BELLEVUE, Wash., Dec. 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the World Health Association, one in five adults in China suffer from cardiovascular disease. Heart related hospital admissions in China are projected to increase by 45% between 2014 and 2030 due to high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, pollution and an aging population.
Ventripoint (TSX-V:VPT) has created an innovative cost-saving tool to monitor and diagnose patients with heart disease.
“We currently have 10 machines in Europe, 10 in the United States, four in Canada – and we have just signed a game-changing deal in China,” stated Ventripoint CEO, Dr. George Adams, in an exclusive interview. “In the same way that most cell phone users in China have never had a land-line, a lot of Chinese hospitals do not have MRI machines, so we anticipate this being ‘leap-frog’ technology.”
VMS™ measures right ventricle heart function, providing rapid, accurate results for the diagnoses and management of patients with a wide spectrum of complex cardiac conditions, for a fraction of the cost of traditional medical care.
“Typically when a patient shows up in an emergency room with heart irregularities, the doctor admits the patient to the hospital and prescribes drugs to decrease blood volume to off-load the left heart. Then the doctor tests the left heart to see if more drugs are needed to improve the left heart muscle function. The patient is then sent home,” stated Adams, “Often, three weeks later the patient is back in the hospital with the same problem. Then the cycle repeats.”
Ventripoint’s technology has the potential to change the standard of care in hospitals around the world by analyzing the RIGHT heart, which is known to also be failing 50% of the time when the left heart is having difficulty. Clinical tests with MRI have proven Ventripoint’s results for the right heart to be 100% accurate.
The market for medical instruments in China is approximately $7 billion per year. In the last 3 years over 2,000 new hospitals have been built and government health insurance now covers 90% of the population.
“A cardiac MRI takes two hours and costs $5,000,” confirmed Adams. “Most hospitals will only do 1-2 cardiac MRIs per day as they need the MRI for other patients. Almost every cardiologist in the world has a 2D ultrasound machine to look at the left heart. Ventripoint has developed add-on hardware which gives a 2D ultrasound machine the specific functionality of an MRI. Our machines – which are FDA certified - cost very little compared to the $1-3 million for an MRI machine.”
Ventripoint intends to make right ventricle diagnostics the standard of care worldwide. North America already has expensive and cumbersome diagnostic protocols in place. But to penetrate that market, the company will have to educate the medical community.
“The market in China is estimated to be about $2 billion,” explains Adams, “The situation is totally different. For the first time, China is going to have access to proven, affordable state-of-the-art heart diagnostics.”
On September 2, 2014, Ventripoint announced the signing of a distribution agreement with Shandong Realcan Pharmaceuticals. Subsequently, Ventripoint made an application to the TSX Venture Exchange to allow a strategic investment in Ventripoint of up to $4,000,000.
“The Ventripoint approach to analyzing the heart will allow doctors to better treat their patients with heart disease,” stated Ms. Zhang, President of Realcan.
Realcan supplies medical instrumentation to 98% of the hospitals in Shandong province in China and the majority of other hospitals through a distribution network. They are introducing a “per-use” fee, leasing the equipment to the hospital and charging them each time they use it.
“I went to China for 5 days and came away with a signed deal,” explains Adams.
Here is why the Chinese are interested in Ventripoint: 14% of hospital admissions in China are for cardiac issues. The average cardiac stay is 6 days. 25% of the hospital beds in China are occupied by cardiac patients. Quick diagnosis, early release and fewer return patients will have a radical effect on a hospital’s bottom line.
Realcan is currently seeking regulatory approval from the Chinese FDA to sell the VMS™ heart analysis system in China. It is expected that first deployments will begin early in 2015. Realcan projects minimum revenues of $5 million in the first 12 months of sales, and $20 million the following year.
Realcan isn’t the only distributor the company is currently working with. Ventripoint is also in negotiations with medical distributors in South America, Central America, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. All over the world, doctors are having a hard time figuring out how to properly medicate cardiac patients so they return home after treatment without the need for a return visit to the hospital.
“Because doctors do not routinely functionally evaluate the right heart, patients are on a revolving door in and out of the hospital every month,” stated Adams, “so the stakes are high. We are helping doctors to collect hard data to make good decisions. It’s a very gratifying project to help people live healthier lives.”
Make sure you keep Ventripoint (TSX-V:VPT) on watch now. The company is in the midst of potentially revolutionizing the industry so keep an eye on the stock. If all goes as planned, Ventripoint could be a very exciting company to follow in 2015.
CONTACT: Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd. George Adams President and CEO (206) 910-9125 gadams@ventripoint.com Help employers find you! Check out all the jobs and post your resume.
