Nocimed Announces Recent Patent Issuances in United States & Australia

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nocimed, LLC is pleased to announce that U.S. patent number 8,344,728 for “Systems and Methods Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy to Evaluate Pain and Degenerative Properties of Tissue” was issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on January 1, 2013. Another patent in a related “family” to this issued U.S. patent was also recently granted in Australia. Other related patent applications are also currently pending in other major international territories outside of the United States. These issued patents and pending patent applications are owned by The Regents of the University of California (UC) via the original inventors at UC San Francisco, and are exclusively licensed to Nocimed, LLC. O’Banion & Ritchey, LLP, including via Cullens Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys in Australia, represented UC in prosecuting these patents to these successful grants. Nocimed is also represented by Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear, LLP in its intellectual property affairs.

“#1 Overall Best New Technology in Spine Care for 2011”

Jim Peacock, founding CEO and Chairman of Nocimed, is also a licensed Patent Attorney registered to practice before the USPTO. According to Mr. Peacock, “These patent issuances represent significant milestone achievements for Nocimed. The governing patent agencies in these significant territories have determined the claimed invention represents sufficient innovation to grant these patents. This also formally confirms the proprietary nature of our investigational ‘Nociscan Virtual Discogram’ MR spectroscopy diagnostic platform, which incorporates aspects of this patented technology, in these respective major medical markets. These protections are critical to our continued investment and advancement of this platform and technology in our clinical investigations - which have also been highly encouraging.”

About Nociscan™ Virtual Discogram™ and Sigpro™

The Nociscan Virtual Discogram is an investigational spine diagnostic platform, and is a new application of MR spectroscopy (MRS) to non-invasively measure disc chemistry as a brief extension of standard MRI exams. The Nociscan exam is performed by acquiring an MRS spectrum from a disc nucleus using commercial MR scanners and MRS pulse sequences already indicated for tissue chemistry assessment, but using a proprietary procedural protocol being evaluated specifically for disc spectroscopy. The raw acquired MRS data is then uploaded electronically, via a secure web interface, to a proprietary “cloud software”-based Sigpro MRS signal post-processor. Sigpro automatically provides a final post-processed spectrum for making quantitative measurements at spectral peaks associated with certain chemicals. These chemical signatures for the disc may then be assessed as potential chemical biomarkers for diagnostic correlation to disc pathologies such as degeneration and pain. Back pain is a leading reported cause of worker’s compensation and disability claims and patient-doctor visits for middle-aged adults, and spine also represents the largest category of all MR uses. However, standard MRI does not reliably reveal which discs are causing the pain in chronic, severe discogenic low back pain patients. Accordingly, an invasive, painful, risky, subjective, and costly needle-based “provocative discography” procedure is often required, following standard lumbar MRI, for this purpose.

The investigational non-invasive Nociscan Virtual Discogram was awarded "#1 Overall Best New Technology in Spine Care for 2011" by Orthopedics This Week at the North American Spine Society 2011 annual meeting. A scientific abstract featuring clinical data from on-going Nociscan investigations was also awarded a “Best Paper” oral podium presentation by the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS), to be delivered at the ISASS 2013 annual conference being held April 3-5, 2013 in Vancouver, Canada.

About Nocimed™, LLC

Nocimed, LLC’s mission is to provide disruptive new medical diagnostic platform technologies to address significant areas of unmet need in substantial clinical and research markets. The Company’s primary emphasis is to deliver this via web or “cloud”-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions, principally for diagnostic imaging post-processing. The Company is initially developing these solutions for musculoskeletal and pain indications – with initial focus on disc chemistry monitoring and discogenic low back pain diagnosis. Nocimed was founded in 2008 as a Delaware Limited Liability Company, with its principal place of business in Redwood City, CA, and is privately funded by qualified accredited investors. Further information may be found at www.nocimed.com. Any inquiries may be directed by phone to [phone], or by email to [e-mail].

Nociscan Virtual Discogram, Sigpro, and other products and technologies embody exclusive proprietary rights of Nocimed, LLC, including under certain copyrights and granted patents and pending patent applications in the United States and other territories. Nocimed™, Nociscan™, Virtual Discogram™, Nocigram™, Sigpro™, and Autovox™ are proprietary trademarks of Nocimed, LLC. All rights reserved.

CAUTION: Investigational device. Limited by Federal Law to investigational use only.