WideMed Ltd. (TASE:WDMD) today reported success in a clinical trial of its Morpheu automated device for monitoring and documenting sleep apnea and cardiology variables.
The study found that documentation by the system was as good as manual monitoring from visual viewing of patients and monitors. In the notice to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), WideMed cautioned that this was its first important announcement, besides its financial reports, so far this year about the company's activities.
Nevertheless, WideMed's share jumped over 50% in morning trading today, after a 33.3% gain yesterday. The share fell back in afternoon trading to close with a gain of 16.3% to NIS 1.16, giving a market cap of NIS 12.8 million. This is below the market cap of NIS 55.6 million at its IPO in late 2006, but considerably better than its market cap of NIS 2.6 million at the beginning of the year.
WideMed's sleep apnea monitor was able, among other things, to distinguish between awake and sleep states, identify and classify sleep apnea events, and identify cardiology events. The study results were submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to obtain marketing approval for Morpheus for this purpose.
WideMed already has FDA clearance for the diagnosis of sleep apnea and cardiology events in intensive care units, and the company signed a marketing agreement with GE Healthcare two years ago. In its financial report for the first quarter, WideMed said that joint marketing of Morpheus would begin in a few months.
WideMed posted a loss of NIS 740,000 on NIS 800,000 revenue for the first quarter, and it had NIS 2.3 million in cash at the end of March.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on August 18, 2009
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