The 2023 Year in Review
Toronto, Ontario --News Direct-- Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd.
Toronto, Ontario – TheNewswire - January 29, 2024 - Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd. ("Ventripoint" or the "Company"), (TSXV:VPT) (OTC:VPTDF) is pleased to provide 2023 in Review from the Ventripoint CEO and President, Dr. Alvira Macanovic.
Dear Shareholders:
I have now completed my first year as CEO and President. I’m happy to report that we had an extremely productive year at Ventripoint in 2023, with our amazing team meeting many milestones and garnering more attention for Ventripoint than in the history of the company.
It has been an honor leading this company into the next phase of its transformation and showing everyone what can be accomplished with the right people and plan. It has been a historic year for Ventripoint. Our aim to be the standard of care in imaging the heart with Artificial Intelligence is on course, and the journey has just begun!
Before I cover some of our important milestones, however, I’d like to share an incredible moment that demonstrates the extraordinary power of our A.I. technology to add a new capacity to the global healthcare system.
In Nov. 2023, our clinical applications and sales team had an evaluation at the Motol University Hospital in the Czech Republic. That’s the only pediatric cardiac center in the country. The staff immediately put Ventripoint into action — using it to scan the heart of a 30-minute newborn that has a ventricular septal defect. The baby was literally brought from the delivery room (still gooey as described by the team) to our team. I think this may be the youngest baby our technology has ever been used on.
Now that's elevating cardiac care with A.I. You can see this amazing moment here.
Now, let me tell you about some of our other accomplishments:
Partnerships & Sales
We signed a global distribution and marketing partnership with ASCEND, one of the world’s largest providers of cardiac health care technologies. ASCEND is trusted by AGFA Healthcare, Sectra, Oracle/ Cerner, and other major players in the healthcare system. Its technology stack has been integrated into the workflows of 1,000+ top-ranked healthcare facilities and 600+ health systems, representing a user base of 50,000 who serve millions of heart patients. To be represented by them is an outstanding accomplishment by the team and bodes well for 2024!
One of the United States’ most respected foundations, the Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation, has also selected us as one of three technologies they are promoting to US hospitals they work with. The OHHF has called Ventripoint“a game-changer for children with heart disease”. OHHF has committed to bringing together 13 U.S. hospital partners into its Take Heart program, with 30 more expected to join, to promote new technologies and patient care approaches to heart health care, particularly for children and their families. They have told me they will be making Ventripoint front and center.
“We want to introduce Ventripoint to all our hospital partners, to make it a standard of care,” — Beth Rumack, Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation.
In the UK, Ventripoint is being used by the Evelina London Children’s Hospital (part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust). This is significant because it is a specialist NHS hospital, the second largest provider of children’s services in London, caring for children and young people across south London and southeast England. The Children’s Heart Services (cardiology) cares for around 6,000 patients each year.
We’ve also made significant advances In Germany, with two major purchases:
The Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité (DHZC) German Heart Center in Berlin also purchased our system. Prof. Felix Berger, Director of the Clinic for Congenital Heart Disease — Pediatric Cardiology — at the hospital, said Ventripoint’s AI system offers a way to get “important data on the function of the heart muscle. This allows us to plan therapy even more precisely, check it anytime, and adjust it if necessary.” The DHZC is the university heart center of Charité– Universitätsmediz, one of Germany’s most research-intensive medical institutions, which was ranked this year as the 7th best hospital in the world and the best in Europe by Newsweek.
Our VMS+ was purchased by the Freiburg Hospital. Located in Breisgau, Germany, Freiburg’s University Medical Centre is one of the largest hospitals in Europe and is recognized as the supra-regional center for the treatment of complicated heart disease. It treats approximately 90,000 inpatients and 897,000 outpatients annually.
Continuing A.I. Innovations
"VMS+ not only gives us a very precise spatial view of complex congenital malformations at any time, but it also provides us with important data on the function of the heart muscle. This allows us to plan therapy even more precisely, check it at any time, and adjust it if necessary,” — Prof. Felix Berger, Director of the Clinic for Congenital Heart Disease, Pediatric Cardiology at DHZC
The next version of our technology — VMS+ 4.0 — is on schedule and is expected to be on the market in the second quarter of 2024. This is a major update — our unit will be even simpler to use and the A.I. will be able to automatically model out the parts of the heart cardiologists want to see. It’s also a much-needed innovation for the healthcare system. Thanks to our use of A.I., Ventripoint will save healthcare workers time, ensure exams “just work” with high accuracy, and relieve the expense and pressure currently put on MRI teams, not to mention patients who now won’t need to spend hours preparing.
We are also well on our way to having the ability to show “living heart” models of the heart functioning in 4D. This means that cardiologists, other caregivers — and even patients — will soon have actual models showing ventricles in action, blood flow, and other aspects. What’s exciting here, and I believe will make Ventripoint of great interest to physicians, is that these “living heart” images can be taken in minutes using ultrasound equipment.
Increasing Awareness
“Our aim is that by working together, we can ultimately provide reliable and effective tools for clinicians on a global scale,” — Jeffrey Soble, MD, CEO ASCEND.
We’ve been getting media attention, too. The Ventripoint story was broadcast across the United Kingdom by the ITV network, as a part of a special on breakthroughs in heart technology. That broadcast was also endorsed by the British Heart Foundation, which continues to show it on their website. You can see the video here.
We are also getting more attention in Canada, where Ventripoint is already in a number of hospitals. Canada Health Watch, whose readership are highly discriminating health care professionals and administrators, featured our latest white paper in January. They also wrote a lengthy story for their audience that you can read here.
We’ve also been a major presence at international conferences, to accelerate brand awareness and connect with potential partners and investors. These include the British Congenital Cardiac Association Annual Conference in Bristol; the British Society of Echocardiography’s annual conference; the 51st Annual Nordic Paediatric Cardiology Meeting in Helsinki, hosted by the Finnish Cardiac Society; the 8th Annual Paediatric Echo Society Symposium in Orlando; the 8th World Congress of Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery in Washington, DC. and the Advanced Imaging 2023 Pericardial Disease conference, sponsored by the British Society of Echocardiography and the Royal Society of Medicine.
On May 30, our team also obtained European Union Medical Device Regulation (EU MDR) certification for our cardiac diagnostic system. This is an important milestone as we further expand our presence in Europe. By receiving EU MDR certification, Ventripoint Diagnostics has shown it can meet the rigorous regulatory landscape in Europe and can be accepted into hospitals.
"Having had experience with the older Ventripoint system, the new VMS + system with its increased functionality is a great addition to our echo lab,” — Dr. Saleha Kabir, Lead Physiologist in Paediatrics and Advanced Echocardiography
When you read all of the above, I hope you find these encouraging signs of the company’s direction and future growth.
For 2024, I can tell you that we are now concentrating on making Ventripoint a well-known brand in the world’s hospitals. Our partnerships with ASCEND and others will help that happen — but so will the constant improvements of our technology and A.I. Also, we will be bolstering our sales and communication teams throughout the year.
Ventripoint is now being recognized as one of Canada’s true success stories in healthcare innovation. As the Ollie Hinkle Heart Foundation said, we are a “game changer”. We are literally putting our hearts into A.I. — to improve our healthcare system and save lives.
Regards,
Dr. Alvira Macanovic
CEO & President
Ventripoint Diagnostics
About Ventripoint Diagnostics Ltd.
Ventripoint has become an industry leader in the application of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to echocardiography. Ventripoint's VMS products are powered by its proprietary KBR technology, which is the result of a decade of development and provides accurate volumetric cardiac measurements equivalent to MRI. This affordable, gold-standard alternative allows cardiologists greater confidence in the management of their patients. Providing better care to patients serves as a springboard and basic standard for all of Ventripoint's products that guide our future developments. In addition, VMS+ is versatile and can be used with all ultrasound systems from any vendor supported by regulatory market approvals in the U.S., Europe and Canada.
For further information, please contact:
Jonathan Robinson CFA
(416) 669-1001
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends'' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements and information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.
Since forward-looking statements and information address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the risk factors in the Company's most recent annual management's discussion and analysis that is available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. The forward-looking statements included in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.
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