2 November 2009
Toumaz Holdings Limited
(`Toumaz Holdings' or the `Group')
Landmark Clinical Trial of Sensium™ Wireless Body Monitoring System
Toumaz Holdings (AIM:TMZ) is pleased to announce it has begun clinical trials
of its Sensium™ "digital plaster" wireless body monitoring system at St Mary's
Hospital, London (part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust). The ultra-low
power body-worn Sensium™ digital plaster continuously monitors multiple vital
signs, including skin temperature, heart rate and respiration. Once trials are
completed in Q1 2010, the disposable digital plaster is expected to receive CE
accreditation enabling commercial sales in Europe. Trials in US hospitals will
commence in H1 2010.
In the milestone trial, which is sponsored by CareFusion Corporation (NYSE: CFN
and a member of the S&P 500 Index), volunteers and patient groups will be
provided with the Sensium™ digital plaster and as a wireless, unobtrusive and
disposable device patients can remain mobile while multiple vital signs are
continuously monitored. The trial will compare the quality of physiological
data within a clinical setting acquired by the digital plaster system with data
from current monitors in use at hospitals that are typically bulky, expensive
and wired.
The digital plaster is based on new generation Sensium™ wireless technology,
designed and developed by Toumaz Technology Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary
of the Group, that provides a complete infrastructure to allow healthcare
providers to non-intrusively monitor the human body continuously, wirelessly
and intelligently and at low-cost. Sensium™ delivers clinical-quality data and
intelligently integrates it into an electronic medical record via a network
built on the Group's power-optimised wireless operating and network sensor
system Nano Sensor Protocol (NSP). The digital plaster is initially targeted
for use in healthcare monitoring applications such as acute care, general ward
environments, telecare and chronic disease monitoring, as well as care home
settings.
The trials at St Mary's Hospital, led by Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine
at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Dr Stephen Brett, are being conducted
in three phases; the initial phase with non-patient volunteers followed by two
patient study groups: patients recovering from surgery, and patients with
specific medical conditions in the general wards. Initial results are expected
by end-December 2009.
Dr Stephen Brett, Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at Imperial College
London, commented:
"This technology has the potential to improve the capturing of patient's vital
signs within all areas of the hospital - enabling key physiological data to be
acquired at an increased frequency, with the minimum of inconvenience to
patients, and without the requirement to connect patients to immobile pieces of
equipment. This raises the possibility of technology improving hospital safety
systems enhancing the efficiency of adding vital sign data to patient records
and potentially freeing valuable nursing staff time for other patient care
responsibilities."
Professor Chris Toumazou, chief executive officer of Toumaz Holdings,
commented:
"It is fantastic to see the Sensium™ technology coming to fruition, and for us
to be launching this study at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. This is a
key stage in our commercial journey and one that opens the door to some very
exciting applications of our technology in clinical environments next year.
"The business case is simple: by using the disposable digital plaster to
monitor on a 24-7 basis, critical medical information can be monitored that
would not otherwise have been detected. This preventative form of medicine will
mean that less people could require intensive care in the future, saving lives
and at the same time providing greater efficiencies and cost savings to the
NHS. Once proven in a hospital setting then the digital plaster can be deployed
in the home in the same way."
* Ends -
For Further Enquiries:
Patrick Stephansen Toumaz Holdings Limited Tel: +44 (0) 207 355
0036
Charles Cunningham FinnCap Tel: +44 (0) 207 600
1658
John Bick Hansard Group Tel: +44 (0) 7872 061007
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7245
1100
About Sensium™
Toumaz Technology Limited's Sensium™ technology platform enables the
non-intrusive acquisition of real-time, continuous physiological data for a
wide range of health and lifestyle management applications, including remote
healthcare, wellness and wireless monitoring at the bedside.
Sensium™ provides an open platform to develop revolutionary wireless devices
that can continuously monitor multiple vital signs in real-time, and feed back
high-quality information to health professionals via PCs, PDAs and smart
phones.
END
