The PainChek Ltd (ASX: PCK) share price is soaring today after the company announced it has received approvals for its latest pain monitoring app update.
At the time of writing, the mobile medical app developer's shares are up 13% to 7.8 cents per share.
What did Painchek announce?
The Painchek share price is moving after it provided an update this morning noting the company had received CE Mark and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) clearance for its expanded Universal Pain Assessment Solution, or 'Universal' application.
According to the release, these clearances will allow the app to be marketed and sold across Europe, the UK, Australia, Canada, Singapore, and New Zealand.
The new 'Universal' Painchek app builds upon the company's existing pain monitoring technology to now allow all patients to be assessed. Previously the app was specifically for people with dementia.
With the latest approval, the company's market will substantially broaden. The total market for pain monitoring is far larger than the niche market solely serving people with dementia.
What the Universal app adds
Painchek's Universal app implements the widely established self-reporting standard known as the numeric rating scale (NRS). The company's existing technology caters to carers for assessing and managing pain levels for patients who cannot verbalise it. However, with the addition of NSR, carers will now also be able to better support those who can self-report.
Painchek CEO Philip Daffas commented on the approval:
Historically, PainChek and NRS have been separate pain assessment processes in terms of function and documentation, as we initially developed PainChek to be used in situations where patients could not reliably verbalise their pain.
We have now improved the process by incorporating the NRS into the PainChek app, combining the benefits of the two pain scales into one universal pain assessment and management solution.
The initial rollout of the Universal app is slated for Australia and the United Kingdom from April. After which, it will continue to be distributed to mainland Europe and other international markets.
Painchek share price checkup
Considering the 52-week range on the Painchek share price, it has been a wild year for Painchek shareholders. Before today, the share had been floating around its 52-week low of 6.2 cents. Whereas, in May last year, the share price hit a high of 18 cents.
Despite the increased volatility, the shares have returned a meagre 4% to holders over the past 12 months. For comparison, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has notched up a 28% gain before dividends.
