GE Healthcare granted exclusive distribution rights to KC BioMedix NTrainer neurostimulation system

GE Healthcare, Inc. (NYSE: GE) and KC BioMedix, Inc. today announced an agreement that grants GE Healthcare's Maternal Infant Care division (MIC) exclusive rights for distribution and marketing of the KC BioMedix NTrainer pulsatile neurostimulation system.

“The NTrainer System complements GE Healthcare's current product portfolio for premature infants in the NICU”

There are over 500,000 infants born prematurely in the U.S. each year, and as many as 50% are suffering from the inability to breast or bottle feed. Because hospitals are reluctant to discharge these patients from the neonatal ICU until they achieve 100% oral feeding competency, there is an important opportunity to improve the emotional, medical, and economic impact for patients and their families, along with hospitals and insurers. The NTrainer System incorporates a pulsating pacifier and reinforces nonnutritive suck (NNS) in infants and then measures the progress of their ability to suck.

"The NTrainer System complements GE Healthcare's current product portfolio for premature infants in the NICU" stated Carrie Eglington Manner, General Manager of the MIC division of GE Healthcare. "We're pleased to offer this technology and expand the treatment solutions we provide to our customers to help better serve their patients."

This device, currently in use at leading hospitals in the United States, is backed by clinical studies and world-class research. Once premature infants have achieved the ability to feed independently and gain weight, they can be discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Reduced lengths of stay help reduce healthcare costs.

Clinically, the NTrainer enables neonatal caregivers the ability to better manage incompetent feeding in neonates by providing a standardized assessment tool to measure NNS performance. NNS is an essential neurological building block in an infant's coordination of sucking, swallowing and breathing - a capability required for independent oral feeding and the development of a healthy baby.

"KC BioMedix's agreement with GE Healthcare is a step toward our goal of taking leadership in the emerging market for technologies that address incompetent feeding issues in premature infants," said Mike Litscher, co-founder and President of KC BioMedix. "GE Healthcare's market reach and broad NICU product line is a great match and compliment for the NTrainer technology. We look forward to driving further adoption of our devices and technology within the medical community.