AstraZeneca has entered an agreement with Australian medical technology company ImpediMed (ASX:IPD) under which it will use one of its digital health platforms for a clinical trial.
ImpediMed's SOZO Digital Health Platform is a non-invasive technology that measures, monitors and manages fluid status and tissue composition using bioimpedance spectroscopy.
The company said that as part of a contract valued at over $2 million AstraZeneca will use the SOZO device to track patient fluid volume in a phase two clinical trial.
The trial will evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of two AstraZeneca medicines used in combination for heart failure patients with chronic kidney disease. This trial is scheduled to begin in November 2020. The trial is being run by a contract research organisation on behalf of AstraZeneca.
“AstraZeneca has used ImpediMed’s BIS technology for a number of years to measure subjects’ fluid volumes in their clinical studies,” said Dennis Schlaht, senior vice president of ImpediMed.
“With SOZO, they will be able to achieve the fluid measurement accuracy of gold standard dilution methods in a test that takes 30 seconds instead of up to 24 hours. Add in the fact that it offers real-time data review globally, and it’s clear why the SOZO Digital Health Platform was chosen for this new research.”
Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will pay a monthly license fee for each SOZO device for the duration of the study. ImpediMed will retain ownership of the devices at the conclusion of the trials.
“We are extremely pleased that AstraZeneca decided to use our BIS technology again in this clinical trial,” said Richard Carreon, managing director and CEO of ImpediMed.
“Heart failure and chronic kidney disease are two of our three strategic focus areas, and this agreement provides further validation of the applicability of our technology in both patient populations. This endorsement of our technology is timely as the Company begins the launch of SOZO into the cardiology market.”