Press Release
GE Healthcare to distribute NTrainer System* from KC BioMedix
· Addresses the need to reduce premature infants’ hospital stay
· Enables clinicians additional options to address infants inability to feed
Laurel, MARYLAND, September 7, 2011 ― GE Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: GE) and KC BioMedix, Inc. today announced an agreement that grants GE Healthcare’s Maternal Infant Care division (MIC) exclusive rights for distribution and marketing of the KC BioMedix NTrainer pulsatile neurostimulation system.
There are over 500,000 infants born prematurely in the U.S. each year, and as many as 50% are suffering from the inability to breast or bottle feed. Because hospitals are reluctant to discharge these patients from the neonatal ICU until they achieve 100% oral feeding competency, there is an important opportunity to improve the emotional, medical, and economic impact for patients and their families, along with hospitals and insurers. The NTrainer System incorporates a pulsating pacifier and reinforces nonnutritive suck (NNS) in infants and then measures the progress of their ability to suck.
“The NTrainer System complements GE Healthcare’s current product portfolio for premature infants in the NICU” stated Carrie Eglington Manner, General Manager of the MIC division of GE Healthcare. “We’re pleased to offer this technology and expand the treatment solutions we provide to our customers to help better serve their patients.”
This device, currently in use at leading hospitals in the United States, is backed by clinical studies and world-class research. Once premature infants have achieved the ability to feed independently and gain weight, they can be discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Reduced lengths of stay help reduce healthcare costs.
Clinically, the NTrainer enables neonatal caregivers the ability to better manage incompetent feeding in neonates by providing a standardized assessment tool to measure NNS performance. NNS is an essential neurological building block in an infant’s coordination of sucking, swallowing and breathing - a capability required for independent oral feeding and the development of a healthy baby.
“KC BioMedix’s agreement with GE Healthcare is a step toward our goal of taking leadership in the emerging market for technologies that address incompetent feeding issues in premature infants,” said Mike Litscher, co-founder and President of KC BioMedix. “GE Healthcare’s market reach and broad NICU product line is a great match and compliment for the NTrainer technology. We look forward to driving further adoption of our devices and technology within the medical community.
Editor Notes:
* NTrainer System is a trademark of KC BioMedix
About GE Healthcare:
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.
For our latest news, please visit http://newsroom.gehealthcare.com
ABOUT KC BIOMEDIX
KC BioMedix, Inc. is an early stage venture capital backed medical device company developing and selling pulsatile neurostimulation products that address the overwhelming problem of incompetent feeding in premature infants. Our first product, the NTrainer System®, solves this problem by assessing and treating their dysfunctional oral feeding, accelerating healthy development and enabling them to leave the hospital sooner. The company, based in Shawnee, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City), was founded in 2006 by Mike Litscher and David Stalling and has received investment from Open Prairie Ventures, the Kansas Bioscience Authority, Quest Capital Alliance and multiple angel investors. For more information about KC BioMedix, visit our website at www.kcbiomedix.com.
Press Contact
Annette Busateri
GE Healthcare
+1-262-442-0966
Barry Price
KC BioMedix
+1-913-742-4456