After a brief halt in the morning session, shares of Diagnos Inc. (TSX-Venture:ADK) (OTCQB:DGNOF) are riding higher on news of Mexico's Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE) awarding Diagnos a contract valued at CDN$5.26 million ($4.16 million U.S.) to monitor diabetes patients. The contract follows a successful pilot program that evaluated Diagnos' artificial intelligence technology, dubbed "FLAIRE," to analyze and monitor over 79,000 diabetes patients in the country.
Diagnos also has developed CARA (Computer Assisted Retinal Analysis), a tele-ophthalmology platform for retinal analysis used in early detection to treat co-morbidities associated with diabetes.
Based upon the results of the pilot, ISSSTE now wants Diagnos to monitor and manage about 320,000 Mexican diabetics during the rest of the year and going forward. Created nearly six decades ago, ISSSTE takes care of approximately 13 million Mexicans under the directive of ensuring the health of certain workers, including those at the service of the State and pensioners.
With FLAIRE and CARA, Diagnos finds itself right in the middle of the exploding medtech space that is utilizing leading-edge technology to handle large patient populations more effectively and efficiently to improve outcomes and reduce healthcare expenses.
Diagnos will generate recurring revenue through the contract, screening patients annually and monitor them for an initial period of three years. Investors are reacting positively to the news, with more than 5.6 million shares changing hands, making it the second highest volume day in 2017 with three hours still left in the trading day. After closing Friday at 16 cents, shares are holding at 17.5 cents in early afternoon trading.
