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BioSig Tech. (BSGM) & Electrophysiology Sector (related stock BSGM)
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Visit to BioSig R&D HQRob introduced to me to Ken Londoner at the Roth Investment conference last month. Had the pleasure of sitting next to him for dinner that evening. Also met several other members of their team that evening. First impression is very favorable. I’m a business owner in California and an electrical engineer. Our company’s 50th anniversary will be next year and I’m the second-generation owner. While my degree had an emphasis on integrated circuit design my knowledge base of all things electricity is very diverse. My expertise however is not in engineering related to medicine. While doing my due diligence my curiosity drew itself toward their technology and what makes the Pure EP system marketable. What’s its “Unique Selling Proposition” that will drive sales and revenue growth? I started peppering Ken at dinner with all sorts of technical questions to which he replied “you need to talk to Budi he’ll be able to answer your questions”. Budi Drakulic is their CTO and inventor of the PURE EP system. He is located at their R&D facilities in West LA. Rob hadn’t been there either, so we arranged a visit with them that occurred yesterday. We arrived at their offices at 11AM. We met with Budi and Dr. Barry Keenan, VP of Engineering for just over two hours. They shared the genesis of the product and why the need to address the quality of signals used to perform ablation for Atrial fibrillation and other electrophysiology needs. Having done some background research on current technology it was apparent from the start that the operating room where these procedures are performed is about as “electrically noisy” as any environment can get. None of the instruments and machines in that room were designed to work together, or protect themselves to a significant degree, from the inherent RFI and EMI present in the room. This isn’t unique to the medical industry and something I’m very familiar with. What is frightening to realize is the doctor performing the ablation procedure is picking the spot in the heart to ablate using signals that are extremely distorted from this background noise. It’s his experience and keen eye that allows him/her to estimate where the heart needs to be ablated. In some cases, the electrical signals causing the issues are so small that they can’t be seen with current technology. At that point it’s either untreatable or a best guess attempt to address the errant electrical signals. The PURE EP system uses hardware that allows for higher frequency recording of these signals, think orders of magnitude higher resolution, and sophisticated signal processing software combined with real time comparison to a huge database of previous ECG data. The PURE EP system not only gives the doctor the higher resolution visual signals but can also flag signal patterns that have been identified in past ECGs. Then the software can tell the doctor, with a degree of certainty, if he has the catheter in the correct place to perform the ablation. They provide Rob and me a real time demonstration of the system using real human data. Its truly remarkable what this machine is capable of. Budi also provided me print outs of comparative signals using the PURE EP system and a conventional ablation instrument. This data was from the Mayo Clinic where they had just spent the prior 3-days. The signal resolution was remarkable. 100’s or maybe 1000’s of times more resolution. Unreal. Budi’s and Barry’s enthusiasm were unmistakable. They have built a better mousetrap. IMO, and it’s just my opinion, many of these advancements are protected by IP rights owned by BioSig.
Challenges
I’ve been given a very unique privilege to look behind the curtain. Thank you Rob! I will continue to add to my position. Wish the stock wasn’t so thinly traded. Makes it very hard to establish a significant position. |
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