The Novita Healthcare Ltd (ASX: NHL) share price has started the week on a very disappointing note.
In afternoon trade the healthcare technology company's shares are down 14% to 5.5 cents.
Why is the Novita Healthcare share price crashing lower?
Investors have been selling Novita Healthcare's shares amid unsubstantiated claims that its Tali Detect product performed poorly in a test by Monash University.
TALi Detect is a 20-min digital game-based screening tool available to all children to assess potential attention deficits. It recently received a determination that it can be delivered via the U.S. Reimbursement Code system.
According to the alleged newsletter from Monash University, the majority of Tali Detect subtests had moderate to weak reliability or validity. This means these tasks require further refinement if they want to accurately assess children's attention.
This afternoon Novita Healthcare responded to the news, advising that it "is aware of a newsletter outlining information on TALi Detect."
However, at this point it has not received the communication and has requested that the institution confirm the validity of the communication.
It also noted that it is not a party to the Project outlined in the newsletter. Though, it is, as previously announced, a party to a CRC-P Project. This project is not yet complete and the data from it has not been fully reviewed or collated by the company.
Management intends to update the market further as appropriate and looks forward to the release of information from the CRC-P Project in the near future. It also expects to update the market on the progress of schools using its TALi technology in the near term.
Name change.
In other news, Novita Healthcare will be known as TALI Digital Limited (ASX: TD1) from December 30. This follows the approval of a name change by shareholders at its annual general meeting.
Management notes that the change aligns the company's name with its flagship TALi software platform. It believes this alignment will strengthen the value proposition for the business and assist with its objective of delivering long term sustainable returns from the TALi platform.
