Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation Funds CardioComm Solutions to Fast-Track Wearable Medical Device Integration
Financing to target development of a new 12 lead ECG Shirt Remote Cardiac Monitoring Solution
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 8, 2017) - CardioComm Solutions, Inc. (TSXV: EKG) ("CardioComm" or the "Company"), a leading global medical provider of consumer heart monitoring and medical electrocardiogram ("ECG") software solutions, today announced it has been awarded a $567,079 grant from the Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation ("CIIRDF") to enable R&D collaborations with HealthWatch Technologies Ltd. ("HealthWatch") of Israel. This funding will directly support the joint development costs of a novel wireless call centre-based ECG/arrhythmia monitoring solution and allow the fast-track integration of a HealthWatch's wireless ECG and vital signs monitoring smart shirt with CardioComm's GEMS™ ECG arrhythmia management software. In April of this year, CardioComm announced that it had executed a distribution and co-marketing agreement (the "Agreement") with HealthWatch for the integration of the wearable device into CardioComm's Software as a medical device ("SaMD") ECG software platform.
The CIIRDF Board of Directors approved funding in December 2016 in Tel Aviv, Israel, after reviewing proposals that met key eligibility requirements and passed rigorous independent technical and business merit reviews in both countries. CIIRDF supports such bilateral R&D initiatives by contributing up to 50 percent of joint project costs to a maximum of CDN $800,000. The CIIRDF projects that commercialization of the approved products will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues for collaborating companies and would stimulate job creation and other economic benefits in both Canada and Israel. CIIRDF-enabled technologies have generated several hundreds of millions of dollars in economic value for Canadian and Israeli companies over the past decade alone.
Under the terms of the Agreement, CardioComm will develop software and communications compatibility between HealthWatch's smart shirt and CardioComm's own family of ECG management SaMD solutions. By combining their respective medical device clearances, the companies will be positioned to offer the only FDA cleared 12 lead ECG monitoring solution of its kind in the world. The companies will integrate the smart shirt system with CardioComm's GEM™ WIN and their next generation GEMS™ FLEX ECG management solution. GEMS™ FLEX is a web-based application, multi-tier architecture model that can run on-premises or in a cloud hosted environment and will operate on all modern browsers with full support for HTML irrespective of the underlying operating system. The software will allow for touch screen operation and accordingly will be compatible for use on mobile devices. CardioComm Solutions projects this integration project will be completed by the end of the year creating the opportunity to offer a first version of a web-based, wireless, 12 lead and wearable monitoring solution for sale by the end of 2017.
As stated in the SAP eBook, "Connected Care: The Digital Pulse of Global Healthcare", the monitoring of vital signs through remote patient monitoring ("RPM") enable problems to be spotted quickly so that doctors are able to prescribe healthcare treatments as a condition changes, often early enough to prevent further damage. CardioComm's efforts in the introduction of such connected RPM products will eliminate many of the challenges of effectively and efficiently applying ECG sensors and performing ECG monitoring in target service markets that include: mobile cardiac telemetry; arrhythmia and prolonged QT interval screening; ECG monitoring as an extension to in-hospital and in-clinic services; and long-term managed care support for people living with chronic medical conditions.