MUNDELEIN, Ill., /PRNewswire/ -- Bio-logic Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: BLSC) announced that after the successful completion of a study measuring the feasibility of a valuable new clinical evaluation method for detecting minute acoustic tumors, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the company a Phase II grant of approximately $1 million to develop advanced Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) technology (Stacked ABR) and collect clinical data on normal patients and those with small acoustic brain tumors. The project will be administered by Bio-logic and its research partner, House Ear Institute of California (HEI), with testing of up to 500 patients conducted at HEI and two other clinical sites. It is expected to last two years with approximately one-half of the grant going to Bio-logic and the remainder to HEI and the other sites.
As the exclusive licensee of HEI's patented methodology for identifying small tumors, Bio-logic will develop a product that will be able to detect tumors as small as two millimeters at one-fifth the cost of an MRI procedure. Testing performed with this advanced ABR system should help reduce the number of non-tumor patients being sent for costly MRIs. Accurate and early detection of very small acoustic tumors, less than one centimeter, is difficult with the current standard ABR technology. As a result, expensive MRI is still being utilized as the initial screening device for patients suspected of having this type of tumor.
'The continued financial support from the NIH will enable us to put new methods of tumor detection research into practical clinical use. We believe that the research will provide significant clinical and economic benefits for the patient as well as the physicians,' said Manny Don, Ph.D., director of electrophysiology at HEI and contract principal investigator.
Bio-logic estimates that half of the 8,000 practicing Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) physicians will show strong interest in this new technology as a faster, reliable and more cost-effective alternative initial screening device. Furthermore, once the clinical test results are published and the Stacked ABR software is developed, the market segment for diagnostic ABR will
expand for this new application. MRI will still be the standard diagnostic method for those patients whose ABR results are positive in order to locate the tumor prior to treatment.
'As a principal investigator, I am enthused about the NIH Phase II grant as it represents another important milestone for Bio-logic. Since our Phase I grant from the NIH in late 1999, we've made significant progress in developing a Windows-based, compact version of our standard ABR system. The Navigator(R) Pro launched in August 2000, will be the platform for the Stacked ABR software. Systems already in the field can also be easily updated to include this software module,' said Gabriel Raviv, chairman and chief executive officer. 'While standard ABR technology lost some ground to MRIs over the last several years due to limited capabilities in small tumor detection, our more advanced version of ABR will be used in the ENT office at a substantially reduced cost per test.'
About Bio-logic Systems Corp.
Bio-logic Systems Corp., headquartered in Mundelein, IL, designs, develops, assembles and markets computer-based electrodiagnostic systems for use by hospitals, clinics, universities and physicians. The systems conduct tests that are typically used by medical practitioners to aid in the diagnosis of certain neurological disorders, brain disorders and tumors, and sensory disorders, including audiological and hearing screening and diagnosis. For more information please visit our Web site at www.blsc.com .
About House Ear Institute
The House Ear Institute (HEI), located in Los Angeles, California, is a world-renowned nonprofit scientific hearing research center. Through research and education the Institute aims to improve the quality of life. Scientists are exploring the causes of auditory disorders on the cellular and molecular level as well as refining the application of auditory implants and
hearing aids. For more information please call 213-483-4431 or visit the Web site at www.hei.org .
Except for descriptions of historical facts, this release contains forward-looking statements that involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the company's actual results in the future to differ materially from those currently anticipated. These risks include, among others: fluctuations in sales and operating results; the company's ability to recruit and train
the necessary number of sales representatives and installation technicians; risks associated with international operations including monetary crisis; regulatory, competitive, and contractual risks; the ability to successfully develop new technologies; the effects of economic conditions; and the availability of capital to finance planned growth, as well as other risks detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
