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Looking After
Your Health, Physical and Fiscal: ALR Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB:ALRT)
By Glenn Wilkins -
AllPennyStocks.com News Reporter
January 29, 2008 (AllPennyStocks.com
Media, Inc.) – The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure” guides Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based ALR
Technologies, Inc.
(OTCBB:ALRT) a company devoted to keeping tabs on the
health of individuals between visits to the doctor or
hospital. The company designs and manufactures health
management compliance products as well as monitoring and
intervention systems. Its flagship product, the Constant
Health Companion™, provides for affordable and continued
compliance supervision of patients after they’ve left the
direct care of health-care professionals, and fills a serious
gap in standard disease management practices.
The Companion contends to be a portable, easy-to-use
monitoring system, which, alerts doctors when their patients
are not taking their prescribed medications properly and on
time. What with people living longer – alas, having to cope
with chronic illness longer in some cases – the Constant
Health Companion could soon be recognized as a revolutionary
device in the maintenance of health.
Non-adherence of treatments currently
contributes to more than $150 billion a year in preventable
excess health-care costs, so ALR claims to be doing its bit to
keep this waste to a minimum. A recent research report by
Forrest Research projected the home health technology market
to grow to $5 billion within two years and $35 billion by
2015.
The company maintains on its website that its goals are to
make its monitoring systems “standard operating procedure” by
health insurance payers and their contracted disease and case
management companies.
Other staggering numbers, which should quicken the pulses of
small-cap investors: Health-care costs currently account for
15 per cent of America’s gross domestic product, a proportion
expected to grow to 25 per cent by 2020. ALRT boasts a line of
products that cost 31 per cent less than that of its nearest
rivals, while maintaining healthy profit margins.
Most recently – specifically, last November – ALRT completed
software enhancements on the Constant Health Companion™ for
which patent applications have been fielded for expanded
intellectual property. An added feature of the system is its
ability to provide documentation of patient compliance and
accountability of the actions of health-care professionals,
previously unavailable.
The first shipments of Constant Health Companion’s™ took place
in the second week of January. ALRT’s marketing strategy was
aimed primarily at 50 employer-led coalitions representing
tens of thousands of companies that sponsor self-insured
health benefits to more than 30 million employees and their
dependents. The initial users of the system will be those
individuals with one or more chronic diseases.
What’s more, a Kentucky-based chain of homes (Apple Patch)
catering to those patients with mental disabilities, has
ordered the devices to help improve quality of life for those
folks. And Florida-based Mail-Meds Clinical Pharmacy has also
started a disease management program to provide Constant
Health Companion’s™ to qualified Medicare and Medicaid
patients.
The technology that led to the development of the Constant
Health Companion™ also produced spin-off compliance reminder
products such as the ALRT PC 200 and other specialized
products targeting specific health care needs. In-market pilot
tests were conducted over the last few months on chronic
disease such as congestive health failure, diabetes, even
HIV/AIDS. Product delivery for those products began last year.
Clearly, the first quarter of calendar 2008 looks very
promising for ALRT. It’s the culmination of more than a decade
of involvement for company Chairman/CEO Sidney Chan, who
steered the company’s financial evolution into the public
market and been at the lead of its product development.
President Stan Cruitt comes with more than 20 years experience
in the pharmaceutical field, heading much of ALRT’s efforts at
producing medication reminders such as the Constant Health
Companion™.
Much of the excitement on the company’s balance sheet comes
from its recent forays into research and development. It’s
that figure and administrative costs that have weighed down
profits – 2006’s annual numbers were more than a million
dollars in the hole – but successful efforts at building
ALRT’s customer base should drive some of those negative
thoughts from the minds of potential investors. The company’s
fiscal year ends with the calendar year, and while the company
still took a $228,000 loss in the quarter ending in September
07, the mood is still quite upbeat in Winston-Salem.
The stock is itching to break out past its 52-week peak of 25
cents achieved in early December 07, after plumbing a depth of
four cents at the end of March 07. But uncertainty gripped the
market at both ends of the spectrum, and small caps like ALRT
were not immune. Towards the end of January, the price was
around 15 cents. But with the attraction ALRT’s monitoring
system holds for more health-care professionals, the company’s
fortunes are to be watched, much as the devices watch our
health.
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AllPennyStocks.com shall not be liable for any errors or
delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance
thereon.
Although the majority of
AllPennyStocks.com reports are independent, it has received
compensation for carrying the report on ALR Technologies,
Inc., the compensation is five thousand five hundred dollars
by a third-party, Tribecca International LLC on behalf of ALR
Technologies Inc. for its efforts in presenting the ALRT
profile on its web site and distributing it to its database of
subscribers as well as other services. This creates an inherent
conflict of interest and readers are encouraged to view the
main disclaimer at
/aps_us/company_spotlights/archives/alrt.asp
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