The EMvision Medical Devices Ltd (ASX: EMV) share price has opened lower this morning despite the company reporting encouraging data from its pilot clinical trial. EMvision provides imaging technology for classifying different types of strokes. Stroke treatments often require differentiation between the two basic types of stroke. This determination is essential before pursuing effective and time-critical therapies. This positive news was not sufficient to keep the EMvision share price from falling in early trade today.
Stroke causes an enormous health and economic burden throughout the world. It is the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability globally. Imaging is the key to diagnosis and monitoring of acute stroke.
In year-to-date trading, the EMvision share price has risen by 276% and has a current market capitalisation of $153 million. In addition, the company successfully completed a share placement for $6 million in July, underscoring investor interest in the technology.
What did EMvision announce?
The results of EMvision's trial were resoundingly positive. First, the device was reportedly able to classify a stroke type (haemorrhagic or ischaemic) with an overall accuracy of between 93.3% and 96%. Second, it was able to localise targets in the correct brain quadrant with an overall accuracy of between 86.7% and 96%.
The study enrolled and processed datasets from 30 patients with a diversity of stroke in localisation, size and severity. Moreover, the study has enabled the algorithm team to advance the hybrid 'fusion' methodology, a powerful approach to imaging. It works by extracting the target lesion and estimated location in each algorithm and applies a pixel-wise voting algorithm.
The fused image then leverages the classification algorithm. The algorithm team will continue to advance this fusion methodology in consultation with EMVision's clinical advisors.
Why does this matter?
The rapid ability to classify stroke types and locations is valuable for time-sensitive treatment. Moreover, as noted by EMVision clinical advisor, Professor Michael O'Sullivan:
…Interesting future questions include the sensitivity of the technique for early detection of bleeding, both in the pre-hospital setting and in stroke units, where monitoring is currently limited to detection of clinical deterioration…
EMVision's CEO, Dr Ron Weinberger, commented:
These promising results, the first in stroke patients for our technology, provide a strong foundation with which to progress our development program. We are delighted by these results which indicate that we are able to discriminate and localize haemorrhagic and ischaemic strokes with an encouraging degree of accuracy under these conditions. We have exceeded our original objectives for this study. While we still have a way to go, we are well placed to develop our value proposition into a fully-fledged commercial product.
About the EMVision share price
At the time of writing, the EMVision share price has fallen 3.17% lower to $2.75. The company's shares have recovered more than 500% from their March lows but are down nearly 13% from the 52%-week high of $3.15 reached earlier this month.
