Spectral MD gets $1.1 million contract from US Department of Defense

LONDON, U.K: Spectral MD Holdings has been awarded a 2-year, US$1.1 million Sequential Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract from the Defense Health Agency (DHA) within the US Department of Defense (DoD).

This Contract will support Spectral MD in advancing a new, multispectral imaging (MSI) sensor intended to enable the development of a fully handheld version of DeepView, Spectral MD’s existing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and multispectral imaging (MSI) technology for early burn wound healing assessment, in a far-forward military environment.

The developments achieved under this contract will also support the Company’s improvements in portability and ease of use for the assessment of civilian burn and chronic wound applications such as Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU).

DeepView combines point-of-care optical imaging analyzed by artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to rapidly assess wound viability in burns and chronic wounds. This Contract will assist the Company in providing the US military and other users the possibility of rapidly establishing an appropriate treatment plan near the site where injuries are sustained, such as the battlefield, and reduce unnecessary transport of casualties to brick-and-mortar hospitals. In the civilian setting, there is also a significant benefit to the patient and cost savings associated with an accurate and timely predictive wound healing diagnosis.

Spectral MD has previously received STTR Phase I and Phase II contract awards from the DHA for investigation into its technology’s capabilities in providing real-time feedback to burn surgeons during burn excision surgery.

Jeff Thatcher, PhD, Chief Scientist at Spectral MD, said: “These previous DHA STTR awards have been important in the improvement of MSI technologies in the current DeepView system. This new award is expected to follow this trend and fund the development towards a fully handheld DeepView.”

Wensheng Fan, CEO of Spectral MD, said: “Working with the US military to enable DeepView’s burn assessment capability in field hospitals is crucial to reaching wounded soldiers closer to the battlefield. DeepView is supported by multiple US federal agencies for both military and civilian uses. In addition, this development will also directly benefit the DFU indication by facilitating an expansion into remote care settings including the potential for home health.”

Spectral MD has partnered with Louisiana State University Medical Science Center to conduct clinical studies for performance data collection for the new MSI imaging sensor under this STTR award.

Defense Health Agency (DHA) has a directive to conduct research and development aimed to deliver, “value to our beneficiary communities by shepherding innovative materiel and knowledge solutions from concept through final product development and into the hands of providers and Warfighters.”

The Defense Health Agency awards STTR grants to small businesses with strong research and development capabilities that partner with research institutions, such as universities, to develop medical technologies toward commercialization.

Spectral MD Holdings Ltd LON: SMD

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23 Jun, 3:29 pm GMT+1 ·Disclaimer