Emyria uniquely positioned to take the lead in future of medicine as it moves beyond clinics

Emyria Ltd (ASX:EMD), formerly known as Emerald Clinics Limited, is uniquely positioned to play a leading role in a new-look healthcare industry, which has changed forever with the global COVID-19 pandemic. Digital health tools, remote patient monitoring and real-world evidence (RWE) are firmly the future of the medicine and Emyria is moving beyond its network of physical clinics. The company is taking a leadership role in digitally-connected and patient-centric healthcare that also generates high-quality clinical evidence where it matters most, in the real world. COVID-19 role The healthcare technology and services company has also joined in the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, taking the lead as program manager for the development of a National Clinical Data and Analytical Platform (CDAP) of COVID-19 patient cases to collect clinical data from confirmed COVID-19 patients, from a variety of sources, in close to real-time. Rebranding in line with global ambitions Emyria is emerging as a leader in the generation of RWE, which works squarely at the intersection of understanding and improving the whole patient experience and clinical outcomes for patients, whilst meeting the need for quality clinical evidence to progress the development of superior and novel treatments for researchers, clinicians and regulators. Emyria chairman Dr Stewart Washer said: “Emyria’s world-class technology systems are a powerful vehicle through which we can capture, measure and translate RWE into meaningful and credible clinical insights.” CEO Dr Michael Winlo added: “Emerald Clinics has developed a trusted brand within Australia that resonates with clinicians and patients, but as our business has evolved and as we increase engagements overseas, it has become clear that a rebrand was the best way forward to help communicate the breadth of what we do and our global aspirations. “Emyria speaks to our mission to use a myriad of data to provide individualised care beyond the physical confines of a clinic.” Plans for current year In the 2020/21 fiscal year, Emyria will be working to find its first corporate customers for Openly as it moves forward with refining and testing the technology. It will also be investigating options for expanding Emerald Clinics generally, including establishing a clinical service in the UK as part of its contract with Spectrum Biomedical UK, in addition to its four clinics in Australia. Emyria also plans to partner with more groups and organisations interested in its increasingly valuable real-world data as it works to develop multiple, growing revenue streams and invest in developing its own intellectual property from its data assets. In its Emerald Clinics, the company remains committed to providing access to medicinal cannabis and other unregistered treatments for patients who have failed standard of care. With COVID-19, more appointments are being conducted online, patients’ health status tracked remotely, and it is collecting meaningful data at multiple touchpoints with our service. It ended its June 2020 quarter with record appointment volumes and the expansion of its RWE technology platform beyond cannabinoids. Openly platform The company has signed new agreements to enhance its current data capture technology platform and support the launch of a new digital health and clinical monitoring service, Openly, formerly known as Sentinel Plus. It has secured an agreement with artificial intelligence technology provider Binah.ai to incorporate its world-leading smartphone technology, enabling the collection of contactless vital signs, into its RWE platform. The enhanced platform will allow Emyria to incorporate vital signs alongside other clinical and symptom data already collected, through its existing RWE platform. This platform increases the depth of clinical evidence captured from patients and, when validated, could support companies, universities, governments and other large populations to screen and monitor the health of their personnel remotely, as communities re-open internationally. The application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) functionality also allows the monitoring system to learn and adapt the screening and care pathway capabilities of the Openly system. Emyria is targeting organisations in Australia and the US for implementation of Openly, where transmission of COVID-19 remains a challenge to safety and productivity. Vaccine study In addition, the company had also been engaged by Linear Clinical Research to support the remote evaluation of more than 150 volunteer participants over a two-year period for a Phase 1 COVID-19 vaccine study. Emyria has also entered a professional services agreement with the Precision Recovery team at New York’s Mt Sinai Hospital, one of the USA's leading teaching and research hospitals, to support ongoing development of its Openly clinical service. Under the agreement, Mt Sinai’s Precision Recovery team will provide remote monitoring and consulting services to support the development and delivery of the Openly clinical service worldwide, in exchange for access to the Openly app and a payment for any alert reviewed by the Mt Sinai team on request. Winlo said the Openly technology would help Emyria’s clinical team deliver best-in-class health and wellness screening which were becoming a high-priority for workforces looking to get back to business post-COVID. The platform has recently been registered as a Class 1 medical device with the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Data collection for Zenivol™ Further, Emyria has signed an agreement with Zelira Therapeutics Ltd (ASX:ZLD) to collect data from patients treated with insomnia drug Zenivol™ through Emyria’s specialist clinical services. Zelira will pay Emyria up to $100,000 comprising an upfront fee of $50,000 along with a subscription fee for each patient enrolled in the study, up to a maximum of 100 participants. The initial term of the agreement is for 12 months, with Zelira having an option to extend the term to capture the required minimum of data for each patient. Emyria will provide real-world data that will complement the existing clinical data-pack for Zenivol™ and be used to inform further clinical development and, ultimately, the path to product registration. The partnership reinforces both Zelira’s competitive advantage for bringing high-value cannabinoid medicines to market supported by clinical and real-world patient data as well as reinforcing Emyria’s model of commercialising high-quality, real-world evidence. Program manager for CDAP In May, Emerald Clinics was appointed program manager for the development of a CDAP, a partnership between several Australian state health bodies, the Federal Government and universities. Data collected is analysed to form predictive models that can support point-of-care decision making by clinicians across likely disease progressions as well as treatment options for each patient. Emerald Clinics is leading the program management across the entire project including coordinating the data integration efforts across multiple health services and the analytical model design. This initial work order will deliver revenue of $100,000 within 12 months. Fundraising In August 2020, the company raised $2.2 million via the placement of shares at 8 cents each to fund the expansion of its clinical services, research and development and business development opportunities. The infusion of new capital will add momentum to its business, buoyed by record monthly sales in July and signing of a major data deal in the UK.