In Response to Blood Shortages Due to COVID-19, Masimo Offers Licenses for rainbow® Noninvasive Blood Constituent Monitoring, Including Total Hemoglobin, SpHb®, at No Additional Charge During the Coronavirus Pandemic

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rainbow® Can Help Masimo Customers Better Manage Blood Supplies with SpHb® and Monitor Patients Receiving iNO Therapy with SpMet®

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) today announced that, in response to current worldwide blood shortages driven by the coronavirus pandemic, it is making rainbow® licenses available for no additional charge to hospitals where rainbow®-ready devices are already in use. The Masimo rainbow® platform allows for the noninvasive and continuous monitoring of 12 parameters, including hemoglobin (SpHb®), oxyhemoglobin (SpO2), and methemoglobin (SpMet®). Once rainbow® is enabled, hospitals can purchase RD rainbow® sensors at discounted prices during this pandemic. The program is available globally and is planned to continue until the pandemic subsides.


SpHb provides real-time visibility to changes, or lack of changes, in hemoglobin between invasive blood samples—and has been shown to help clinicians improve patient blood management. In multiple outcome studies, SpHb has been shown to help clinicians reduce blood transfusions.1-4 SpHb is available on a variety of Masimo Pulse CO-Oximeters®, including the Root® Patient Monitoring and Connectivity Platform, Radical-7®, and Rad-97®, as well as patient monitors from 25 other patient monitoring manufacturers, including Dräger and Philips.

“Our goal is to make the biggest difference we can during this challenging time. This is our third initiative in the past four days to help clinicians deal with COVID-19. Many hospitals have seen the value of rainbow®, and we hope every hospital can now benefit from proven rainbow® noninvasive blood constituent monitoring technology,” said Joe Kiani, Founder and CEO of Masimo.

One of the many burdens COVID-19 is placing on health systems around the world is a shortage of blood products, as hospitals rush to treat an extraordinary surge of patients—at the same time that many blood drives have been cancelled. Therefore, hospitals are needing to manage blood supplies as efficiently and conservatively as possible. A growing body of evidence from around the world has shown that Masimo SpHb may help clinicians reduce unnecessary blood transfusions in both low- and high-blood-loss surgeries:

  • A randomized trial of 327 patients undergoing elective orthopedic surgery found that the use of continuous, noninvasive hemoglobin monitoring with SpHb reduced the rate of transfusions by 87% when compared to standard care without continuous, noninvasive hemoglobin monitoring.1
  • A prospective cohort study of 106 neurosurgical patients found that adding SpHb monitoring to standard-of-care blood management resulted in decreased blood utilization in high-blood-loss neurosurgery by 41%, while also decreasing time to transfusion when indicated by 41 minutes.2
  • A study of 100 patients undergoing abdominal cancer surgery found that SpHb monitoring decreased blood utilization by 39%, while facilitating earlier transfusions when indicated by 33 minutes.3
  • A study of 237 patients undergoing hip trauma surgery found that continuous SpHb monitoring during high-blood-loss surgery reduced the percentage of patients needing blood transfusions by 7% and number of transfused units per patient by 13%.4

In addition to SpHb, the rainbow® family of advanced noninvasive parameters includes SpMet, which helps clinicians noninvasively and continuously monitor methemoglobin levels in the blood.5 Elevated methemoglobin levels can be caused by inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) therapy6-7, which is currently being investigated as a potential treatment for lung complications associated with COVID-19. By allowing clinicians to monitor methemoglobin levels, SpMet may be an important monitoring tool during iNO therapy.

SpHb and SpMet are not intended to replace laboratory blood testing. Clinical decisions regarding red blood cell transfusions should be based on the clinician’s judgment considering, among other factors, patient condition and laboratory diagnostic tests using blood samples.

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About Masimo

Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) is a global medical technology company that develops and produces a wide array of industry-leading monitoring technologies, including innovative measurements, sensors, patient monitors, and automation and connectivity solutions. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes and reduce the cost of care. Masimo SET® Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion™ pulse oximetry, introduced in 1995, has been shown in over 100 independent and objective studies to outperform other pulse oximetry technologies.8 Masimo SET® has also been shown to help clinicians reduce severe retinopathy of prematurity in neonates,9 improve CCHD screening in newborns,10 and, when used for continuous monitoring with Masimo Patient SafetyNet™ in post-surgical wards, reduce rapid response team activations, ICU transfers, and costs.11-13 Masimo SET® is estimated to be used on more than 200 million patients in leading hospitals and other healthcare settings around the world,14 and is the primary pulse oximetry at 9 of the top 10 hospitals according to the 2019-20 U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll.15 Masimo continues to refine SET® and in 2018, announced that SpO2 accuracy on RD SET® sensors during conditions of motion has been significantly improved, providing clinicians with even greater confidence that the SpO2 values they rely on accurately reflect a patient’s physiological status. In 2005, Masimo introduced rainbow® Pulse CO-Oximetry technology, allowing noninvasive and continuous monitoring of blood constituents that previously could only be measured invasively, including total hemoglobin (SpHb®), oxygen content (SpOC™), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®), methemoglobin (SpMet®), Pleth Variability Index (PVi®), RPVi™ (rainbow® PVi), and Oxygen Reserve Index (ORi™). In 2013, Masimo introduced the Root® Patient Monitoring and Connectivity Platform, built from the ground up to be as flexible and expandable as possible to facilitate the addition of other Masimo and third-party monitoring technologies; key Masimo additions include Next Generation SedLine® Brain Function Monitoring, O3® Regional Oximetry, and ISA™ Capnography with NomoLine® sampling lines. Masimo’s family of continuous and spot-check monitoring Pulse CO-Oximeters® includes devices designed for use in a variety of clinical and non-clinical scenarios, including tetherless, wearable technology, such as Radius-7® and Radius PPG™, portable devices like Rad-67™, fingertip pulse oximeters like MightySat® Rx, and devices available for use both in the hospital and at home, such as Rad-97®. Masimo hospital automation and connectivity solutions are centered around the Iris® platform, and include Iris Gateway®, Patient SafetyNet, Replica™, Halo ION™, UniView™, Doctella™, and Masimo SafetyNet™. Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at www.masimo.com. Published clinical studies on Masimo products can be found at www.masimo.com/evidence/featured-studies/feature/.

ORi and RPVi have not received FDA 510(k) clearance and are not available for sale in the United States. The use of the trademark Patient SafetyNet is under license from University HealthSystem Consortium.

References

  1. Ehrenfeld JM et al. Continuous Non-invasive Hemoglobin Monitoring during Orthopedic Surgery: A Randomized Trial. J Blood Disorders Transf. 2014. 5:9. 2.
  2. Awada WN et al. Continuous and noninvasive hemoglobin monitoring reduces red blood cell transfusion during neurosurgery: a prospective cohort study. J Clin Monit Comput. 2015 Feb 4. Study Protocol: The transfusion threshold of 10g/dL was predetermined by the study protocol and may not be appropriate for all patients. The blood sampling technique was the same for patients in both the control and the test group. Arterial blood was drawn from a 20-gauge radial artery cannula into 2mL ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid collection tubes, thoroughly mixed, then sent immediately to the central lab for analysis by a hematology analyzer. The reference laboratory device used for hemoglobin measurements in the study was a Coulter GEN-S Hematology Analyzer.
  3. Kamal AM et al. The Value of Continuous Noninvasive Hemoglobin Monitoring in Intraoperative Blood Transfusion Practice During Abdominal Cancer Surgery. Open J Anesth. 2016;13-19.
  4. Ribed-Sánchez B et al. Economic Analysis of the Reduction of Blood Transfusions during Surgical Procedures While Continuous Hemoglobin Monitoring is Used. Sensors. 2018, 18, 1367; doi:10.3390/s18051367.
  5. Annabi EH et al. Anesth Analg. 2009 Mar;108(3):898-9.
  6. Riou Y et al. Pediatric Research. 1998. 43, 295-295.
  7. U.S. Food & Drug, Consumer Updates, Benzocaine and Babies: Not a Good Mix.
  8. Published clinical studies on pulse oximetry and the benefits of Masimo SET® can be found on our website at http://www.masimo.com. Comparative studies include independent and objective studies which are comprised of abstracts presented at scientific meetings and peer-reviewed journal articles.
  9. Taenzer AH et al. Impact of pulse oximetry surveillance on rescue events and intensive care unit transfers: a before-and-after concurrence study. Anesthesiology. 2010:112(2):282-287.
  10. Taenzer A et al. Postoperative Monitoring – The Dartmouth Experience. Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Newsletter. Spring-Summer 2012.
  11. McGrath SP et al. Surveillance Monitoring Management for General Care Units: Strategy, Design, and Implementation. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 2016 Jul;42(7):293-302.
  12. Castillo A et al. Prevention of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Preterm Infants through Changes in Clinical Practice and SpO2 Technology. Acta Paediatr. 2011 Feb;100(2):188-92.
  13. de-Wahl Granelli A et al. Impact of pulse oximetry screening on the detection of duct dependent congenital heart disease: a Swedish prospective screening study in 39,821 newborns. BMJ. 2009;Jan 8;338.
  14. Estimate: Masimo data on file.
  15. http://health.usnews.com/health-care/best-hospitals/articles/best-hospitals-honor-roll-and-overview.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in connection with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding the potential effectiveness of Masimo SpHb® and SpMet®. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations about future events affecting us and are subject to risks and uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control and could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors, including, but not limited to: risks related to our assumptions regarding the repeatability of clinical results; risks related to our belief that Masimo’s unique noninvasive measurement technologies, including Masimo SpHb and SpMet, contribute to positive clinical outcomes and patient safety; risks related to our belief that Masimo noninvasive medical breakthroughs provide cost-effective solutions and unique advantages; risks related to COVID-19; as well as other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of our most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), which may be obtained for free at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our expectations will prove correct. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today’s date. We do not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these statements or the “Risk Factors” contained in our most recent reports filed with the SEC, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under the applicable securities laws.

Contacts

Masimo
Evan Lamb

949-396-3376

elamb@masimo.com