CompuMed develops and markets medical devices and services in the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal fields that utilize state-of-the-art computer and communications technologies to enable physicians and patients everywhere to have affordable and rapid access to medical diagnostic information. CompuMed’s two principle products are the CardioGram^® and the Automated OsteoGram^®, both of which have been cleared for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and approved for reimbursement by Medicare. Located in Los Angeles, California, CompuMed currently has approximately 20 employees. The company’s common stock trades under the symbol CMPD.

Products and Services:

CardioGram^®

CompuMed has been a leading pioneer of telemedicine, establishing one of the nation’s largest telecommunications networks for processing electrocardiograms (ECG’s) on a real time basis. Using a CompuMed ECG terminal, an ECG can be acquired from a patient, telecommunicated to CompuMed’s central computers, analyzed and received back on the ECG terminal where the ECG trace and computer interpretation are printed, all within 3 minutes. If desired, CompuMed can immediately provide an overread by a Board Certified Cardiologist and return the results within an hour. CompuMed currently provides it’s CardioGram services to over 1000 government and corporate healthcare facilities, clinics and hospitals nationwide.

OsteoGram^®

CompuMed has developed a breakthrough second-generation technology that enables a simple hand x-ray to be used to precisely determine bone mineral density (BMD) as an indicator of osteoporosis and future fracture risk. The hand x-ray film is scanned at the healthcare provider’s office with a standard desktop scanner, and the Automated OsteoGram software analysis program instantly produces a BMD report comparable to tests performed on the expensive, dedicated BMD testing equipment generally found in hospitals and specialty practices. The Automated OsteoGram offers unsurpassed clinical performance, access and convenience at a fraction of the price of most other BMD testing devices.

CompuMed had licensed its first generation OsteoGram to Merck & Co., Inc. for exclusive worldwide distribution. It was the only diagnostic test in the U.S. ever exclusively licensed by Merck. The OsteoGram required that the hand x-ray films be mailed by the healthcare provider to a special laboratory for analysis by skilled technicians. Merck used the OsteoGram to assist in the successful launch of its anti-osteoporosis drug Fosamax^®, and to help promote the widespread use of BMD testing.

CompuMed has regained the worldwide exclusive rights to the OsteoGram from Merck. The new Automated OsteoGram allows the entire process to be performed at the point-of-care in less than five minutes, and requires no special training to operate. By enabling physicians everywhere to detect bone loss before fractures actually occur, and intervene early in the disease process with available effective treatments, the Automated OsteoGram can play a major role in reducing the incidence of osteoporosis, one of the world’s most prevalent and yet preventable diseases.

Pertaining to the OsteoGram technology, CompuMed was awarded two patents by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The first in 2001 (U.S. patent 6,246,745) covering twenty aspects of Method and Apparatus for Determining Bone Mineral Density, and the second in 2004 (U.S. patent 6,711,282) covering nineteen aspects of Method for automatically segmenting a target bone from a digital image.

In addition, CompuMed has filed a patent in June 2003 to protects its intellectual property rights for diagnosing bone disease via OsteoGram technology coupled with a DICOM* image. In April 2004, an amendment was filed to this patent, the new claim relates to a pay-per-use, ASP (Application Service Provider)-style business model that the company calls OsteoClick. OsteoClick will enable hospital and office-based clinicians to submit a DICOM image to an off-site server for immediate diagnosis.



CardioGram^® and OsteoGram^® are registered trademarks of CompuMed, Inc. All rights reserved.
Fosamax^® is a registered trademark of Merck & Co., Inc.

DICOM: Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine