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Biotech / Medical : BICO & VITK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Money Maker (MM) who wrote (1804)	7/9/1998 9:35:00 AM
From: Tom R. Jones	Respond to of 2395

MM, My biggest concern about the Diasensor is that it must be calibrated for individuals. At most, it can be calibrated to handle 5 or 6 patients on any one machine. Therefore, it would be useless in a clinic setting. I agree with Terry. I would like to see the data. The last published data from the FDA site showed the machine to be unreliable. The rumor mill in this part of the country says that nothing has changed. Don't get me wrong. I would love for the machine to work. However, I remain skeptical until BICO proves itself. Regards, Tom

To: Money Maker (MM) who wrote (1804)	7/9/1998 9:37:00 AM
From: TJG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2395

MM ..excellent post...Your calculations show the potential of BICO is greater then ever imagined...IMO, The limitation of the Diasensor 1000 unit is only it's reliability, certainly not the potential market. On that note I have been looking into the CE mark process and what it takes to gain the CE mark approval. After what I have read a medical device needs to jump through numerous and difficult "hoops" to get a CE mark. I have sent an E-mail to BICO asking for the test files that they have on the 1000 which gave it the final CE mark approval. I will post any info that I get on this issue in the future. However, (IMHO), I feel that the unit must have preformed well to get the CE mark in the first place... TJG

To: Money Maker (MM) who wrote (1804)	7/9/1998 9:46:00 AM
From: Michael Kaufman	Respond to of 2395

MM, You asked to be told where you are wrong. OK. You obviously have not read the available material about the D1000. Your scenario about the doctor's office use cannot not happen because the D1000 must be individually calibrated for each patient. The calibration involves multiple tests and comparison to blood stick readings. It is not suitable for a clinic setting. There has been discussion of a next generation unit in which the calibration data is stored on a removable card. That unit would be usable by many different patients. That unit is currently just a gleam in the engineers eyes. The fact is that the only current market for the D1000 is individual diabetics who can afford it. Now the $8000 price tag may seem high, but many people have pointed out that taking into account the projected usable life of the unit, $8000 compares favorably to the cost of using current, disposable, blood stick devices. This is correct, BUT ONLY IF INSURANCE WILL PAY FOR IT. I am a diabetic. I read my glucose 4 times a day. My insurance company gave me my glucose meter for free, and my cost for supplies is $5.00 per. 100 lancets and 100 test strips costs me $10.00. If 100 tests costs $10.00, then 1 day's testing costs me $0.40 per day. One year costs me $146.00, lets round that to $150.00. Divide the $8000 cost of the D1000 by $150 and you get 53 years to pay back. Now also consider that the D1000 is not what you would call portable, where as my QID meter fits in my pocket. So tell me, am I going to but a D1000? Who is? You must factor all of this into your sales projections. By the way, I am way long on BICO at $1.50, so I wish them nothing but the best. Mike