(image: Relay Medical Corp.)
TORONTO, Aug. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Relay Medical Corp. (“Relay” or the “Company”) (CSE: RELA, OTC: RYMDF, Frankfurt: EIY2), and Fio Corporation (“Fio”) announce the signing of U.S. and French distribution partners for the Fionet Mobile COVID-19 testing and tracking platform.
Relay and Fio previously announced a joint venture on August 19, 2020 to rapidly launch and deploy a new COVID-19 testing, data collection and reporting solution. The JV operates under the name “Fionet Rapid Response Group” (FRR) and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. On August 25, Relay and Fio announced the commencement of FRR operations.
Today, FRR announces that Fio has signed distribution partners in France and in the U.S. to market Fionet to pharmacies and certain other sectors.
Pharmacies are community-based and thereby access the vast majority of the population; they are approximately 10x more numerous than clinics; and France, the UK, and the U.S. have already legalized COVID testing in pharmacies, and other countries are following suit. Pharmacies are well-positioned to deliver effective mass testing and triage and for safe return to work programs.
For example, the U.S. has 67,000 community pharmacies, dwarfing the 7,000 hospitals and community health centres combined. The U.S.’s 175,000 pharmacists are referred to as the most over-trained and under-utilized healthcare professionals in America.1
In France, Fionet will be distributed by Magentine, a company set up to distribute Fionet and rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). In exchange for its marketing rights, Magentine has committed to a minimum order in 2021. Magentine was founded and is headed by Mr. Francois Dupoteau, who previously co-founded a successful in vitro diagnostic company, ECS Prograstrin. In addition to marketing Fionet to pharmacies, Magentine will market Fionet to physicians’ offices.
“Magentine Healthcare chose to deploy the Fionet Platform in France to support the new opportunities for pharmacies to use RDT tests. Fionet is the perfect solution for pharmacists to accurately read, trace, and monitor rapid tests. Fionet further creates efficient links between RDT users, central labs, and patients to create maximum value for all stakeholders,” said Francois Dupoteau, CEO of Magentine.
In the U.S., Fionet will be distributed by MyLabBox, a company which is a leader of at-home and in-store testing solutions. In exchange for its marketing rights, Magentine has committed to a minimum order in 2021. In addition to marketing Fionet to U.S. pharmacies, MyLabBox will market Fionet to corporations seeking to implement safe-return-to-work testing programs.
“To get people back to work, to get them bringing home paycheques again, to protect the economy, the question is not who is sick. It is who is well and how can they return safely to work. Pharmacies are an ideal site for mass community-based testing, so that personnel can be tested and feel secure that everyone else in their workplace was also tested,” said Dr Michael Greenberg, CEO of Fionet Rapid Response Group and CEO of Fio Corporation.
“With Fionet,” said Yoav Raiter, CEO, Relay Medical Corp, “there can be accurate, frontline testing, real-time tracking, remote supervision of frontline action, and automated digitization for all frontline activity – all essential for the mass, decentralized testing that could be done in sites such as pharmacies in order to return people safely to work and to protect the economy from continued damage.”
Fionet is a mobile testing and tracking platform that enables community-based return-to-work programs by performing at hospital-grade accuracy, yet in higher volume, faster-speed, and with less-skilled frontline workers.
Fionet thus enables the controlled expansion of diagnostic testing and triage beyond the few overburdened medical centres to the many community-based settings such as pharmacies, small clinics, workplaces, airports, nursing homes, schools, etc.
The platform combines handheld devices linked to online AI-powered cloud, automating frontline testing and capturing test results for tracking. Rugged, mobile devices are compatible with multiple third-party antigen and antibody COVID-19 rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), which creates sourcing flexibility for RDTs which are of limited supply and continuously evolving. Fionet also connects with molecular testing devices such as PCRs.
Fio’s cloud-platform delivers real-time, actionable intelligence for supervisors and public health officials to manage responses and resources to new levels of precision and promptness. Data and insights are delivered to dashboards, IT systems and public health databases for rapid, secure and data-informed responses.
Fionet has a proven, positive impact on 1 million patients with infectious diseases in over a dozen countries and 4 continents. Fio successfully managed testing programs for high-consequence diseases such as malaria, HIV, dengue and ebola in partnership with world-class organizations including World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, Ministry of Health of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Republic of Kenya Ministry of Health.
**The Companies are not making any express or implied claims that its product has the ability to eliminate, cure or contain the COVID-19 (or SARS-2 Coronavirus) at this time.
About Fio Corporation
Fio Corporation, privately held and headquartered in Toronto, developed and markets the world’s first integrated guidance & tracking IT platform for decentralized healthcare settings, a new category of solution that raises healthcare quality and lowers healthcare costs. The platform enables average healthcare workers in clinics to deliver a new level of quality-controlled diagnostic testing and case management. Simultaneously, as an automated by-product of its clinical use, the platform captures and provides unprecedented frontline data to remote supervisors and stakeholders, enabling real-time remote tracking, insight distribution, and intervention. Fio operates globally in partnership with local distribution, service, and support organizations and also partners with other companies that license its technologies.
Website: www.fio.com
About Relay Medical Corp.
Relay Medical is a MedTech innovation Company headquartered in Toronto, Canada focused on the development of novel technologies in the diagnostics and AI data science sectors.
Website: www.relaymedical.com
Contact:
W. Clark Kent
President
Relay Medical Corp.
Office. 647-872-9982 ext. 2
TF. 1-844-247-6633 ext. 2
investor.relations@relaymedical.com
Bernhard Langer
EU Investor Relations
Office. +49 (0) 177 774 2314
Email: blanger@relaymedical.com
Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement
Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as “plan”, “expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate” and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company’s control. There are no assurances that the commercialization plans for HemoPalm Corp. described in this news release will come into effect on the terms or time frame described herein. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company’s filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com
Photos accompanying this announcement are available at
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Source: Relay Medical Corp. via GLOBE NEWSWIRE
