GE HealthCare and Medis Medical Imaging Announce Collaboration Focused on Non-Invasive Coronary Assessments to Help Advance Precision Care in Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease

Rhea-AI Summary

GE HealthCare (Nasdaq: GEHC) and Medis Medical Imaging have announced a collaboration to advance precision care in coronary artery disease (CAD) treatment. They aim to integrate Medis QFR, a non-invasive coronary physiology assessment tool, into GE HealthCare's Allia Platform. This collaboration seeks to simplify the cath lab environment and provide clinicians with better diagnostic tools. Recent studies support the benefits of QFR-guided lesion selection for PCI, showing improved clinical outcomes. Medis’ QFR technology, which has been developed over a decade, will be more accessible to clinicians, enhancing GE HealthCare’s cardiology solutions portfolio.

Positive

• Collaboration focuses on non-invasive coronary assessments, potentially reducing patient risk.
• Integration of Medis QFR with GE HealthCare's Allia Platform aims to simplify cath lab environment.
• QFR-guided strategy shown to improve two-year clinical outcomes, including reduced myocardial infarctions.
• Non-invasive image-based QFR can provide real-time diagnostics, aiding in better patient outcomes.
• Medis QFR technology enhances GE HealthCare’s interventional cardiology solutions portfolio.

Negative

• No immediate financial benefits or revenue projections from the collaboration are mentioned.
• Potential complexity in the seamless integration of Medis QFR into existing systems.

Insights

Medical Research Analyst

The collaboration between GE HealthCare and Medis Medical Imaging is a significant step in the realm of interventional cardiology. The integration of Medis QFR into GE HealthCare’s cath lab environment promises to enhance the precision and efficiency of diagnosing and treating coronary artery disease (CAD). This is particularly important as CAD remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.

Medis QFR is a non-invasive technology that offers an image-based diagnostic approach to assess coronary physiology. Compared to traditional methods like invasive coronary angiography, which visually interprets angiograms, Medis QFR provides a more precise and rapid assessment, potentially reducing the need for invasive procedures. This can lead to better patient outcomes and fewer complications.

The collaboration aims to integrate this advanced technology seamlessly into clinical workflows, making it easier for clinicians to adopt and utilize. This synergy could shorten diagnosis times and improve the accuracy of treatments, ultimately leading to better clinical outcomes. By reducing the complexity and improving the efficiency of the cath lab environment, this collaboration aligns well with current trends in health care towards minimally invasive procedures and precision medicine.

Financial Analyst

From a financial perspective, the collaboration between GE HealthCare and Medis Medical Imaging can be seen as a strategic move to strengthen GE HealthCare’s market position in the interventional cardiology space. By incorporating Medis QFR into their portfolio, GE HealthCare is broadening its range of innovative solutions, which can appeal to hospitals and medical centers aiming to adopt the latest technology to improve patient care.

Medis QFR could potentially drive increased demand for GE HealthCare’s Allia Platform, given its ability to provide non-invasive diagnostics that can lead to better patient outcomes. This can translate into higher revenues and market share for GE HealthCare in a highly competitive industry. Additionally, the collaboration might result in cost efficiencies by streamlining the workflow in cath labs, which could be a persuasive selling point for new and existing clients.

It's also worth noting that strategic partnerships like this can enhance a company's reputation as a leader in innovation, which can positively impact stock performance. Investors typically view collaborations that expand product offerings and market reach favorably, which might reflect in GE HealthCare’s stock performance in the near term and long term.

Interventional Cardiologist

The integration of Medis QFR into GE HealthCare’s Allia platform represents a significant advancement for interventional cardiologists. Traditional invasive coronary angiography, while effective, comes with risks and discomfort for patients. Medis QFR offers a non-invasive alternative, providing a more detailed and accurate assessment of coronary physiology. This technology allows for real-time, image-based analysis, which can significantly enhance decision-making processes in the cath lab.

One of the key benefits of this integration is its potential impact on patient outcomes. By accurately identifying which lesions to treat and evaluating the efficacy of treatments on the spot, Medis QFR can help in reducing ischemia-driven revascularizations and myocardial infarctions. This can be particularly beneficial for patients who are at high risk for adverse events associated with invasive procedures.

Moreover, the ability to perform these advanced diagnostics in real-time while the patient is on the table can save valuable time and resources, making the cath lab more efficient. This integration can make innovative care more accessible, paving the way for best-practice clinical care to be more widely adopted.

• Collaboration seeks to advance precision care by providing an alternative, non-invasive approach to the assessment of coronary physiology.

• Both companies will focus on the integration of Medis QFR into GE HealthCare’s cath lab environment built around the Allia Platform to enable a seamless user experience.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Today, GE HealthCare (Nasdaq: GEHC), a leading global medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics and digital solutions innovator, and Medis Medical Imaging, a leading cardiac imaging software company, announced their collaboration aimed at helping advance precision care in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Together, the two companies will work to further the development and commercialization of Medis Quantitative Flow Ratio (Medis QFR), a non-invasive approach to the assessment of coronary physiology, as part of GE HealthCare’s interventional cardiology portfolio built around the Allia Platform. The collaboration seeks to provide access to emerging technologies, like Medis QFR, while also reducing complexity in the cath lab to improve the operating environment for clinicians.

Within the complex umbrella of cardiovascular disease, CAD is a type of heart disease that develops when the coronary arteries narrow and the heart cannot deliver enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart. The impact of this narrowing can ultimately result in angina (chest pain), which has been shown to double the risk of major cardiovascular events,¹ as well as myocardial infarction (heart attack) or even death. In order to accurately diagnose suspected CAD, a significant percentage of patients can undergo invasive coronary angiography to help clinicians determine the severity of their disease. Traditionally, a clinician will then visually interpret an angiogram to determine whether a patient requires treatment, such as a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), as well as determine where, or which lesion, to treat to restore blood flow.

As part of GE HealthCare’s commitment to advancing precision care in interventional cardiology, the company’s collaboration with Medis Medical Imaging will bring Medis QFR to clinicians as an emerging, non-invasive, image-based diagnostic approach to the assessment of coronary artery physiology and the treatment of CAD. The benefits of QFR guidance are supported in a recent study that showed that a QFR-guided strategy of lesion selection for PCI improved two-year clinical outcomes, including reduction in myocardial infraction and ischemia-driven revascularization, when compared with standard angiography guidance alone.²

“We continue to see an evolution in how clinicians work to treat cardiovascular disease and want to give clinicians the tools, along with the flexibility and adaptability, they need to enable better outcomes for their patients,” says Arnaud Marie – General Manager for Global Intervention at GE HealthCare. “In the assessment of coronary artery disease, QFR represents a significant advancement in how efficiently it can provide critical insights. We’re excited to collaborate with Medis Medical Imaging to add innovative, non-invasive, image-based QFR to our portfolio of offerings around our Allia IGS platform to streamline the experience for clinicians and help us to deliver on our vision for the future image-guided therapy.”

Medis Medical Imaging has been developing innovative post-processing software for the quantification of cardiovascular images for thirty-five years. Medis’ QFR is a proprietary solution that delivers image-based physiology of coronary obstructions based on angiography imaging analysis alone. Interventional cardiologists can seamlessly adopt the solution into their clinical workflow to help them effectively and efficiently determine if a PCI is required to treat the patient or if treatment should be deferred for ongoing monitoring or other alternative treatment options. If treatment is needed, Medis’ QFR technology can help clinicians select the ultimate lesion(s) for treatment and create the right treatment plan for a balloon or stent-based PCI procedure, while also helping the clinician evaluate the efficacy of that treatment. This analysis can be performed in real time while the patient is on the table and results are displayed on the large display monitor in the cath lab.

“We are absolutely delighted to be taking this next step with GE HealthCare, a fellow leader in the interventional cardiology domain,” shares Maya Barley, CEO Medis Medical Imaging. “Building on Medis QFR’s decade of AI research, customer-focused product development, clinical evidence generation and business development, we are excited to be able to further accelerate our efforts around Medis QFR to enable more hospitals and clinicians to apply physiology in day-to-day interventional practice a part of best-practice clinical care – making this technology more accessible and available to patients than ever before.”

Innovative technologies like Medis QFR enhance GE HealthCare’s comprehensive portfolio of interventional cardiology solutions built around the Allia Platform designed to optimize workflows, unlock efficiencies, and drive better patient outcomes in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

To learn more about GE HealthCare’s latest innovations in interventional cardiology including Allia IGS Pulse, the next generation of image-guided systems for cardiac imaging, or Medis QFR, please visit the EuroPCR 2024 congress booth #F15 in Paris, France from May 14 – 17 or visit the website here.

About GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.

GE HealthCare is a leading global medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and digital solutions innovator, dedicated to providing integrated solutions, services, and data analytics to make hospitals more efficient, clinicians more effective, therapies more precise, and patients healthier and happier. Serving patients and providers for more than 125 years, GE HealthCare is advancing personalized, connected, and compassionate care, while simplifying the patient’s journey across the care pathway. Together our Imaging, Ultrasound, Patient Care Solutions, and Pharmaceutical Diagnostics businesses help improve patient care from diagnosis, to therapy, to monitoring. We are a $19.6 billion business with approximately 51,000 colleagues working to create a world where healthcare has no limits.

Follow us on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), and Insights for the latest news, or visit our website https://www.gehealthcare.com/ for more information.

About Medis Medical Imaging

For over 35 years, Medis has been providing high-quality quantitative analysis solutions for cardiovascular imaging to the medical community. Our heritage and core values are based on this strong purpose of contributing to a healthier society by providing the right tools to clinicians worldwide. Medis’ software is internationally appreciated due to its ease of use and its clinical outcome for the patients. At Medis, quality is key, all our products are developed and validated extensively to guarantee the highest quality, without compromise. We continuously focus on the creation of clinically relevant innovative software solutions in the cardiovascular imaging domain.

¹ World Health Federation. Use Heart to Act on Angina. Available at: https://world-heart-federation.org/use-heart-to-act-now-on-angina/. Accessed May 2024.

² Lei Song, Bo Xu, Shengxian Tu, Changdong Guan, Zening Jin, Bo Yu, Guosheng Fu, Yujie Zhou, Jian’an Wang, Yundai Chen, Jun Pu, Lianglong Chen, Xinkai Qu, Junqing Yang, Xuebo Liu, Lijun Guo, Chengxing Shen, Yaojun Zhang, Qi Zhang, Hongwei Pan, Rui Zhang, Jian Liu, Yanyan Zhao, Yang Wang, Kefei Dou, Ajay J. Kirtane, Yongjian Wu, William Wijns, Weixian Yang, Martin B. Leon, Shubin Qiao, Gregg W. Stone, 2-Year Outcomes of Angiographic Quantitative Flow Ratio-Guided Coronary Interventions, Journal of the American College of Cardiology, Volume 80, Issue 22, 2022, Pages 2089-2101, ISSN 0735-1097, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2022.09.007.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240514519396/en/

GE HealthCare

Karin Dalsin

Global Communications Director

karin.dalsin@gehealthcare.com

+1-612-219-2855

Medis Medical Imaging

Arnoud van Dorth

Head of Marketing

avandorth@medisimaging.com

+31 655697535

Source: GE HealthCare

FAQ

What is the focus of the collaboration between GE HealthCare and Medis Medical Imaging in 2023?

The collaboration focuses on advancing precision care in coronary artery disease treatment by integrating Medis QFR into GE HealthCare's Allia Platform.

What does the integration of Medis QFR into GE HealthCare's Allia Platform aim to achieve?

The integration aims to simplify the cath lab environment and provide clinicians with advanced diagnostic tools for better patient outcomes.

What are the benefits of the QFR-guided strategy for PCI mentioned in the press release?

The QFR-guided strategy has shown improved two-year clinical outcomes, such as reduced myocardial infarction and ischemia-driven revascularization, compared to standard angiography guidance.

How does Medis QFR technology contribute to the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD)?

Medis QFR provides a non-invasive, image-based diagnostic approach, helping clinicians determine the necessity of PCI and select the optimal lesions for treatment.

How can Medis QFR technology improve clinician workflow in the cath lab?

Medis QFR technology can be seamlessly integrated into clinical workflows, allowing real-time diagnostics and treatment planning while enhancing the overall efficiency in the cath lab.