January 27, 2018
M3DICINE Inc, designers of intelligent medical devices, today announced the launch of Stethee, the world’s first AI-enabled stethoscope system. With a revolutionary new design that works as easily as a traditional stethoscope, the Stethee™ family of products allows users to listen to heart and lungs sounds with sophisticated amplification and filtering technology and to instantly capture and analyze heart and lung sounds and data via Bluetooth to the Stethee iOS or Android App providing a whole new level of diagnostics capabilities.
The Stethee system includes three core products: The FDA Cleared Stethee Pro for medical and healthcare professionals, Stethee Vet for veterinarians and animal professionals, and Stethee Edu developed specifically as an education and research tool.
The technology platform behind the Stethee AI engine, named “Aida,” can analyze heart and lung sounds to build a unique personal biometric signature. Aida also automatically tags geo-location and environmental data to each sample in real-time. This provides a completely new dimension of data analytics for public health planning allowing us to understand what effects environmental factors like humidity, temperature, pollen count or pollution have on our heart and lungs. Aida analyzes this encrypted and anonymized data in order learn and report back quantitative clinically actionable data to doctors, vets, and healthcare professionals.
“This most iconic and enduring symbol of healthcare is now reinvented, into an intelligent and sophisticated medical device– a powerful diagnostic assistant that becomes more intelligent the more it is used,” said Nayyar Hussain, M.D., founder and CEO of M3DICINE. “The complementary Stethee Apps bring the power of machine learning and deep neural networks to health professionals worldwide who can use this data not only to monitor the progress and health of individual patients, but collectively to uncover new patterns and trends to help in the fight against heart and lung disease globally.”
“The potential for Stethee to be used in remote and rural areas is enormous because it’s incredibly easy to use and the results can be shared and analyzed instantly by a medical specialist anywhere in the world,” said Hussain. “The ability to record, share and compare samples is invaluable to improving patient care, especially for remote and rural clinics where access to screening services or a cardiologist is extremely difficult.”
Stethee captures a wealth of rich clinical information in only 20 seconds. The sound and data from the device streams to any Bluetooth enabled device or wired headphones. Aida analyzes the signal to identify heart sounds and respiratory activity, as well as any patterns that might indicate a disease condition. The data is represented in real time in the Stethee App for easy understanding of vital signs, and can be easily shared with peers, caregivers or specialists anywhere in the world.
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Since 2015 M3DICINE has worked closely with: designers and engineers from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), clinical experts from the Mayo Clinic, Texas A&M University and cardiologists, nurses and allied health professionals from the UK, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. The entire development process of the Stethee System has adhered to the highest international design and safety standards and US FDA.
“The Stethee system has the potential to transform healthcare,” said Professor John Sperling, M.D., Vice-Chair, Department of Orthopedic Surgery MAYO Clinic said:
We are on the forefront of a new era in healthcare driven by artificial intelligence and its ability to significantly improve our ability to care for patients. This innovative technology can significantly help drive efficiency and productivity and empower healthcare providers worldwide by providing real time data and clinical interpretation.
"Stethee Vet has enormous potential to assist our understanding of animal health," said Rosemary Booth, Wildlife Veterinarian and Director of Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. "Its geo-location functionality adds efficiency and detail for field researchers. Its small, sleek design doesn't alarm the animals, its sensitivity surpasses human senses and the AI 'learns' with increasing use."
M3DICINE has signed exclusive agreements with Korea Telecom for the distribution of Stethee Pro for telemedicine projects into a number of developing countries and an exclusive distribution agreement with Cargill Korea for Stethee Vet to veterinarians in South Korea.
Now available online for pre-order from stethee.com, units will begin shipping late February. Stethee Pro and Stethee Vet are available for $499. Stethee Edu for education and research will be available summer 2018. Advanced AI-driven analytics and insights are available through Stethee Central, a subscription based web portal. Stethee Pro and Stethee Vet App will be available for download from the Apple Store and Google Play store.
M3DICINE Pty Ltd is backed by an initial financing round of $4.5 million from private investors including Pond Capital and, more recently, the Board has approved the raise of a $2.5 million convertible note managed by Pond Capital. Funds from the new note will support product development, sales and marketing, as well as building out service capabilities. M3DICINE has research agreements with Sinskey Labs at MIT, Queensland University of Technology, University of Malaysia and professors and researchers at Texas A&M, Australia Zoo Hospital, University of Sydney, and Texas Heart and Mayo Clinic.
