Healthcare Industry News: LOGIQ
News Release - June 26, 2007
GE Healthcare and Medipattern Sign Collaborative Sales and Development Agreement
GE Healthcare to Include Medipattern's B-CAD(TM) in its Current Breast Ultrasound Solutions.Medipattern to develop CAD for other indications for GE Healthcare Imaging Technology.
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network)--Jun 26, 2007 -- GE Healthcare's (NYSE:GE ) Radiology and Vascular Ultrasound group and The Medipattern Corporation (CDNX:MKI-V.V ) are pleased to announce a five-year collaborative sales and development agreement for ultrasound-based Computer-Aided Detection (CAD). The agreement is structured in two parts, enabling GE Healthcare to resell the current B-CAD(TM) product line, while collaboratively developing and customizing CAD for GE's future solutions. Under the agreement, GE Healthcare will work with Medipattern to develop Computer-Aided Detection for existing GE ultrasound platforms as well as future ultrasound imaging solutions. Medipattern will create an advanced version of its breast ultrasound CAD exclusively for GE Healthcare for use with its ultrasound solutions, which will be made available to the market through GE's well-established global sales channels.
"GE Healthcare is facilitating the next era in medical imaging by developing advanced tools for volume ultrasound imaging. Both the quality and number of images are increasing and moving from 2-D to a more advanced 3-D imaging that will enable the physician to see even greater detail capable of revealing disease at an earlier stage. At the same time, the patient population is growing and the number of active radiologists is decreasing. These trends place stress upon those in the medical imaging field worldwide. CAD plays a key role through its ability to extract the salient features of medical images, organize information, and document all of the case detail quickly and efficiently," said Brian McEathron, GE Healthcare General Manager for Radiology and Vascular Ultrasound.
"B-CAD standardizes the reading and reporting method, increases radiologists' confidence in their diagnostic decisions, and reduces the amount of time required to interpret that information," McEathron said. "GE Healthcare chose Medipattern as its partner in breast ultrasound CAD for its technical expertise, its consistently innovative approach, and its dedication to both partners and patients. Our goal is to help radiologists efficiently and accurately diagnose disease at the earliest onset, when it is much more treatable. This will improve the outlook for every patient."
"I have been using B-CAD with my GE LOGIQ 9® Ultrasound Unit and found that I can consistently interpret cases in less than a minute -- much more quickly than our previous process, but with the same accuracy and detail," said Thomas Stavros, M.D. of the Sally Jobe Breast Center, Denver, Colorado. "B-CAD facilitates the reading of breast ultrasound in a highly efficient workflow, as it is well organized and provides structured reporting."
"Medipattern is pleased to partner with GE Healthcare to further advance breast imaging diagnosis," said Jeff Collins, CEO of Medipattern. "Working with GE will enable Medipattern to expand its reach for delivering B-CAD to the global community and provides an excellent partner for developing other indications for ultrasound. We look forward to working with the team at GE to refine and expand our products and services."
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform, treat and monitor disease, so patients can live their lives to the fullest.
GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $17 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE ). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 46,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at: www.gehealthcare.com.
About The Medipattern Corporation
Medipattern develops computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) solutions for medical imaging. These products enhance workflow while improving interpretive and diagnostic confidence. The Company's initial clinical applications are B-CAD(TM) for breast ultrasound and B-CAD MRI(TM). Both have received awards for innovation in the industry. The B-CAD products use pattern recognition technology to assist radiologists in their efforts to classify and characterize lesions in images of the breast. Medipattern was founded to design software products that save lives, detect breast cancer, and reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies in women referred for diagnosis of potential breast cancer. Please visit the company's website at: www.medipattern.com.
About B-CAD(TM)
B-CAD, a computer-assisted detection software system, segments a selected breast lesion and automatically reviews key features to characterize it. B-CAD then uses radiologists' input along with the American College of Radiology's BI-RADS® (Breast Imaging Report and Data System) feature category and descriptor checklists to generate a BI-RADS® score for each lesion, providing consistency in results and making it possible to follow a lesion from visit to visit. Finally, B-CAD records all of the findings automatically and generates a structured report in natural language.
Upcoming Events:
Medipattern will participate in the following events:
- Breast Imaging Conference, September 10-12, San Antonio, TX.
- Chicago International Breast Imaging Symposium October 3 to 7, 2007, Chicago, IL.
- RSNA, November 25 to 29, 2007, Chicago, IL.
B-CAD(TM) and B-CAD MRI(TM) are trademarks of The Medipattern Corporation.
Medipattern® is a registered mark of The Medipattern Corporation.
Forward-looking statements
This document contains forward-looking statements relating to Medipattern's performance, operations, or business environment. These statements are based on what we believe are reasonable assumptions given currently available information and our understanding of Medipattern's current activities. We have tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "anticipates,'' "believes,'' "estimates,'' "expects,'' "plans,'' "intends,'' "potential'', and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict or control. A number of factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to those set forth in the Company's corporate filings, (posted at www.sedar.com). In addition, these forward-looking statements relate to the date on which they are made. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason. Readers should not rely on forward-looking statements.
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release and has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this release.
Source: GE Healthcare
Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its
content.
Please address inquiries directly to the issuing company.
FindReps: Screen and connect with Medical Sales Rep candidates (Direct Reps and Independents) – anonymously, in real time.
RepJobs: Job Opportunities for Direct Sales Reps and New Product Lines for Independents!