dr Kate Hersov and the books were launched in September 2009.
Selling the millionth copy was "just incredible" as the pair never initially thought they would reach the milestone so quickly, Dr Chilman-Blair said from the UK this week.
She believed it was testament to the fact there was nothing similar globally for children and it was filling a "major need" from young patients, as well as their parents and doctors and nurses.
Medikidz, which was the inaugural winner of the Audacious Challenge, set up by the Dunedin City Council, Otago Polytechnic and University of Otago, was the only company in the world solely dedicated to providing medical information for children, which was written by doctors, she said.
Books were now distributed in 26 countries and printed in 18 languages. Most recently a book has been translated into Maori and Dr Chilman-Blair was "very proud" of that. There were 30 titles published and another 30 "in the pipeline" and the response had been "overwhelmingly positive".
It has been a busy time for Dr Chilman-Blair and Dr Hersov, who are both pregnant with their first children and due two and a-half weeks apart.
Next year, Dr Chilman-Blair is heading to the US to set up an office, while Dr Hersov is staying to run the company's UK office.
They were looking to expand on the digital platform and online. At present, information was being provided through the comic books to let children know about their disease.
But further down the track, requirements for information changed and, once children learned about the disease from the book, they would then be able to get support and service online on the company's website.
Dr Chilman-Blair was delighted England's former children's commissioner Prof Sir Al Aynsley-Green had recently come on board as chairman of the company's medical advisory board.
Financially, the company broke even in October last year, and had been profitable ever since. Some of the profit for Medikidz Ltd went to run Medikidz Foundation which delivered medical information free for children in the third world.
Last month, 100,000 books were delivered to Swaziland, explaining HIV to children. Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV in the world.
Dr Chilman-Blair, who also completed a masters in entrepreneurship at the University of Otago, said her time at university in Dunedin felt like "yesterday".
Describing it was one of the best times in her life, she remained very close to the friends she made there.
For probably about the next five years, she would be involved in setting up the US office and then she and her husband planned to return to New Zealand.
Her husband was a very keen surfer and he was keen to get back to New Zealand, while it was an "amazing place" to bring up children, she said.
She hoped that one day her yet-to-be-born son would study at the University of Otago.
