The best time to buy an emerging company is when it begins commercialization. At this stage all the hard years of product development and certification are done and, if successful, the revenues are about to flow. Today’s company looks to be in just that stage.

Diagnos Inc. (TSXV: ADK | OTCQB: DGNOF) (“DIAGNOS”) has developed its FLAIRE Artificial Intelligence (AI) tele-ophthalmology platform, which uses Computer Assisted Retina Analysis (CARA) to examine a patient’s retinas in their eyes for the early detection of diseases, such as diabetes, and of conditions such as cardiac hypertension and stroke. CARA’s image enhancement algorithms provide sharper, clearer and easier-to-analyze retinal images.

CARA has been cleared for commercialization by the following regulators: Health Canada, the FDA (USA), CE (Europe), COFEPRIS (Mexico) and Saudi FDA (Saudi Arabia). DIAGNOS already operates in 16 countries, 131 screening sites, has 222,034 patients under their care, and has performed more than 400,000 retinographies around the world. DIAGNOS’ CARA achieves great precision of diabetic retinopathy pre-diagnoses, reaching a sensitivity of 98.4%, specificity of 97.6% and a certainty of 97.9%.

DIAGNOS has a significant and growing global business

Source: DIAGNOS website

DIAGNOS commercialization is gaining momentum

The following recent news items give a feel for how fast DIAGNOS is moving in their global rollout:

• July 22, 2021 – DIAGNOS announced the official opening of the AI Assisted screening clinic at Magrabi Hospital in Saudi Arabia. In the country the incidence of diabetes is about 27% of the population, hence the clinic hopes to play a key role in the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy which can lead to gradual complete loss of vision. Magrabi Hospitals and Centers has thirty-four branches in the Middle East. DIAGNOS President, André Larente, stated: “We extend our best wishes to Magrabi hospitals. We would also like to thank everyone in attendance for their time and efforts in making this project a reality. The main beneficiaries will be many thousands of diabetic patients whose vision can now be protected through this collaboration.”
• July 28, 2021 – DIAGNOS announced a pilot in Spain with three franchisees from Opticalia Group.
• August 16, 2021 – DIAGNOS announced signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Essilor International. The MoU is non-binding and forms the basis of a potential distribution agreement with Essilor International for DIAGNOS’ CARA platform. Essilor International is the world’s leading ophthalmic optics company. Essilor designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of lenses and diagnostic ophthalmic instruments. DIAGNOS President Larente commented: “DIAGNOS is focused on its commercialization strategy and pursuing opportunities with potential partners. We are very pleased that our AI-based technology has attracted the attention of global eyecare sector leaders such as Essilor International and we are looking forward to our discussions with respect to a mutually beneficial potential worldwide distribution agreement.”
• September 2, 2021 – DIAGNOS announced a three-year contract renewal with Optina Diagnostics providing a Telemedicine Platform to support their early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease.
• September 14, 2021 – DIAGNOS announced a 3-year contract with Cielo Vista Eye Clinic in Mexico. DIAGNOS will supply its CARA platform and enable Cielo to screen its patients for Diabetic Macular Edema and Diabetic Retinopathy.
• September 16, 2021 – DIAGNOS announced a multi-year contract with Juarez Health & Medical Tourism Cluster in Mexico. The Cluster is the only certified health network in the country of Mexico, focuses on medical tourism, and serves between 10-12,000 patients a day.

Magrabi Hospitals launches initiative for early screening for diabetic retinopathy using DIAGNOS’s CARA platform in Saudi Arabia

Source: Diagnos Inc.

Other earlier commercialization deals have been done with Óptica Central (third largest optical retailer in Costa Rica), a distribution agreement in Europe with Diagnos Europe GmbH, and IRIS The Visual Group Inc. (Canada) including the New Look Vision network (North America).

Revenues forecast to soar from now to 2023

As you can see just from the recent news above, DIAGNOS is having significant success in commercializing its products globally. As a result of this, revenue is forecast to increase dramatically from C$270,000 in 2021 to C$800,000 in 2022, and C$7,920,000 in 2023. If achieved the Company is forecast to be profitable and trade on a forecast 2023 PE of 16.0.

Closing remarks

DIAGNOS Inc. trades on a current market cap of C$33 million. Global commercialization of their FLAIRE/CARA ophthalmology platform is clearly gaining momentum which should lead to rapidly growing revenues. The medical technology space can exhibit rapid growth once a new technology gains market share or becomes a leader. Stay tuned.

Diagnos Inc. (TSXV: ADK | OTCQB: DGNOF) is a software platform provider for the early detection of critical health issues through the use of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and Machine Learning (“ML”), and it continues to expand globally with recent deals and government financing support.

Utilizing AI and ML, Diagnos developed a Computer Assisted Retina Analysis (“CARA”) software platform to process image data, making standard retinal images sharper, clearer, and easier to read. This technology assists healthcare specialists in the detection of vision loss, including diabetic retinopathy.

CARA is a teleophthalmology platform, a branch of telemedicine, which delivers eye care through digital medical equipment and telecommunications technology. The CARA platform integrates with various types of existing retinal cameras at the point of care, is compatible with all recognized image formats, and is Electronic Medical Records (“EMR”) compatible.

Digital Health Surging

AI technology is spreading rapidly into various verticals including automotive, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals. According to ABI Research, global AI venture capital investments in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors reached $2.4 billion in 2019, up 140%, compared with $1 billion in the prior year.

In the healthcare industry, companies are leveraging AI to overcome human’s lack of ability to detect pertinent details in data from various sources, including photos, microscopic images, X-rays, CT scans, and MRI scans.

During the current COVID-19 health crisis, with shelter-at-home orders, telemedicine and remote monitoring tools have seen a growth in demand as hospitals focus on keeping patients safe while delivering care.

Diagnos Client Signings Continue

Recent client successes have included:

• Last month, Diagnos announced a contract with Devlyn Grupo, an optical retailer with over 900 stores in Mexico and Guatemala. Devlyn will test the CARA platform for diabetic retinopathy screening at select locations with a planned larger roll out to more stores in early 2021.
• In September, Diagnos reported that it re-signed a U.S.-based client, Chaparral Medical Group, to another three-year agreement. Chaparral is a 60 physician multi-specialty group serving 23 clinics in Southern California.
• In July, Diagnos signed a service agreement with the Colombian Telemedicine Centre Ltd (“CTMC”) in Colombia, South America. The CTMC selected the CARA platform to start screening Colombia’s population in conjunction with largest vision specialist center in the country.
• In June, Diagnos executed an agreement with Labtician Ophthalmics, a Toronto-based surgical eye care products and equipment company with customers across Canada, and Labtician will use Diagnos’AI solution to monitor ocular health in its diabetic patients.

Well Funded for Growth

Diagnos is well funded after raising $2.1M in capital earlier this year and then receiving a $2M, 10-year, interest-free loan from the government of Quebec via the Economic Development Fund to support the commercialization of the CARA platform globally.

The CARA platform is securely accessible over the Internet and Diagnos currently operates screening sites in 15 countries with certifications from regulatory bodies in various countries including the U.S., Canada, the European Union, and Mexico.

Meanwhile, even after Diagnos’ recent stock jump, the Company’s market capitalization is only $32.5M and makes it a prime takeover target for any consolidator executing a roll-up strategy in the healthtech industry.