HTL.V – Interim Update

By Anita Dushyanth, PhD

TSX:HTL.V

Last week, on October 13, 2016, Hamilton Thorne (HTL.V) released a newer version (release version: 1.10) of their Computer Assisted Sperm Analysis (CASA) software that has been in use in the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) market. The updated software contains various enhancements to the existing version with two entirely new modules.

The Remote Capture Station, which was originally released only for the human clinical market, is now available for all animal applications. The remote capture station is a cost-efficient, stand-alone video capture system that allows smaller establishments to process samples and save data for future analysis on an IVOS II or CEROS II analyzer at the main laboratory. These workstations have been designed for ease of use, remote review and analysis. This module is available for purchase by new as well as existing customers.

In order to minimize errors and improve standardization of the CASA software between systems and laboratories, internal quality control and standardization for technical accuracy seem mandatory. Hamilton Thorne has developed the Internal Quality Control (IQC) module for the human clinical market to enable daily internal quality control of the assays. The module provides a method of verifying microscope calibration and monitoring precision of quality control materials by referring to a historical database. The module also features custom report design, with Levey-Jennings chart and results based on Westgard rules. This module is available as an upgrade (no additional charge) for existing customers and as a standard for new customers.

Labs initially compared duplicate sperm suspension samples (two aliquots of the same sample) manually. Hamilton Thorne’s Replicate analysis feature for the human clinical market now provides this comparison in an automated fashion. This allows easy compliance and standardization to meet World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

Additional new features and enhancements of the CASA software include generating custom reports including both sperm motility and morphology analysis, improved non-progressive sperm analysis, improvements and updates to the IVOS II's unique auto illumination feature and IVOS II automated stage compatibility with analysis slides containing more than four chambers.

These moves reflect Hamilton Thorne’s continued commitment to innovate to both improve the customer experience and accelerate it revenue growth. With the new upgrades and automation to Hamilton Thorne’s CASA software, labs now have better ability to analyze parameters and define the quality of a sperm sample quantitatively and objectively without inter and intra-observer variability.

For a free copy of the full research report, please email scrinvestors@zacks.com with HTL.V as the subject.

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