Don’t call it a comeback at .18 (from a 2016 high of .41) but with a little patience (ok, a lot of patience), a purchase at present may pay off in the long haul if you want to follow the R&D of a smart player who appears to know all the right people and is putting their asses to work on some cutting edge healthcare.
Breathtec Biomedical Inc (BTH.C) recently announced the completion of testing on their Version 2 prototype of their FAIMS technology.
What the hell is FAIMS?
“High-Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometer”. FAIMS.
….Yeah I don’t know either.
Shorthand? They have a cancer-sniffing device. Or at least, they’re working on it.
No blood tests or colonoscopies or deep tissue biopsies or bottles of your precious fluids or trips to outside labs followed by hours or days or weeks of while you sweat out the results (and shell out your premium for expensive procedures).
Picture a cop pulling you over and measuring the alcohol on your breath, only swap out the cop for a doctor you’ve visited who gives you a breathalyzer to detect illness on the spot, in seconds, that can then be treated immediately.
Actually you can keep the cop metaphor too as it turns out we’ve all heard the term FAIMS before, right here on this site in fact, and this specific application is also on the table albeit with a different company, Cannabix Technologies (BLO.C).
Turns out the FAIMS tech patent is jointly owned by both Breathtec and Cannabix, who also share several owners (heck, even the respective company websites appear to have the same designer). You can compare names here and here.
The sister companies fund research, production and testing performed at the University of Florida, specifically by the Yost Research Group headed by Professor Richard Yost, the leading researcher in the field of mass spectrometry, who is working with the proprietary tech to shrink it down to a handheld device that could be used to ferret out THC use in vehicle drivers or serious illness in patients.
Same tech, different applications. One busts you, one diagnoses you, and whatever the decisions of the Canadian or US governments with respect to cannabis or healthcare, both offer tremendous value in their respective industries regardless which way the political pendulum swings.
Breathtec further impresses for not putting all their eggs in one basket as they are also funding research into and licensing the Nanoscale Artificial NOSE (NA-NOSE) at Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, where the Na Nose undergoes development and clinical testing, having been created by one of the Institute’s premier scientists and engineers, Professor Hossam Haick, listed in 2016 as of the world’s top-100 influential scientists in the Medical Field for 2016 by the GOOD Magazine (Los Angeles, USA).
Na-Nose is, as the name may tip off, a nanotechnology-driven breath sniffing device used to noninvasively ferret out disease ranging from “Streptococcus; Methicillin resistant (MRSA); Staphylococcus; Enterococcus; Vancomycin resistant (VRE); Pneumococcus; Hemophilus influenza (HiB); Chickenpox; and the Common Cold.”
Not only should the device detect viral and bacterial infection, but it should also serve as a monitor for the severity and progression of various ailments.
The best descriptor I’ve found on the actual tech is in an article by IFL Science:
“Results would also be available almost immediately, and will not require a physician to be specialized in order to operate the device or interpret the results. The patient would merely blow up a balloon, which the medical professional would then take and run through the device, which is about the size of a desktop computer.”
So as FAIMS tech is being developed as a hand-held diagnostic Breathalyzer, Breathtec nabs the license on Na Nose, ensuring that they are at the forefront of this branch of medical technology. There are other companies pushing this type of product out there, but the sheer credentials of Breathtec’s partners is formidable.
This article by RD INVESTING has the best breakdown not only of Breathtec’s licensing and development strategy but provides a terrific summary of various diagnostic tests and procedures at present to detect serious illnesses and their time and costs versus what Breathtec wishes to bring to the table with their products, in case you need further color on the tremendous value of this potential diagnostic platform:
With the handheld FAIMS model being developed at U of Florida and the Na Nose being put through its paces in Israel, there are worse ways to hedge your bets.
A nice bonus? As Breathtec’s star rises, so too does Cannabix Technologies as their base technologies they are hinging their businesses upon are one in the same despite the differences in use (personally I cotton more to the Breathtec applications as I have dire visions of some Human Resources division at some MegaCorp calling their employees over for a quick huff at work to see what their THC level is and ruining some poor bastard’s Monday. I’ll stick with punching Cancer and Alzheimer’s in the batch).
These are long haul investments. It’s gonna take time and tremendous effort to get this stuff right, and then it’s off to the races as the tech jumps the various hurdles and FDA approvals. The blips at each newswire might go for the day players but if the respective technologies work we’re looking at a diagnostic revolution where Breathtec is making all the right connections and has the top men working out the kinks.
Top. Men.
-Dank
FULL DISCLOSURE: Breathtec BioMed is an EQUITY.GURU client.