Good morning, everyone. My name is Pål Ryfors. I am the CEO of Episurf Medical, and I'm here to provide you with an update of the progress during the first quarter of 2022. We have attached a couple of slides to this presentation and I will go through them and make references. The first slide on COVID-19. I'm happy that this slide is shorter this time. The start of the year was quite challenging due to the outbreak of the Omicron variant late 2021. This was expected and communicated in the last report, and this happened, but we did expect an improvement at the end of the first quarter, and we clearly saw that. I'm quite pleased with the trend during late March and April. That was a positive development.
Moving on to the results and highlights during the first quarter. The net sales amounted to SEK 1.6 million and gross order intake amounted to SEK 1.7 million. If you look at the comparison figure, during 2021, we had quite a volatility between quarters, given that restrictions came on and off. The first quarter of 2021 was our best quarter. From that perspective, the comparison figure was a bit challenging. However, if I look at the trend we've had now, during the second half of Q1 and during the start of Q2, I am pleased to say that we are well-positioned to grow quite significantly against any quarter last year.
It remains to see whether this trend now can sustain for the next weeks and months, but we definitely hope so. The loss for the period amounted to SEK 16.4 million and a lot of resources have been spent now on product development and commercialization, which are key focus areas for the company at the moment. If there's anything I really would like to highlight, that we set a new record in the number of customers who ordered an Episealer implant during a quarter, and that number was 41 in the first quarter. That was 25% better than what we've ever seen before.
If you then assume that volumes at the clinics and with the individual surgeons will normalize going forward, I think again, we're positioned to grow, given that the customer base is actually quite growing quite well. Cash at the end of the period, SEK 217.4 million and other key events during the quarter included the appointment of Ideal Med as a distributor in the U.K. market. Ideal Med is a distributor with nationwide coverage in U.K., and they have patient-specific knee replacements, partial and total knee replacements in their portfolio. The Episealer implant complements the portfolio very well. Moving on to the highlights. Commercial strategy. We are reviewing the governance within the sales organization and allocating resources in the most efficient way, with in...
which includes a significantly increased focus towards the indirect channel management, simply put, the distributor markets. This is very encouraging, and an example is the sales reps we have in the U.K. market who are now working together with Ideal Med, but also focusing on other opportunities we have in our indirect markets such as, for example, Portugal, Spain and France, et cetera. I'm pleased with the development there, and I think it will generate results over time. If there's any disappointment during the quarter, I think the EPIC-Knee Trial is what we have to highlight. I can assure everyone that the team is fully focused on getting this trial started properly.
We're reviewing both small and big initiatives, so to say, and we're doing this together with the investigators, and we are committed and determined to get this going. To date, the patient recruitment rate cannot be described as anything else but a disappointment, but we hope to deliver going forward. The product development work continues with the two very interesting projects we have targeting the US market. I'm pleased to say that the 510(k) application for the Episealer Patellofemoral System has now gone into the next phase, the substantive review phase, following a reapplication we did now at the end of the third quarter.
If you look at the global commercial strategy on the following slide and just cherry-picking a few highlights during the first quarter, I would like to mention that we now have the products fully registered in the Hong Kong market. We've had our first physical meetings now with surgeons in India, and the first patients are for review for an Episealer. In Saudi Arabia, you know that we received regulatory clearance, and we've already had the first case approved, so the first surgery is scheduled in Saudi Arabia. At the bottom of the slide, you can see Latin America. We have had our first approaches from the region during the quarter, and we're now taking a serious look at some opportunities there.
We do see several interesting opportunities, and this region has not been a focus region for us historically, so we look forward to come back and tell you more about this in the next weeks and months. Focus areas for the company. Increased commercial focus based on available data is what we say on the Episealer Knee product portfolio, and that is ongoing in Europe and certain other markets as you've seen. Our focus on the EPIC-Knee Trial remains with the patient recruitment as a first step, followed by the patient follow-up. The Episealer Talus is continuing to be launched in Europe and certain other markets, and we're also supporting a number of studies, and you've seen some recent initiatives on that in the last weeks.
Our Episealer Patellofemoral System is now in the next phase of the review, and we hope to be able to launch that product later 2022. The timetable for the Episealer MTP product is about a year later than the other product, and the project is ongoing with full speed, and you should look out for news in the next quarters. Shareholder list, no major changes, and we are grateful for the strong support we have had from our shareholders. You can see the top 10 on this slide. With that, I would like to say thank you very much for your attention, and if you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to reach out to us in any of our channels, and we will reply as soon as we can.
Thank you very much again for your attention. Bye.