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Impedimed shares jump after biotech gets sweet announcement from American Medical Association

• by: Liam Walsh
• From:  The Courier-Mail
• September 03, 2014 3:42PM

SHARES in Impedimed have jumped after the Brisbane-based biotechnology company received positive medical news about its device, which detects a horrible swelling affliction.

Impedimed on Wednesday revealed the American Medical Association had released coding for its device covering the swelling affliction for all cancers, not just breast cancer.

That widens Impedimed’s potential base of insured customers, although risks and hurdles remain.
“It’s a very important announcement which greatly expands the company’s market opportunity,” Bioshares analyst David Blake said.

“They’ve got lots of wind behind their sails now.”

Shares in Impedimed, which has offices in Brisbane and California, rose 11c to 51c by late afternoon trade.

Stock is still below the float price of 72c, with the company having stumbled in ensuing years in getting its device sold in the US.

Impedimed’s device, stemming from research at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, is designed for early detection of the swelling ailment lymphoedema. One principal target was treating the ailment in breast cancer sufferers.

But the AMA’s new code for the device now encompasses all cancer-related lymphoedema. The company said on Wednesday that securing the type of coding was “one that very few Australian companies have managed”.

Impedimed chief executive Richard Carreon said they had worked on seeing if the AMA would cover more than just breast cancer.

“We took the risk on going for everything,” he said.

Mr Carreon said the company was still awaiting details on how much would be reimbursed by insurers.
He also acknowledged further commercialising the device remained a risk, but argued Impedimed’s team had a large amount of experience.

Impedimed said the type of code received covered US Medicare patients, covering people over 65.
Bioshares’ Mr Blake said other remaining risks included how much time it would take for private medical insurers to cover reimbursement of the device.
Impedimed finished 2014 with a smaller loss of $7.9 million, and accumulated losses of $109 million. It had $10.8 million in cash remaining and revenues had risen.