Medtronic Eyes Mobile Cardiac Monitor Market where Biotricity Excels but Fitbit Falters

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / April 4, 2016 / In the critical world of cardiac monitoring, a new player has emerged: Biotricity Inc. (OTC QB: BTCY), whose primary product breaks ground with disruptive technology to change the landscape for mobile remote viewing of human heart beats. Lightweight and powerful, with global cellular network capability, the device instantly transmits important heart data to patients and their doctors, relentlessly tracking this vital organ to alert in case of a life-threatening event.

Fitbit Inc., with a market cap of $2.8 billion, leads the consumer wearable exercise monitoring industry selling several models of ‘watches’ gauging heart rate to the fitness-obsessed gym crowd. Fitbit’s products are not medical devices, perhaps confusing to users who trust its heart rate surveillance feature. In fact, grave inaccuracies in heart rate, particularly for runners, have been spotted and deemed hazardous, triggering a bout of litigation.

Experts say healthcare applications will become a future focus of wearable technology – particularly for management of heart disease that cost upwards of $109 billion per year. Warnings of dangerous cardiac events will become a favored feature; Fitbit cannot do this, but Biotricity can. Further, Biotricity will not have to wait for valued reimbursement once its device is approved later this summer – the company strategically builds around existing codes. For its upcoming product, Medicare / Medicaid codes 93228 and 93229 are in place where physicians receive $400-$450 per patient versus a meager $50 referral fee. Having established reimbursement will hasten clinical adoption.

A fallacy perpetuates that FDA approval and reimbursement codes go hand-in-hand, leading many investors down a rosy path to the promise of early revenue. Biotricity has a defined competitive advantage in this respect, able to hit the ground running upon the agency’s nod, creating a quick route to sales. Full-scale marketing will target doctor offices, hospitals, and testing clinics initially in California, New York, Houston and Miami – highly concentrated geographies for heart disease.

Biotricity not only stands alone in high-tech excellence to protect users from disastrous heart health issues, its distinctive business model allows doctors using latest-innovation mobile cardiac telemetry to capture revenue. Most providers of this technology keep the lion’s share of reimbursement because hospitals are hesitant to undertake costly infrastructure build, and opt for outsourcing. Biotricity smartly insources these services around doctor partnerships, where compensation comes directly from a fee per diagnostic, and both Biotricity and clinicians share the wealth. Because players in this arena outsource, Biotricity’s insourcing arrangement will create a barrier to entry to the $918 million mobile cardiac telemetry market.

Strong trends in the fast-growing US market for mobile cardiac monitoring have not gone unnoticed by global medical device leader Medtronic, Inc., who’s been beefing up its own cadre of such products. Within the past few years, acquisitions of firms possessing this technology totaled $50 billion, a testament to Medtronic’s commitment to this emergent area. While several devices have been introduced, none offer the kind of expert know-how Biotricity provides.

Medtronic, long a purveyor of implantable defibrillators, may well be attracted to the 30 million cardiac patients in the US that Biotricity can make available through its affiliations with mobile cardiac telemetry call centers. Medtronic could be further enticed by Biotricity’s FDA approval; software packaged with the device is already blessed by the agency, billing codes are solid and all FDA benchmarks to arrhythmia detection have been met, clearing the way to commercialization.

In recent news, Biotricity scores again with its device in use at 650-bed Rockyview General Hospital, part of Alberta Health Services, where key testing of heart rate variability – real-time tracking of heartbeat to predict trouble – finishes up a four-month study concluding in April. This measure is now done with bulky electrocardiograms that trace on a millisecond basis. Biotricity offers the first mobile platform delivering speed and accuracy. If successful, clinical doors to Biotricity’s technology should open effortlessly.

Valuation remains disparate among companies juggling for position in cardiac monitoring. Competitors trade many multiples higher than Biotricity, with sales often driven by mobile cardiac telemetry. A similar high valuation goes for Fitbit with its heart rate tracking gadgets, despite their serious drawbacks. Superior device producer Biotricity, valued at only $62 million, is the most undervalued company operating in this space, with more important innovations to come.

CONTACT:

Sharon di Stefano
SmallCapForecasting@gmail.com

SOURCE: Small Cap Forecasting, Inc.

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