Eternity Healthcare, developers of the needle-free Comfort-in™ injection system, a pain-free spring loaded pneumatic hypodermic injector which boasts multiple benefits over standard syringes, is gaining more and more ground in the broader medical device/diagnostics area lately (strict GMP, ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 manufacturing compliance), with new products like their gel-based cooling vest and a noninvasive sugar monitoring device that uses saliva instead of blood.
As a biopharma which already has firm roots planted in diabetes management, ETAH’s latest development vector (Feb 4), a saliva-based glucose monitoring system, could really put this little company on the map as the first to focus on rolling out an alternative for the painful finger pricking and blood collection an estimated 28M (and steadily climbing) diabetic Americans are all too familiar with everyday. With some 200M plus diabetics in the global aggregate and type 1 and 2 diabetes sufferers all requiring some or many readings/injections each day, the one-two punch of a pain-free injection system like Comfort-in, with a saliva-based glucose monitoring device, spells big wins for ETAH.
The global device market for glucose monitoring alone in 2010 was over $8.9B and projections indicate that that figure will climb to over $16B this year, with industry titans like Bayer and Roche dominating the space, yet failing to innovate around the painful drawing of blood, which happens for type 1 diabetics as often as five times each day. A sugar test using saliva has eluded developers for some time but the diabetes-focused ETAH looks to be on the right track utilizing a technology based on analyzing different factors in the saliva to determine blood glucose levels. Pairing the two products up in a kit will likely be a huge success for ETAH, especially in the clinical space where Comfort-in is already on a solid footing as a means of not only avoiding general needlestick injury or missed veins on the patient, but also increasing overall patient compliance through a substantial improvement of their experience.
The quality of care impression patients receive cannot be overstated when it comes to patients being more likely to turn up for therapies or ask for them to begin with and factors like faster injection time, as well as decreased risk from delivery of medication to an unintended site, simply enhance the Comfort-in profile for practitioners. Momentous development activity for ETAH of late has been spurred on by the (Oct 30) recent acquisition of Phoenix-based medical equipment, supplies and accessories distributor, Global Medical Equipment of America (GMEA), which has a strong hand in the durable medical equipment space. With a series of good verticals run through a 13-unit sales, service and distribution network, that recently also saw a complete back-end overhaul, GMEA ($10M in revenues for 2012) is a superb addition to the company’s bottom line and the 40M share exchange agreement (Q1 2014 completion) also sees ETAH moving their HQ down to Phoenix from Vancouver.
The merger certainly has been good for ETAH’s momentum, with the cooling vest for human and veterinary applications coming out just over a month after the share exchange agreement’s announcement (Dec 12), as market approval was successfully obtained for this incredible lightweight vest, which is able to cool the body’s temperature by over 10 degrees. Designed for comfort as well as utility, the gel-based technology in the vest is easily activated and then can be used many times over several days, also helping to prevent dehydration. Use for firefighters on the job or for construction workers out in the blazing heat, as well as for the average consumer in their backyard, are all covered by the complete product line and with a mat/vest version also out for veterinary use, it has become immediately clear to markets that the ETAH/GMEA marriage is both a happy and a fruitful one.
Learn more at Eternity Healthcare Inc. online www.EternityHealthcare.com
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