Compumedics Home Sleep Testing System Selected for Use in US National Institute of Health (NIH)-Sponsored Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Sleep Study

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Dec 06, 2010, 09:59 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 6, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Compumedics USA, Inc. (CMP.ASX) today announced its new Somte® PSG portable sleep-testing systems were chosen as part of a major new study to further investigate the link between sleep disorders and cardio-vascular disease in various ethnic and racial populations. Somte® PSG was chosen because of its ability to record complex sleep studies in the home environment with acceptable participant burden, according to Dr. Susan Redline, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the senior investigator for the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) Sleep Study.

The contract is worth approximately US $300 thousand and continues a long record of success for Compumedics in supplying NIH-funded studies. Importantly it supports Compumedics' technology and product offering for the relatively new home sleep study (HST) market, which is undergoing double digit growth with global HST revenues already exceeding US $20 million. Patients enrolled in the MESA Sleep Study will be monitored from the Reading Center located at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass.

"The Compumedics Somte® PSG systems allow us to record all of the parameters of sleep and breathing that we need to evaluate and quantify abnormal sleep patterns but in the more natural environment of the patients' homes," said Prof. Susan Redline, M.D., M.P.H. "The Somte® PSG systems also have the ability to capture and analyze heart rhythm data related to the sleep and breathing patterns, which is very important in studying this population."

Dr. David Burton, chairman and chief executive officer of Compumedics noted, "The NIH MESA Sleep Study holds special significance to Compumedics. It was Professor Redline's team who led the original Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS), during their important investigation into the cardio-vascular consequences of sleep-disordered breathing. It is once again an honor to be working with Prof. Redline and her team. Somte® PSG systems uniquely deliver uncompromised data recording with integrated waveform displays, but at the same time incorporate the user friendliness and trouble-free patient operation essential for reliable home sleep testing. These factors will enable Prof. Redline's team to collect high quality and meaningful data from these patients with a minimum of inconvenience. In addition, this project comes at an opportune time for Compumedics when the company is focusing its growth on its core product lines, including Somte® PSG, with the expansion of its global sales force."

The MESA was established by the NIH in 2000 with the aims of identifying ethnic and racial differences in risk factors and subclinical and clinical cardiovascular disease. This new MESA Sleep Study has been funded to further understand these risks.

Over the last 15 years, Compumedics has been selected to supply sleep recorders for several NIH-funded studies, including the multi-center SHHS involving more than 6000 subjects. The Somte® PSG System incorporates advanced technology to record sleep studies in either the home or the sleep-lab settings.

Jeff Kuznia, Compumedics USA's vice-president of sales and marketing, said, "Compumedics' products successfully met the demanding specifications required to undertake this study and coupled with the unique expertise of the MESA research team, we will improve our understanding of the impact of sleep disorders on cardiovascular disease across a broad ethnic and racial mix of the US population. This project is timely as we are in the process of expanding our US sales force and releasing our new range of Long Term Monitoring (LTM) EEG and HST products."

About Compumedics

Compumedics Limited, was founded in 1987 by current Chairman/CEO Dr. David Burton and today is a global leader in the design and manufacture of diagnostic technologies for sleep disorders, neurophysiology and cardiology. In 1987 Compumedics established Asia Pacific's first fully computerized sleep laboratory. Compumedics holds 80% share of the Australian sleep-diagnostic market, and has a major and rapidly growing presence in the US, European and Asian marketplaces for its sleep, neurological, and Doppler blood-flow diagnostic monitoring devices. In 1995 the company was selected to supply equipment to the US Sleep Heart Health Study, the world's largest sleep study of its kind, with over 8,000 participants scheduled by 2008. With headquarters in Melbourne, Australia and offices in the United States and Europe, its products are distributed in over 50 countries. In 1998 Compumedics was awarded the overall Australian Exporter of the Year. In 2000 Compumedics was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. In 2002, Compumedics acquired US-based Neuroscan - the world's leading supplier of instruments for brain research. In the US - the world's largest medical device market - Neuroscan holds around 90% of the market for brain-research products. In 2003 Compumedics was awarded the Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Expansion Strategy. In 2004, Compumedics acquired Germany-based DWL Elektronishe GmbH, enabling Compumedics to expand its global operations into the neurovascular and cardio-vascular diagnostic fields. In 2006, Compumedics was awarded the Frost and Sullivan Technology Leadership award for its innovative Somte® recorder product. In 2007, Compumedics and its Chairman were inducted into the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame. In 2008 the DWL division received a top 100 German Innovation award. With 20,000 systems installed globally across the finest hospital, universities and clinics Compumedics sales have grown more than 4-fold from $9 million (1999) to $39 million (2008). In 2009 Compumedics was awarded a design award for its GRAEL® PSG/EEG premium laboratory-based product. In 2010 Compumedics was recognized by the Australian Innovation Government and Industry body as one of Australia's Top 100 Health Innovators through its world leading devices for sleep diagnostics.