Resonance Health bags commercialising opportunity after partnering with US research foundation

Resonance Health (ASX: RHT) has inked a non-exclusive license agreement with Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), enabling the Australian healthcare company to use patents for commercialising new and alternative methods for measuring proton density fat fraction (PDFF) from MRI images.

By combining Resonance’s expertise in iron and fat measurements with the use of technologies covered by the WARF patents, the company said it would work towards offering a wider range of services to clinicians for the diagnosis and management of fat related diseases.

Resonance highlighted the major global health problem presented by fat related diseases such as non-alcoholic fatter liver disease (NAFLD), with The World Health Organisation estimating NAFLD affects 10-30% of the global population.

By 2020, it is estimated that NAFLD will be the leading cause of liver transplants globally.

Payment terms confidential

Resonance will pay WARF a commercially confidential annual license fee for use of its licensed patents.

The license fees are based on the number of services that are sold or performed by the company to unrelated third parties.

WARF will have the option to cease the agreement if Resonance fails to achieve first commercial sales before the beginning of 2022, or if Resonance doesn’t submit a development report in a timely manner.

Under the agreement, Resonance is required to submit a development plan to WARF within 30 days of execution.  Following that, the company will submit to WARF a semi-annual development report to WARF.

Resonance said it looked forward to continuing to provide clinicians and patients with outstanding image analysis products.

Strategic expansion

In addition to partnerships and licensing of products, Resonance has indicated intentions to expand its core business through acquisitions as an avenue to distribute its products through channel partners.

The company, which specialises in the development and delivery of non-invasive medical imaging software and analysis services, also has a key focus on R&D to create additional value in its core services.

In a big coup for the firm, it recently received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for FerriSmart, an artificial-intelligence capable machine learning solution for the quantification of liver iron concentration.

The clearance allows Resonance to distribute FerriSmart and commercialise it across the US, which also furthers the company’s overarching mission to develop non-invasive medical imaging software and analysis services for the medical industry.

The Perth-based company has been attracting a large amount of interest of late, prompting a speeding ticket on December 11.

The company achieved $9.91 million in revenue for the 2017/18 financial year, up 17% on the previous corresponding year.

News of the license agreement, pushed Resonance shares 54% higher to close at $0.094.