Some good questions, Party. I cannot yet find any evidence of a patent for the Benzac acne treatment. However, I did find the following information:
* As at June 2015, Benzac was stocked in 30,000 stores in the USA and was judged "best acne treatment" by Health magazine.
* East Indian Sandalwood Oil has anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory and anti-irritating properties, so it is certainly very much better than those "get rid of oil and dirt" products you mention.
* TFS's Viroxis does have two patents for treatment of some viral skin problems.
So in conclusion, it may be that Benzac relies on its trade name and the uniqueness and scarcity of pharmaceutical grade EISO, which is unique to TFS (does anyone else know anything about a patent?). My understanding of the 1 million units shipped is that this is likely to continue and grow each quarter, particularly with a "new marketing campaign" in FY16 being mentioned in the Feb 16 presentation.
TFC Price at posting:
$1.53 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held