Berkshire Biomedical raises $3M for dual biometric virtual health care solution

Berkshire Biomedical, a Dallas-based medical equipment manufacturer says it has secured its first-ever third-party funding to the tune of $3 million to continue developing its virtual care and prescription drug management system, which uses dual biometric authentication for patients, including dental recognition.

According to Dallas Innovates, the biometric system, which is not yet available for commercial use, is intended to check the problem of medication non-adherence. The company says medication non-adherence accounts for up to 10 per cent hospitalizations and about 125,000 deaths in the United States annually.

The main product of the system by Berkshire Biomedical is dubbed Computerized Oral Prescription Administration (COPA). It seeks to improve outcomes of personalized virtual medication delivery using technology and data. It ensures that a special dosage of medication prescribed for particular users actually gets to them, with the help of biometric authentication at the point of care, Dallas Innovates notes.

COPA is said to be efficient, tested and proven to be effective in managing workflows and e-prescribing formats, and is advantageous in different ways for physicians, patients and pharmacists.

The product works with a hand-held mobile-powered device which enables the transmission of actionable dosing parameter information in real-time to help health care providers manage therapeutic regimes for patients, Dallas Innovates notes.

The device, which is connected to a cloud storage platform, allows for biometric control of patients using fingerprint and dentition recognition, all of this for safety, security and drug adherence, the report adds.

Thomas Rouse, the founder and chairman of Berkshire Biomedical, says the new financing secured by the company is a great opportunity for its market growth. He said the funds would be invested in moves geared towards commercializing the product, which for now, is still being reviewed by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA).

“In preparation for FDA market clearance, we are currently working to identify and execute partnerships with one or more strategic partners within the coming year. Our goal is to establish collaborations with strategic partners and top-tier investors who want to embrace critical virtual care and digital therapeutics solutions in the accelerating evolution of healthcare ecosystems,” Rouse was quoted as saying in a statement.

The founders are said to have fully bankrolled the company’s operations and product development before this round of funding from third-party investors.

Mouth biometrics are not widely used, but a wearable was developed last year by UK students to authenticate the identity of the wearer.

Article Topics

authentication  |  Berkshire Biomedical  |  biometric identification  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint recognition  |  healthcare  |  mobile device  |  personalization