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- Cough-diagnostic phone app developer, ResApp has announced plans for integrating new hardware devices with its impressive software which can detect pneumonia, asthma and bronchiolitis.
- A handheld device and a long-term wearable breathing monitor will be designed, tested and finalised by UK-based OSI Electronics
- The company is funding the development through fixed milestone-based payments with prototypes expected nine months from now and consumer approval expected in 2020
The company is in talks with UK-based OSI Electronics for designing, testing and finalising a handheld device and a small, wearable breathing monitor. ResApp caught the attention of investors and the health industry when the company claimed to diagnose the cause of your cough, just by using a mobile phone application.
The technology, developed by University of Queensland’s associate professor Udantha Abeyratne, is based on replacing the common doctor’s stethoscope with your smartphone’s microphone, something which most people have.
The company believes by just recording the sound of your cough, its application’s machine learning software can warn you of pneumonia, asthma, bronchiolitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The newly announced handheld device, tailored to the Android operating system, is intended as a low-cost substitute for using ResApp’s software for specific in-person clinical environments.
Meanwhile, the wearable monitor device is designed to be worn 24/7 for chronic disease patients. Functional prototypes of both devices are expected within nine months from now, with the company aiming for consumer approval in 2020.
ResApp CEO Tony Keating, says offering a hardware option to customers provides an additional selling point for the company and the wearable device will allow pivots for other progressive respiratory diseases.
“By outsourcing hardware development, we retain our focus on delivering clinical-quality algorithms for use on smartphones in telehealth and in-person settings, while increasing our addressable market by having additional, specialised platforms on which we can deliver our algorithms,” Tony said.
The contract with UK developers is negotiated at a fixed-price, milestone-based payment method. For each device, ResApp will pay £75,000 in cash and AU$250,000 of ordinary shares upon project commencement.
Further development of the project is divided into three seperate milestones: delivery of functional prototypes, delivery of final designs and CE Mark approval. Each milestone for each device will warrant a payment of AU$500,00 in cash or shares.
“Having a milestone-based payment structure, where we can choose to pay milestones either in cash or shares, reduces our financial risk and helps optimise our cash flow,” he said.
Shares in RAP closed yesterday at 17.50 cents. Today they opened at 16.50 cents a piece, representing a 5.71 per cent decrease. The company’s market cap remains at $137.7 million.
