Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the executive director of the UCLA Wireless Health Institute and recent acquirer of GlowCaps maker Vitality, has made a strategic investment in Toumaz, which is developing low cost, ultra-low power wireless technologies for a number of verticals including medical monitoring and internet-connected consumer devices. The wireless technology that Toumaz is building is called Sensium.
Dr. Soon-Shiong's investment in Toumaz comes to a little more than $2 million. Toumaz issued 14,563,142 shares to Soon-Shiong's California Capital Equity (CCE) group at 8.83 pence per share. (That comes to 1,285,925 GBP or about $2,057,610.) CCE will hold a 2.46 percent stake in Toumaz.
“Mobile, wireless monitoring devices are the future of healthcare," Dr. Soon-Shiong stated in the press release. "The challenge is to make these devices affordable and reliable, with good ergonomics and very low energy needs. Toumaz has all these bases covered, so I am very bullish about the company's prospects, and am excited to participate with Toumaz’s strong development team."
CCE and Toumaz will together to bring Sensiu to market for use in sports, while the two will assess the market for using the technology in wireless healthcare applications and others. According to the press release, CCE and Toumaz will "focus on chargeable multi-use devices for the North American market." Toumaz already has commercialization underway for its disposable wireless sensor for continuous vital sign monitoring in hospital. Toumaz announced the trial's launch in late 2009. The trial is taking place at St. Mary's Hospital in London and is in partnership with Toumaz's American partner CareFusion.
Toumaz's CE-marked Life Pebble device includes a single lead ECG, skin thermometer, and an accelerometer, which enables it to track physical activity. The device works for up to five days on a single hearing aid-sized battery. The data collected by the system is intended for use by clinicians for analysis. The Life Pebble streams data over a short range wireless link to a Sensium USB Network Adapter.
Last year the company said it was working on a version of the Life Pebble device to be used in professional sports, which seems to be the same area around which CCE is collaborating with Toumaz.
Toumaz launched its Life Pebble late in 2009, and announced plans last year to submit an end-to-end wireless vital signs monitoring system for FDA clearance and a CE mark later in 2011.
Dr. Soon-Shiong's UCLA Wireless Health Institute has a number of interesting wireless health technologies under development, including MediSens, which is working in the area of peripheral neuropathy, which causes some people with diabetes to lose sensation in their feet, and other health issues related to balance. When Dr. Soon-Shiong first joined the institute in 2009, MobiHealthNews interviewed him (read that article here).
For more on the strategic investment, read the entire press release after the jump:
Patrick Soon-Shiong to invest in Toumaz to develop Sensium for consumer healthcare applications
Toumaz Limited (AIM: TMZ, ‘Toumaz’, or ‘the Group’), a pioneer in low cost, ultra low power wireless communications and broadcast technology, announces that California Capital Equity LLC (CCE), a company owned by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, has made a strategic investment in the Group.
Toumaz is issuing 14,563,142 shares to CCE at 8.83p per share, representing a stake of 2.46% in the Group. Application will be made for the shares to be admitted to trading on 16 February 2011. Following admission, there will be 608,187,868 shares in issue.
CCE and Toumaz will collaborate to develop Toumaz’s market leading wireless healthcare and wellness technology, the Sensium platform, for use in sports. Collaboration for other applications, including wireless healthcare, will also be assessed. The two companies will focus on chargeable multi-use devices for the North American market.
Toumaz already has a strategic relationship for the commercialisation of a disposable patch for continuous monitoring in hospitals.
Los Angeles-based Dr Patrick Soon–Shiong has developed and sold two multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies and now heads Abraxis Health, a company focused on personalised healthcare. Dr Soon–Shiong is also executive director of the Wireless Health Institute at UCLA working on real-time health monitoring, and the founder of the National Coalition for Health Integration, which is creating a health network for the secure sharing of biomedical information across the United States.
Dr. Soon-Shiong said, “Mobile, wireless monitoring devices are the future of healthcare. The challenge is to make these devices affordable and reliable, with good ergonomics and very low energy needs. Toumaz has all these bases covered, so I am very bullish about the company's prospects, and am excited to participate with Toumaz’s strong development team."
Professor Chris Toumazou, Toumaz Chief Executive, commented: "I am delighted that Patrick’s business has not only invested in Toumaz but in a clear endorsement of our technology is working with us to develop Sensium for the consumer healthcare markets. He has tremendous entrepreneurial expertise in the medical devices and technology sector.”
Enquiries:
Toumaz Limited
020 7355 0036
Chris Toumazou, Chief Executive Officer
Patrick Stephansen, Chief Financial Officer
FinnCap
020 7600 1658
Charles Cunningham/Marc Young (Corporate Finance)
Brian Patient (Corporate Broking)
College Hill
020 7457 2020
Adrian Duffield/Rozi Morris
About Toumaz - (www.toumaz.com)
Toumaz is pioneering low cost, ultra-low power wireless technologies for a wide range of markets including medical monitoring and internet-connected consumer devices.
Targeting the Healthcare market, Toumaz’s licensable smart sensor interface and transceiver platform, Sensium, is a leader in real-time wireless monitoring of the body’s vital signs. Sensium has the potential to transform medical monitoring and reduce the cost of healthcare by wirelessly connecting individuals to healthcare providers – simply, affordably and unobtrusively. For healthcare professionals, this creates new opportunities for pro-active monitoring and improved quality of care. For patients, it delivers new opportunities for lifestyle-compatible personalised healthcare.
Toumaz also uses its ultra low power expertise to design devices for wireless connectivity and internet-connected consumer products. Toumaz currently supplies FM/DAB radio chips and complete modules to leaders in the digital radio market, such as PURE.
Toumaz is an AIM listed company (AIM: TMZ) with development centres in Oxford, UK and Taipei City, Taiwan.
