Hey - one of my pico-caps (CMPD) did good today - more than doubled. Seems like this is where I should have had all my money instead of SEPR. <sort-of-g>
(I will confess that I held on to it mostly because it didn't seem quite worth the bother of selling it...)
News Alert from PR Newswire via Quote.com
Topic: (NASDAQ:CMPD) Compumed Inc, (NYSE:MRK) Merck & Co, (NYSE:VAR) Varian
Medical Systems Inc, (NYSE:XRX) Xerox Corp,
Headline: CompuMed Receives FDA Marketing Clearance for Automated OsteoGram(R)
2000
======================================================================
Breakthrough Technology Will Enable Physicians Worldwide to Perform Simple and
Highly Accurate Osteoporosis Tests in Their Own Offices
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif., May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- CompuMed, Inc.
(NASDAQ:CMPD) announced today that it has received clearance from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin marketing its Automated
OsteoGram(R) 2000, the world's first device that enables physicians to perform
convenient and accurate bone density tests in their own offices utilizing
their existing standard x-ray equipment. Over 100,000 facilities in the U.S.
and over 1 million facilities worldwide already have the standard x-ray
equipment required to perform the procedure. The potential worldwide market
for devices such as the Automated OsteoGram 2000 system is estimated to exceed
$2 billion.
"This is a breakthrough product with significant implications for patients
and physicians everywhere," said Michael A. Davis, M.D., D.Sc., Professor of
Radiology and Director of Radiologic Research at the University of
Massachusetts Medical Center. "The market for a low-cost yet highly accurate
bone densitometry test in physicians' offices is enormous. Currently, only a
few thousand bone densitometers are scattered throughout the U.S. and the rest
of the world, mainly in specialized osteoporosis centers. Now, physicians
everywhere will have access to a practical and reliable way of evaluating and
treating the millions of patients at risk for osteoporosis," added Dr. Davis.
The Automated OsteoGram 2000 system consists of a desktop scanner,
standard PC and OsteoGram bone density analysis software. A simple hand x-ray
is taken, then scanned into the computer for automated analysis. The
procedure takes less than one minute to perform, and is approved for
reimbursement by Medicare and the vast majority of third-party payors in the
U.S. The list price for the entire system will be substantially lower than
the cost of bone densitometers on the market today, while offering unsurpassed
clinical performance.
In a landmark 3-year study sponsored by Merck & Co., Inc.(NYSE:MRK), the
U.S. Public Health Service and the Hawaii Osteoporosis Foundation, published
in November, 1998, the OsteoGram achieved the highest osteoporosis prediction
score of any bone density test ever. The Automated OsteoGram 2000 can also
precisely monitor changes in bone mass over time.
"Since one in two women and one in five men alive in the U.S. today are
likely to suffer hip, spine or wrist fractures caused by osteoporosis, and
effective therapies exist that can dramatically reduce that risk, it is
necessary for doctors to have the tools to manage osteoporosis in their own
offices," stated James Linesch, President of CompuMed. "We are very proud to
have created the diagnostic technology that will finally make that possible."
CompuMed, based in Manhattan Beach, California, develops solutions to
important medical problems through the use of computer technology. In
addition to the Automated OsteoGram 2000, CompuMed is developing the Digital
OsteoView(R) 2000, which will combine the Automated OsteoGram software with
the world's first automated test for arthritis. The developmental OsteoView
technology utilizes a filmless digital x-ray detector developed by Varian
Medical Systems (NYSE:VAR) and Xerox Corporation (NYSE:XRX), under a grant
from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). CompuMed is
also working with The Johns Hopkins University Medical School and Applied
Physics Laboratory to create the first device that can measure bone structure
in three dimensions (3-D), to even more accurately assess the risk of future
fractures and monitor bone changes over time. CompuMed has also developed
computer-aided diagnostic telemedicine services for cardiology and currently
provides on-line computer interpretation of electrocardiograms (EKGs) to
physicians, government and corporate healthcare providers. |
