COMPUMED CEO COMMENTS ON RECENT ANALYST REPORT AND PROVIDES BUSINESS UPDATE
LOS ANGELES, Feb 06, 2007. Jerry McLaughlin, Chief Executive Officer of CompuMed, Inc. (CMPD.OB) -- a medical informatics company leading the development of advanced imaging technology for cost-effective analysis and monitoring -- made the following comments today regarding the Company's key business achievements and outlook:
"Periodically we keep our shareholders informed about the State of the Company. I believe this type of communication is vital for our shareholders who do not have the opportunity to peek under the hood on a regular basis.
"Significant new market demand is coming from digital mammography providers interested in adding the OsteoGram as a value-added enhancement, and we are accelerating plans to work with these providers to integrate our product into their market-leading mammography platforms. This is truly a `no-brainer' since the public health problem of osteoporosis centers around the fact that most women wait to get tested until it is too late. They are, however, religious in their adherence to getting an annual mammogram. So combining the two tests on the same machine is a colossal win-win for women's health. It also provides imaging centers with additional revenue to help offset shrinking mammogram reimbursements.
"The growing interest in our OsteoGram system comes on the heels of significant, staggered cuts in reimbursement for DXA technology, our competition in bone mineral density testing. While reimbursements for DXA testing dropped precipitously under pressure from Medicare and the Deficit Reduction Act, approved reimbursements for the OsteoGram have remained unchanged. Over the next few years, clinicians will seek more cost-effective means of testing. Since our technology uses existing equipment, it is logical that we should see robust opportunities for growth through workstation consolidation.
"Last year and throughout our first fiscal quarter we invested heavily in our OsteoGram business in anticipation of accelerated growth. Our effort was validated primarily by the fact that many of the market leaders in the digital X-Ray equipment business have adopted our technology as a value-added offering. Our network of OEMs, which now includes Kodak China, OREX, Swissray International and FujiMed USA, is a critical asset that the Company has built over the past two years. Although the cost and time of integrating our product with these partners has been significant, we now have a platform for growth in the domestic and international arenas. At the same time, we have also created a growth plan to energize and expand our existing ECG business
"In addition to our organic growth, we see significant opportunity derived from the fragmentation in our industry. We believe that selected acquisitions could prove to be accretive, and accelerate our revenue growth to position us as market leader in remote monitoring and image analysis. Opportunities exist to rapidly expand our cardiac business in markets such as event monitoring, image analysis and over-reads. We believe that combining growth in our core ECG business with the evolution of our OsteoGram business will create a broader quantitative imaging and analysis platform. This will give us an opportunity to roll up a number of firms interested in leveraging our existing technology platforms and analytics.
"Recently we commissioned Cohen Research (www.cohenresearch.com), a leading independent research analyst firm, to publish a comprehensive report that models our business going forward. We are comfortable with the expectations set in that report, and believe we are tracking against that model so far.
"Sales progress, particularly from leveraging our new OEM channels, is gaining momentum with the addition of our new sales director. In addition, we are now receiving reorders from our OsteoGram licensing partners, and expect this trend to accelerate in the future. We are planning to expand our relationships with select licensing partners that share our image of the future."
About CompuMed:
Founded in 1973, CompuMed, Inc. (CMPD.OB) is leading the development of advanced imaging and medical informatics solutions that provide cost effective analysis and monitoring. CompuMed focuses on cardiovascular and musculoskeletal diseases, as well as other diseases associated with aging populations. Its unique expertise in telemonitoring, imaging and analysis facilitates the development of new solutions and services designed to improve healthcare provider workflow and patient care, while reducing costs. CompuMed's core products, the OsteoGramŽ and CardioGramTM systems, are cleared by the FDA and reimbursable by Medicare. The OsteoGram is an accurate and precise technology for osteoporosis testing. The underlying OsteoGram technology has significant cost advantages over other technologies and will be applied to a suite of value-added applications, such as following the progression of arthritic disease and diagnosing vertebral fractures and scoliosis. The CardioGram system is one of the first telecommunication networks designed to remotely interpret electrocardiograms, and is used by private practice, as well as government and corporate healthcare providers nationwide. The CardioGram delivers online electrocardiogram interpretations within two minutes of receipt, and has the additional capability to automatically provide an over-read (i.e., follow-up review) by a cardiologist. CompuMed is headquartered in Los Angeles. Visit CompuMed at www.compumed.net.
This news release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning CompuMed's plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance and underlying assumptions and other statements that are not statements of historical fact. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, product and service demand and acceptance, changes in technology, ability to raise capital, the availability of appropriate acquisition candidates and/or business partnerships, economic conditions, the impact of competition and pricing, capacity and supply constraints or difficulties, government regulation and other risks identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All such forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by these cautionary statements. In addition, the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by law.
CONTACT: Susan Tellem - Tellem Worldwide, +1 (310) 479-6111 x.16.