Sphere Medical Holding plc Appt of Regional Distributor Company Update (8024E)

TIDMSPHR

RNS Number : 8024E

Sphere Medical Holding plc

21 July 2016

21 July 2016

Sphere Medical Holding plc

("Sphere Medical" or the "Company")

Appointment of Regional Distributor and Company Update

Italian Distributor Appointed

Sphere Medical Holding plc (AIM: SPHR.L), an innovative point-of-care monitoring and diagnostic devices company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Burke & Burke S.p.A. ("Burke & Burke"), as exclusive distributor of Proxima products in Italy. Burke & Burke, established 40 years ago, has considerable experience in point of care devices and already markets a number of medical devices, including complex ventilation devices and anaesthesia monitoring devices, to critical care units in hospitals across Italy, with Proxima adding a complimentary product to its portfolio.

Under the terms of the distribution agreement, Burke & Burke will commence marketing of Proxima 4 immediately following its launch. Burke & Burke has already committed to place an initial order for Proxima 4 monitors and consumables.

Sphere Medical will continue to pursue the appointment of further regional distributors for Proxima products in other European markets where not yet present.

Company Update

The Company is continuing with preparations for the commercial launch of Proxima 4 in Europe later this year, and is close to completing the CE-marking process. Ahead of the launch of Proxima 4, the Company continues to build awareness of the patient-related and cost benefits of the Proxima platform: while sales of Proxima 3 in the first half of 2016 continued to be modest, interest has continued to grow, with more hospitals evaluating the product and patient connections growing by more than 50% during the first half of 2016 over the previous six months.

An important market trend is that hospitals increasingly wish to capture data from point of care devices such as Proxima in electronic records. Sphere Medical has established connectivity between the Proxima platform and both Conworx and Clinisys data management systems, two of the leading systems in Europe. The Conworx customer base includes 1,800 hospitals in 25 countries. CliniSys software systems are used in over 2,500 laboratories in 35 countries. Moreover, CliniSys products are utilised in 40% of NHS Trusts in England and Scotland, with a further significant presence in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain. The new connectivity will allow the seamless transfer of test results from Proxima directly into laboratory information systems and electronic patient records.

The Company's manufacturing facility in Wales, which opened in February 2016, has already commenced production of Proxima components, and over the next 12 to 18 months the Company plans to gradually transfer more elements of the production process from its site at Harston, Cambridge to the Welsh manufacturing facility.

Dr. Wolfgang Rencken, Chief Executive Officer of Sphere Medical, said: "We are delighted to appoint Burke and Burke as our first regional distributor of the Proxima platform. This is an excellent endorsement of Proxima and we look forward to the launch of Proxima 4 later this year, in addition to further distribution agreements."

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.

- Ends -

For further information, please contact:

 
Sphere Medical Holding                     Tel: [phone] 
 plc                                                        222 
Dr Wolfgang Rencken, Chief 
 Executive Officer 
Richard Wright, Chief 
 Financial Officer 
 
Panmure Gordon                             Tel: [phone] 
                                                           2500 
Freddy Crossley (Corporate 
 Finance) 
Duncan Monteith (Corporate 
 Finance) 
Tom Salvesen (Corporate 
 Broking) 
 
Consilium Strategic                        Tel: [phone] 
 Communications                                            5700 
Mary-Jane Elliott             [e-mail] 
Chris Gardner 
Ivar Milligan 
Hendrik Thys 
 
 

Notes for Editors

About Sphere Medical (AIM: SPHR.L)

Sphere Medical is an innovative point-of-care medical device company. Its Proxima platform measures blood gases, electrolytes and metabolites at the patient's bedside and aims to improve patient care and reduce health system costs. The device is currently sold directly to the critical care market via Sphere Medical's sales force in the UK, Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium. For further information, please visit www.spheremedical.com.

About Burke & Burke

Burke & Burke, based in the Milan area, was founded in 1976 and is focused on Critical Care, Perinatal Care, Point of Care Testing and Anaesthesia & Monitoring. It has sales teams operating throughout Italy and is a distributor for more than a dozen medical device companies.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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July 21, 2016 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)