Business, diagnostic technology  

IVMD announces new patent filing for tissue blood flow

21 March 2005

INVERNESS, Scotland. IVMD, Inc. (OTCBB:IVVO) announced that it has filed for a 12th patent for its medical diagnostic technology. The patent application is for the sensitive measurement of blood flow in tissue and includes the measurement of blood flow and concentration in skin and other body tissue through the non-invasive use of magnetic fields.

John Fuller, President and CEO of IVMD, said: "This 12th generic patent we have filed utilizing our technology is consistent with our strategy of patenting broad areas so that we can create a number of different products, each with large, global markets in the point of care arena. Our next steps will be to find appropriate development partners to take this technology and create ground-breaking products.

"Blood flow and concentration is an important consideration in many diseases," Fuller said. For instance, skin blood flow testing is already in use for some allergies and mental health conditions. In these cases a reagent, applied to the skin, causes a blood flow change dependent upon sensitivity to a particular condition. "Until now it was only possible to measure this visually, or with expensive Doppler ultrasound or laser measurement techniques. Hence the measurement is either very imprecise or prohibitively expensive to obtain," explained Fuller. He notes that IVMD envisages devices developed from this patent can provide specific outputs and be substantially less expensive and easier to use. "This can result in products that will be suitable for point of care use for a much larger patient population."

One example of the potential diagnostic use of this technology could be in the much earlier and accurate detection of schizophrenia. The prevalence rate for schizophrenia is approximately 1.1 percent of the population 18 years or older. This means that at any one time as many as 51 million people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia. Other examples could include a test for the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory drugs.

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