CardioComm Solutions, Inc. (EKG-TSX.V), a provider of innovative software solutions for information management systems in cardiovascular medicine and telemedicine, issued a letter to shareholders and friends yesterday detailing the company’s progress and goals to date.
The full letter can be viewed on CardioComm’s website, but here are some of the highlights…
Product Development. Commercial releases for an array of new and upgraded products are scheduled for the first quarter 2014. These include the handheld HeartCheckTM PEN ECG device and patent-pending SMART Monitoring ECG service, the GEMS™ 4.0 software platform with GEMS Air for GSM transmissions and GEMS HL7 for integration with electronic medical records, and the GEMS mobile cardiac telemetry (MCT) product penetrating U.S. markets.
Financing. A current round of financing of up to C$1 million is earmarked for ensuring CardioComm meets its development and product launch objectives.
Intellectual Property. U.S. and Canadian patent applications for the use of CardioComm’s technologies in the automated, software-enabled and server-based unlocking of consumer bio-monitoring devices are in process. The USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) sent CardioComm a letter in November 2013 stating that the company’s patents were in the queue for examination. A Canadian examination is expected to follow in 2014.
HeartCheck™ Partner Program. CardioComm has established a Partner Program to aid adoption of its HeartCheck™ and SMART Monitoring products. The company is working to ramp up this program, which has already enrolled several Canadian pharmacies, including Total Health Pharmacy and Remedy’sRx pharmacy chains as distributors of the HeartCheck™ PEN. Partner kits are being provided to pharmacists, sports training centers, and allied health professionals, and include “business-in-a-box” sales and marketing solutions. For every $20 ECG screen provided under this program, the partner retains $10. Supporting adoption of the company’s products is recent findings from the Heart and Stroke Foundation that CardioComm’s HeartCheck™ ECG screening technologies were found to be superior to manual pulse checks—even by qualified staff—for atrial fibrillation (AF) screening and detection.
For more details, view CardioComm’s TV commercial for the consumer HeartCheck™ PEN below.
2014 News to Watch
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In the first quarter 2014, the company expects to launch a Heart Health Initiative geared toward in-pharmacy ECG screening services using the HeartCheck™ products. Early pharmacist responses have been positive.
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CardioComm has partnered with the International Health, Racquet & Sports Club Association. The HeartCheck™ PEN is expected to be a feature product in their 2014 FIT Magazine.
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Based on progress made to date in placing the HeartCheck™ ECG Monitor in long-term care (LTC) facilities, CardioComm could see greater traction in LTC sites during 2014, especially given that the company has been invited to propose an AF screening program for use in all LTC facilities in Ontario for stroke prevention.
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Enrollment of 8,000 patients in a grant-funded study of the most cost-effective methods and settings for arrhythmia screening in adults over age 65 is set to begin in 2014. The study is sponsored by the Canadian Atrial Fibrillation Stroke Prevention Intervention Network (CSPIN) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and will compare the feasibility, efficacy, and cost of a manual pulse check to an automated blood pressure device with a validated AF-detection system to CardioComm’s HeartCheck™ ECG monitor.
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CardioComm plans to release the next version of its GEMS™ (Global ECG Management System) software—GEMS 4.0, which is Win 7/8 compliant—in the first quarter 2014. Beta testing is ongoing now. Features include GEMS Air, a module to support use of GSM-enabled ECG recording and transmitting devices, Auto Attendant for the receipt of simultaneous analogy phone transmissions of ECGs (largely a Canadian requirement), and a GEMS HL7 module for integration with electronic medical records systems.
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CardioComm also intends to make its GEMS Mobile Cardiac Telemetry (MCT) software commercially available prior to the end of the first quarter 2014. This builds upon the GEMS 4.0 release and is anticipated to open the U.S. market for CardioComm. For greater details on GEMS MCT launch in the U.S., see this November 25th press release from CardioComm.
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CardioComm is ever building a network of distributors in Canada, the U.S., and globally. The most advanced distribution agreements that could realize sales in the near term include in Panama (extending to Central American and parts of the Caribbean), Iran, Vietnam, and the Middle East’s Gulf region (Dubai and Turkey).
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Visit CardioComm’s Corporate Profile to download a free copy of CardioComm’s Executive Informational Overview®, which provides a detailed summary of the Company and overviews the HeartCheck™ products, SMART Monitoring solutions, and GEMS Software, among others.
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