News Release: March 9, 2014 

	Smartphone app reads blood oxygen levels, capitalized with new S2 million
Canadian private -public investment, device could save lives of women and
children in low-resource countries  

	Major new investment in LGTmedical’s Phone Oximeter™ will advance it
towards developing world use Government of Canada S1 million investment,
part of new S10 million partnership with Grand Challenges Canada to
accelerate scale up of promising global health innovations. Private and
public investors are injecting S2 million into a Canadian mobile health
innovation that offers hope of preventing thousands of deaths and improving
the health of expectant mothers, newborns and children throughout the
developing world.
LionsGate Technologies (LGTmedical), a Vancouver based social enterprise,
has secured its first major financial backers to scale up development of
the Phone Oximeter™, an app and medical sensor that turns a
non-specialist, community-level health worker’s smartphone, tablet
computer or laptop into an affordable and simple but sophisticated
medical-grade diagnostic tool, which is currently typically available in
the developing world only in some hospitals. 

	The device measures blood oxygen levels through a light sensor attached to
a person's fingertip. This technique is known as pulse oximetry. The Phone
Oximeter™, using a predictive score, can accurately identify an estimated
80% of cases of pregnant women at risk of life-threatening complications
resulting from high blood pressure. The condition, pre-eclampsia, is one of
three leading causes of maternal mortality. an issue of social justice,”
said Dr. von Dadelszen. The Phone Oximeter™ can also reveal dangerously
low oxygen levels in patients with pneumonia, which kills more than 1
million children annually. The S40 target price will make it 80% less
costly than any other current device capable of meeting high-level medical
standards.   

	For a 4 page pdf news release with links see:  http://bit.ly/1gcNan2
(http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit%2Ely%2F1gcNan2&urlhash=3mzf&_t=tracking_anet)

	Posted by Sam Lanfranco 


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