The Imricor Medical Systems Inc. (ASX: IMR) share price is starting 2022 with a bang. This follows the medical device company's latest announcement that it has further expanded its geographical presence.

It sent Imricor shares soaring to $1.09, up 8.46%, on opening. At the time of writing, they've settled to trade at 1.045 apiece, up 3.98%.

What's driving the Imricor share price higher?

Investors are buying Imricor shares after the company announced it has expanded access for its iCMR ablation solutions.

In its release, Imricor advised that the Henry Dunant Hospital Centre in Athens, Greece will perform iCMR cardiac ablation procedures.

Constructed in 2000, the Henry Dunant Hospital Centre is one of the largest and most technologically advanced hospital centres in southeast Europe.

This is significant as it's Imricor strategic goal to grow the number of sites performing real-time iCMR cardiac ablation procedures in Europe.

An Equipment and Disposable Pricing Agreement was signed by both companies on 31 December.

Imricor will outfit an existing MR facility for iCMR procedures which are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022. This will be under the direction of electrophysiologist Professor George Andrikopoulos.

The agreement will see a one-time purchase of capital equipment needed to outfit an iCMR lab at the site. It also includes Imricor's Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator as well as other third-party equipment sold by Imricor.

The term of the deal is valid for three years.

Imricor chair and CEO Steve Wedan commented:

We are very excited to work with Professor Andrikopoulos and his world-class team at Henry Dunant to bring iCMR cardiac ablations, for the first time, to patients in Greece.

More broadly, we are very pleased to see the acceleration in our rate of site adoption, adding four sites in the last quarter of 2021, and we remain focused on growing our installed base across Europe, as we enter 2022 with great enthusiasm.

About the Imricor share price

The Imricor share price has failed to take off in the past year, falling more than 50%. Despite being up today, its shares have been on a continuing decline.

Based on current share price levels, the company commands a market capitalisation of around $150 million.

The post Here's why the Imricor Medical (ASX:IMR) share price is surging 8% today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Shares in vascular catheter specialist Imricor Medical Systems Inc (ASX: IMR) are lifting on Friday and now trade 6% higher at $1.05.

Investors are driving up the price of Imricor shares following a company announcement advising it has added another 2 institutions to the list of sites adopting its iCMR ablation solutions.

Imricor's lead product, the Vision-MR Ablation Catheter, is specifically designed to work under real-time MRI guidance, with the intent of enabling higher success rates along with a faster and safer treatment compared to conventional procedures.

It touts itself to be a leading innovator in the space, and with that in mind, let's take a look at what the company released today.

What did Imricor announce today?

The company announced that the German Heart Centre Berlin and the Charité Medical University Virchow-Klinikum campus, both in Berlin Germany, are the latest two institutions to adopt Imricor's iCMR ablation solutions.

Imricor says these new customers bring the total of Imricor sites to 13. The company has since signed an Equipment Purchase Agreement (EPA) with the German Heart Centre Berlin to outfit an existing CMR facility for iCMR procedures. Both institutions will then utilise the iCMR lab at the Heart Centre.

Both new customers will separately purchase Imricor's catheters and other consumables via a purchasing organisation called Sana Einkauf & Logistik Group Purchasing Organisation.

Imricor has already executed a Master Purchasing Agreement with Sana in April 2020, establishing pricing for the company's consumable products and making them available in the Sana catalogue for hospitals who purchase devices via this route.

The terms of this particular agreement sets pricing for the one-time purchase of capital equipment needed to outfit an iCMR lab at the German Heart Centre Berlin.

Imricor says the collaboration is significant as it is a "key strategic goal of Imricor to grow the number of sites performing realtime iCMR cardiac ablation procedures in Europe". Planning is underway for
procedures to commence in the first half of 2022, per the release.

Management commentary

Speaking on the announcement, Imricor's Chair and CEO, Steve Wedan said:

The addition of these two world-renowned institutions is a major step forward for Imricor, and we are very excited to add them to our customer base. These sites have well-established facilities and programs like the MRI Core Lab and the CMR-Academy and we look forward to growing and deepening our relationships and collaborations with them in the coming months and years.

The Imricor share price has slipped almost 53% in the last 12 months after sliding another 53% this year to date.

In the past month, it has also plunged over 22%. Thus, any gains from today are a welcomed reprieve for shareholders.

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The Imricor Medical Systems Inc (ASX: IMR) share price is starting Wednesday's trading session with a bang.

This follows the medical device company's latest announcement that it has further expanded its geographical presence.

At the time of writing, Imricor shares are swapping hands for $1.64, up 5.81%.

What's driving the Imricor share price higher?

Investors are buying up Imricor shares after the company overcame a key hurdle in entering the Australian market.

According to its release, Imricor advised that its Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator system has been approved for sale in Australia. This comes as the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) gave the green light for the Advantage-MR system.

The company noted that it hadn't been expecting approval until sometime towards the end of the current calendar year. As such, the company's Vision-MR Ablation Catheter is currently being reviewed by the TGA.

Imricor also noted that in New Zealand, all of its products have been approved by Medsafe and are registered in the WAND database for medical devices.

Quick take on the Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator system

The Advantage-MR EP Recorder/Stimulator system provides the full functionality of an EP recording system and cardiac stimulator within the MRI environment.

The system controls the display and recording of intracardiac electrograms, as well as pacing functions and tip temperature monitoring. When used with a compatible radiofrequency (RF) generator, it can deliver RF energy for ablation procedures.

What did management say?

Imricor chair and CEO, Steve Wedan commented on the company's achievement, saying:

This is a great milestone in our strategy of geographical expansion. We are working closely with our distributor in the region, Regional Health Care Group, to plan the in-depth training and certification of their staff on our products, procedures, technology, installation, clinical training, and clinical support.

Mr Wedan went on to further talk about the current impact of COVID-19 related restrictions, adding:

While it will still be some time before we see first sales in Australia and New Zealand, we are working through the logistical issues brought about by the current travel restrictions, and we look forward to bringing MRI guided cardiac ablations to patients and physicians in Australia and New Zealand.

The Imricor share price has fallen around 5% in the past 12 months and is down 29% year-to-date.

The post Why the Imricor (ASX:IMR) share price is racing 6% higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Imricor Medical Systems Inc (ASX: IMR) share price is edging higher today. As of writing, shares in the medical device company are trading for $2.10, up 2.94%. By comparison, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) is 0.4% higher.

Today's positive price movement comes as the company advised another hospital has purchased one of its products.

Let's take a closer look at the announcement and what it means for the Imricor share price.

Imricor company profile

Imricor is a medical device company that addresses issues with traditional x-ray-guided tissue removal procedures by developing MRI-guided technology. The company's products include Advantage-MR EP recorder/stimulator, Vision-MR dispersive electrode, and its premier product, the Vision-MR ablation catheter.

According to the company, the ablation catheter is specifically designed to work under real-time MRI guidance to achieve "faster and safer treatment" than x-ray guidance.

What's affecting the Imricor share price

In a statement to the ASX, Imricor announced Helios Hospital in Berlin, Germany, had signed a purchase agreement for an interventional cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (iCMR) lab to perform ablations with Imricor's products. It is the 10th such hospital to sign an agreement with the company.

The medical imaging company did not disclose how much the deal was worth, or if there are any conditions to it. Despite this, investors are responding well to the news today, judging by the Imricor share price.

Imricor chair and CEO Steve Wedan said:

We are very pleased to add a second Helios hospital to our installed base, as Berlin-Buch joins the Helios Leipzig Heart Centre in adopting iCMR guided ablations.

While Europe continues a gradual recovery into a post COVID-19 era, we are very happy to be able to continue growing the number of centers [sic] enabled with Imricor's solution for the future of cardiac electrophysiology.

The company expects operations with its products to begin at the hospital within a short period of time.

Imricor share price snapshot

Over the last 12 months, the Imricor share price appreciated 104.9%. However, it has fallen 22.4% over the last 6 months and 11.5% since February.

Imricor Medical Imaging has a market capitalisation of $240.2 million.

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The Imricor Medical Systems Inc. (ASX: IMR) share price is edging higher today following two major announcements. During later afternoon trade, the medical device company's shares are marginally up 0.44% to $2.30.

Clinical sites update

In the first announcement, Imricor provided an update in regards to the signing of new agreements with European clinical sites.

Management said that having faced severe disruptions from the second wave of COVID-19, its sales process has been delayed. Originally, the company planned to have 14 clinical sites with agreements to purchase Imricor's products at the end of 2020. However, with the emergence of significant COVID-19 cases on the rise, the company revised its forecast for the new year.

Imricor now anticipates it will have sales agreements with 9 clinical sites in early 2021. Furthermore, the company is projecting a strong short-term sales pipeline.

What did the head of Imricor say?

Commenting on the challenges, Imricor chair and CEO Mr Steve Wedan said:

November and December were extremely difficult in Europe particularly for targeted clinical sites in Germany and The Netherlands where further COVID-19 containment measures were implemented during this period.

… We have continued to make excellent progress with many of these sites, with agreements advanced to the stage of final review and execution. We therefore expect these delays to be minor and continue to schedule and plan installation and training with our new sites accordingly.

Looking beyond our commercialisation plans in Europe, our product development is on track, our geographical expansion into the US and Australian markets are progressing as planned and clinical trials for expanding our product indications are moving forward on schedule.

New COO appointment

Further to the announcement, management advised it has created a new role of chief operating officer (COO). Effective 1 January 2021, Mr Gregg Stenzel will take up the COO appointment, which was created to enable the group to focus on achieving its strategic objectives.

Mr Stenzel previously held the position of vice president of operations in Imricor. His duties included overseeing the company's operations and development of manufacturing strategies.

Chair and CEO, Mr Wedan, commented:

The Board and I are thrilled to appoint Gregg to this important role along with the opportunity it provides to increase my focus on our sales and marketing efforts as we approach an exciting year ahead for Imricor and the acceleration of the commercialisation phase of our growth strategy.

About the Imricor share price

The Imricor share price has performed well over the course of the year, jumping above 90%. Although its shares tumbled to an all-time low of 75 cents in March, shareholders who bought then would be sitting on gains of 206%.

It's worth noting that the company's shares recently hit an all-time high of $2.94 in late October.

Based on current share price levels, the company commands a market capitalisation of around $288 million.

The post Why the Imricor (ASX:IMR) share price is edging higher today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.