Clinical feedback from hospitals in Vietnam
In early June, Calmark's Sales Director, Magdalena Tharaldsen, completed a three-week promotion tour to Vietnam. Together with the Company's distributor, MTTS Co., Ltd., she visited public and private hospitals. Calmark's bilirubinometer was demonstrated in seven different hospitals, and the clinical feedback collected is presented below.
To obtain feedback from as many users as possible, the promotion tour included all sectors in the market. Seven different hospitals in Vietnam were visited, two in the northern regions, three in the southern, and two in the city of Hanoi. One noteworthy example is the hospital Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, popularly known as the “baby factory”, with 180 births per day, which also treats premature babies from the entire region; of these, 70-80 percent develop jaundice, and the average duration of treatment of these children is two months. During this time, bilirubin is analyzed on a regular basis.
The end customers visited ranged from large public hospitals to smaller private clinics, in poor rural areas as well as more prosperous urban areas. Some of the hospitals currently perform only laboratory analyses of bilirubin, while others also include transcutaneous skin measurement as a complement.
Calmark Neo-Bilirubin was generally very well received. The instrument is perceived as easy to use, fast, aesthetically appealing, and time- and cost-efficient. Particularly highly acknowledged was the small sample size needed and that it uses whole blood, which therefore does not need to be processed. Avoiding the need to transport the sample to the lab and wait for the result was seen as an additional advantage. In several places, blood tests were performed and compared with laboratory results. The comparisons showed that Calmark Neo offers a high quality of diagnosis, confirming the physicians’ positive view.
"We look forward to start diagnosing bilirubin in this new and efficient way," says Dr. Nhu, Head of Pediatric Department, Tam Anh General Hospital in Hanoi. “Calmark's POC system is easy to use, requires a small amount of blood and provides a fast and reliable result. We want to buy it as soon as the registration is done!”
Some hospitals made requests for future product development, for example that the instrument should be able to connect to a printer to print the results and to a scanner to link them to the patient ID and the hospital's laboratory system. Calmark prioritizes the development of these accessories in the product development.
"In many ways, this has been a remarkable journey," concludes Magdalena Tharaldsen, Calmark’s Director International Business Development. "Getting such positive feedback directly from end users in hospitals has been priceless, everyone truly appreciates the value of the product. I look forward to Calmark contributing to improved neonatal care in Vietnam!"
Every care has been taken in the translation of this document. In the event of discrepancies, the Swedish original will supersede the English translation.
For more information about Calmark Sweden AB, please contact:
Anna Söderlund, CEO
Telefon: +46 70 214 98 93
E-post: anna.soderlund@calmark.se
www.calmark.se
Calmark Sweden AB is a medical technology company that develops and markets a point-of-care (POC) analysis method with easier and faster diagnostics of medical conditions in newborns. The unique test platform consists of a portable instrument and test cassettes for various biomarkers. The first test, Neo-Bilirubin, was launched to the market in 2020. In the Western world, the introduction of POC diagnostics is resulting in huge savings and shorter care chains. In less developed healthcare systems, the product will offer a decision support which is currently lacking, since the access to hospital laboratories often is limited. Calmark aims to become the global leader in POC diagnostics for newborns and, in the long term, to offer all relevant tests for the first period of life. In addition to products for newborns, Calmark sells a POC test for assessment of COVID-19 disease severity. The B share is listed on the Spotlight Stock Market and is traded under the CALMA B ticker. Read more at www.calmark.se/eng/home.
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