MDST Medicsight

 

TIDMMDST 
 
RNS Number : 7614N 
Medicsight Plc 
24 February 2009 
 

 
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|                     Press Release  |                   24 February 2009 | 
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Medicsight PLC 
("Medicsight" or "the Company") 
Business update 
 
 
Medicsight PLC (AIM: MDST), industry leader in the development of Computer-Aided 
Detection (CAD) and image analysis software which assists radiologists in the 
early detection of disease, today provides an update on recent events. 
 
 
The proposed decision of the CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) in 
the USA not to reimburse CT colonography for colorectal cancer screening has 
been made in spite of consistent lobbying made by professional groups and 
advisors. Although this proposed decision comes as a disappointment for 
Medicsight, the CMS continues to cover CT colonography as a diagnostic procedure 
(i.e. where the patient has already presented symptoms of bowel disease) and the 
Company is confident that the decision will not affect the long term viability 
of the business model. A number of the private health insurers currently do 
reimburse CT Colonography both as a standard screening procedure and a 
diagnostic procedure, and the number is expected to gradually increase. The 
general consensus within the industry is that the CMS will revisit this 
decision. 
 
 
One of the reasons cited for the proposed CMS decision was that CT colonography 
is not as accurate for detecting polyps as the current gold standard, optical 
colonoscopy when the scans are read by less experienced reviewers. Software such 
as Medicsight's ColonCAD(TM), which assists radiologists in their detection of 
polyps, could significantly help to overcome this problem. 
 
 
Medicsight has global partnership agreements in place with leading visualisation 
and PACS/ OEM partners that provide access to the USA, Japan, Europe, China and 
other markets. Medicsight's ColonCAD application is already installed (but not 
activated) on a significant number of these partner workstations. Upon the 
Company receiving FDA and MHLW clearance, Medicsight and its partners will 
immediately start marketing the software in the USA and Japan respectively. 
 
 
Current economic conditions mean that hospitals are experiencing pressure to 
reduce capital expenditure on items costing over $1 million. At a transfer price 
of $10,000 per license, Medicsight's software licence is considerably below this 
threshold, therefore the Company believes that these cost constraints in 
hospital expenditure should not have too large an impact on the business. 
 
 
David Sumner, Executive Chairman of Medicsight, said: "The CMS proposed decision 
and the current economic climate are unfortunate setbacks for Medicsight. 
However, whilst the CMS' proposed decision will impact more on the elderly 
population, there remains a large proportion of the at-risk US population in the 
50 to 65 year-old age range who will increasingly be covered by the private 
health insurers for colorectal cancer screening by CT colonography. We have 
GBP18 million of cash in our year end balance sheet, and have recently 
implemented a plan to streamline our costs. We continue to seek new marketing 
partners and believe that when ColonCAD gains FDA and MHLW approval we will be 
well placed to begin an aggressive sales and marketing drive in the US and 
Japan." 
 
 
 
 
- Ends - 
  For further information: 
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| Medicsight PLC                            | www.medicsight.com         | 
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| David Sumner                              | +44 (0)20 7605 7950        | 
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| Nomura Code                               |                            | 
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| Juliet Thompson                           | +44 (0) 20 7776 1204       | 
| Jonathan Senior                           | +44 (0) 20 7776 1219       | 
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  Media enquiries: 
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| Abchurch                                  | +44 (0) 20 7398 7700       | 
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| Heather Salmond / Stephanie Cuthbert /    | +44 (0) 20 7398 7718       | 
| Simone Alves                              |                            | 
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| stephanie.cuthbert@abchurch-group.com     | www.abchurch-group.com     | 
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Notes to editors 
Medicsight PLC is a UK-headquartered, research driven, leading developer of 
computer-aided detection (CAD) and image analysis software for the medical 
imaging market. The CAD software automatically highlights suspicious areas on 
computerised tomography (CT) scans of the colon and lung, helping radiologists 
to identify, measure and analyse potential disease and early indicators of 
disease. Medicsight's CAD software has been validated using one of the world's 
largest and most population diverse databases of verified patient CT scan data. 
Medicsight's ColonCAD(TM) and LungCAD(TM) software products are seamlessly 
integrated with the advanced 3D visualisation workstations of several 
industry-leading imaging equipment partners. 
 
 
About Computer-Aided Detection 
With increasingly sophisticated radiological imaging hardware such as 
Multi-Detector CT scanners, radiologists are facing a growing challenge in the 
amount of detailed patient image data that they must review for each patient 
examination. Some CT scan examinations generate as many as 2000 images per 
patient. Review of this data by the radiologist is not only time-consuming but 
also prone to error due to reader fatigue. CAD software can help the reviewing 
radiologist by analysing the image data and automatically highlighting 
suspicious regions of interest for closer inspection. Without CAD software some 
potential abnormalities or areas of disease may be overlooked. This can be 
critical for diagnosis and the management of patient outcomes as early detection 
of disease greatly increases the probability of successful treatment and a 
positive therapeutic outcome. In addition to supporting individual radiologists 
CAD also has the potential to help standardise CT interpretation across both 
individuals and institutions thereby supporting population based screening 
programmes. 
 
 
 
 
About Medicsight's CAD software 
Medicsight's ColonCAD(TM) and LungCAD(TM) software use an advanced CAD algorithm 
to analyse CT scans of the colon and lung and automatically highlight suspicious 
areas that may be indicators of disease. CAD may highlight areas easily 
overlooked by the reviewing radiologist, such as small lesions or regions that 
are hidden from view behind folds in the colon or normal structures and 
surrounding tissue in the lung. 
 
 
Both CAD products seamlessly integrate with the advanced 3D visualisation 
platforms of industry-leading imaging equipment partners. The integrated systems 
provide sophisticated image viewing capabilities, including 3D reconstructed 
image data, with the added advantage of demonstrating automatic CAD findings to 
assist clinical end users in the detection and analysis of disease. This allows 
clinical end users to perform either a 'second read', where CAD findings are 
displayed to the user after completion of an initial review of the CT scan data, 
or a 'concurrent read' where CAD findings are displayed during the user's 
initial review of the original CT scan images. 
 
 
Since inception, Medicsight has developed close and lasting relationships with 
some of the world's foremost clinicians in product related areas. This provides 
the Company with a wealth of clinical expertise and dedicated clinical research 
to support ongoing product development. Medicsight also collaborates with a 
number of leading academic institutions and clinical research programmes 
worldwide to develop the Company's comprehensive database of population diverse 
verified patient CT scan data, thus allowing Medicsight's products to be 
validated to the highest possible standards. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This information is provided by RNS 
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange 
   END 
 
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