Why IR-MED, Inc.’s (IRME) Technology Could Be in Every Doctor’s Pocket and on Every Investor’s Mind

Search the internet for “pictures of pressure injuries” and you’ll understand why avoiding and properly treating these debilitating wounds is so critical. Prevention is key, and little-known IR-MED, Inc. (IRME) is developing an accessible, economical solution that could transform the pressure injury landscape for patients and caregivers alike, with a possible launch on the horizon. Their IR-based scanning technology has a host of further applications in the wings.

Also called bed sores, pressure injuries occur when a person’s own body weight reduces blood flow to skin and tissues, which left untreated, breaks down until a sore appears. Pressure injuries are shockingly common among those with common chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases that restrict mobility or blood circulation–generally the older and the infirmed. That’s a growing global population.

• IR-MED’s PressureSafe is a handheld optical monitoring device to support early detection of pressure injuries. This handheld scanner is intended to identify and categorize injuries 2 to 3 days before they’re visible at the skin surface through infra-red light spectroscopy (IR), spectrographic analysis, and artificial intelligence.
• IR-MED is preparing clinical useability studies with the PressureSafe scanner, with a goal of filing for FDA clearance in 2022 and launching a commercial device soon afterwards.
• The incentive for caregivers to avoid and treat PI as early as possible is immense, and IRME’s solution fits this need. The estimated cost of individual patient care for advanced pressure injuries ranges from $21,000 to more than $151,000 per injury. Prevention in the form of regular patient movement and diagnostics like PressureSafe can cost just dollars per day.
• The market opportunity for IRME is staggering. Treatment cost in the U.S. is over $26 billion yearly according to one 2019 study. 2.5 million patients develop a pressure injury annually, according to the United States’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), and 60,000 U.S. patients die from complications related to hospital-acquired pressure injuries each year.
• IRME’s second IR-based device addresses one of the most common reasons children visit the doctor today, mid-ear infections (Otitis Media). Nobiotics is an innovative decision support otoscope to give doctors an immediate indication as to whether ear pain is of a bacterial origin, and thus requiring antibiotic treatment, or of a viral origin. Over 8 million children receive treatment for ear infections yearly in the U.S., and the global ear infection treatment market is expected to reach $22.3 billion by 2023.
• Non-invasive, fast diagnostic tools like IRME’s have been received enthusiastically by public markets. Butterfly Network, Inc.’s (BFLY) $1.20 billion in market capitalization is based on $60 million in 2021 expected revenue, or a 20x price-to-sales multiple. For IRME, modest sales can be worth multiples for this unknown company.

IR-MED has gone mostly unacknowledged by the markets, unsurprising as the company listed publicly just last year. With market-moving events likely in 2022, IRME’s “undiscovered’ status could change quickly, and the eye-popping addressable market suggests it’s one to watch.