Stockhead– |
News the Morrison Government will invest $5 million to sponsor a clinical trial of PainChek’s (ASX:PCK) pain recognition app in aged care centres has lit a rocket under the company’s shares Tuesday morning.
Shortly after the market opened, PCK shares hit 6.5c, a 91 per cent improvement on Monday’s close of 3.4c, adding more than $25 million to the company’s market cap. It was PainChek’s highest point since September last year.
“A national trial of world-first artificial intelligence technology promises to reduce the pain suffered by people living with dementia,” read a statement from minister for senior Australians and aged care, Ken Wyatt.
The deal will see a universal PainChek access licence for the more than 1,000 residential aged care providers in Australia and their 100,000 residents living with dementia for a one year period.
The funding comes amid a wave of promises for the health industry from the Coalition, though an expert told Stockhead not to bet on the funding with polling suggesting the government may change come the election.
PainChek’s technology uses facial recognition to assess pain in patients who are unable to communicate with their carers, aimed at patients with conditions such as dementia who are unable to tell carers when they are in pain.
It is starting to make money, with its quarterly report, also released on Tuesday morning, showing $34,000 in customer receipts for the March quarter and $87,000 in the year to date.
