Impression Healthcare extends exclusive deal with FiTGuard for concussion monitoring
New countries in the expanded agreement include China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.
Impression Healthcare (ASX: IHL) has extended the global coverage of its Fitguard by Gameday concussion monitoring system by extending its exclusive licencing agreement with Force Impact Technologies.
The deal encompasses more territories with Impression to now distribute FiTGuard by Gameday to 50% of the world’s population.
In addition to the existing licenced territories of Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, Impression’s products will now be shipped for sale to China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.
As it stands, the FiT product suite includes the FiTGuard, FiTApp and FiTCloud. Its makers are adamant the system allows athletes, coaches, parents and/or medical staff to monitor the impact that athletes receive during training or play.
The guard connects to the app via Bluetooth so that health assessments can be made in real-time.
This facilitates rapid decision-making within any sporting code where players experience head impact, concussive injuries and second-impact syndrome.
Accelerated expansion and CBD
The FiTGuard licencing deal follows the company’s existing efforts to accelerate its focus on global expansion and the establishment of additional manufacturing capacity in Shenzhen, China.
Impression said that the territorial expansion was “consistent with one of its overarching strategies” to expand globally to both monitor player safety, but also, to potentially treat players with synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) post indications of concussion during a match.
The company is currently conducting a clinical trial to investigate the use of synthetic CBD in conjunction with the Medical Cannabis Research Collaboration between medicinal cannabis experts Cannvalate Pty Ltd and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.
The World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) and the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) have recently confirmed that THC-free synthetic CBD is legal for consumption by sportspeople – thereby giving Impression a further boost and propelling the company’s products into more stores.
In addition to the direct product availability, Impression is also looking to advance “existing discussions” around concussion monitoring and treatment with major sporting leagues; particularly in Asia.
“The FitGuard is the most sophisticated smart mouthguard on the market today; providing accurate data measurements on cranial acceleration in a package barely larger than a regular mouthguard,” said Joel Latham, chief executive officer of Impression.
“Treatment of concussion should come after accurate monitoring of concussion and the FiTGuard works to provide a platform for player treatment with synthetic CBD,” he added.
“With increasing public concern related to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) resulting from contact sports, we’re confident of generating strong market interest in the FiTGuard now that player mental health is receiving the attention it deserves,” Mr Latham said.