You’d think that creating software that lets medical professionals read CT scans on a handheld device would be an enormous challenge for a tiny software outfit nestled in cowboy country. But in the case of Calgary Scientific, the real hurdle is winning over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Dubbed ResolutionMD Mobile, Calgary Scientific’s flagship application provides 24/7 access to medical images on a mobile device. Using a web browser, a physician simply searches a database of patients’ diagnostic scans and then loads the selected image on any mobile device such as an iPhone or Android-supported handheld. Images are stored on Calgary Scientific’s PureWeb platform, eliminating the need to load patient’s confidential data directly onto a handheld device, millions of which are lost and stolen every year.
By unchaining white-coated physicians from their hospital desktops to diagnose diseases like cancer and stroke, Calgary Scientific’s CEO Byron Osing says, “there are huge implications for health care with this technology.”
But while ResolutionMD Mobile received Health Canada’s blessing earlier this year, Calgary Scientific awaits word from the U.S. FDA following a gruelling one-year application process involving endless clinical trials and research studies. “We’ve given them everything that I think they could possibly ask for,” says Osing.
If the 53-person firm successfully blazes a regulatory trail in the U.S., Calgary Scientific will be the first company to earn FDA approval for using diagnostic medical imaging on an iPhone. Soon enough, your doctor could be reading CT scans on the golf course.
