Singapore: Australia's home-based assessment tools for Parkinson's disease provider, Great Lakes NeuroTechnologies has received TGA approval to market Kinesia technology in Australia. The Kinesia product line includes patient-worn motion sensors and a tablet computer to quantitatively assess tremor, bradykinesia, and dyskinesia associated with Parkinson's disease and in response to treatments.

Physicians utilize a web interface to setup patient studies and track symptom responses. Market applications include both in-clinic and home-based telemedicine patient care, assistance in programming deep brain stimulation, and providing quantitative endpoints to determine efficacy in clinical trials.

"Achieving TGA certification to market in Australia represents our commitment to delivering innovative, high quality medical technology and increasing our growth in international markets", said Mr Dave Tucholski, director, Quality and Regulatory Affairs of the firm. "This expands upon our previous regulatory successes including FDA clearance, CE Mark, and ISO certification for our Kinesia systems."

As international adoption of Kinesia technology continues to grow, Australia represents a unique opportunity. According to research, the incidence of Parkinson's in Australia has grown 17 percent over the last 6 years, with one-in-350 Australians now living with the disease. This market, coupled with the need for telemedicine tools in the region to improve care for remote populations, provided a driver for entering the Australian market. Kinesia's infrastructure includes several key technology features for telemedicine and clinical trials.

The patient take-home kit supports broadband data transfer directly from a patient's home to a secure server. This allows physicians and researchers immediate, online access to real-time symptom reports and video diaries. Next, miniature, patient-worn motion sensors are integrated with wireless communications. This minimizes setup time and patient burden during home-based assessments. Finally, physicians and researchers can use their own tablets, or any smart mobile device or computer, to view web-based reports. Color-coded mapping provides intuitive, quantitative tools to document symptom severity and motor fluctuations.