Andover, Mass., and Ottawa, Ontario --  Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHE, AEX: PHI) and Therapeutic Monitoring Systems (TMS) Inc. today announced a collaboration agreement aimed at the integration of selected Philips cardiopulmonary monitors with clinical decision support software being developed by TMS.  Following integration, a pilot study will be conducted in the intensive care unit (“ICU”) at The Ottawa Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Gwynne Jones, a respirologist and intensivist in the Department of Critical Care Medicine. 

The pilot study will assess several areas, including the performance of technologies and features potentially useful in predicting readiness for discontinuation of mechanical ventilation, providing patient-specific recommendations related to making mechanical ventilation adjustments and exploring the utility of a new measurement device to support ventilator decision-making. Ultimately, the long term goal is to reduce the period of mechanical ventilation, thereby improving patient comfort, preventing related complications such as ventilator-associated pneumonia, and reducing costs.

Said Dr. Adam Seiver, chief of Medical Affairs, Therapeutic Care, for Philips Healthcare: “We are very pleased to be working with TMS and the medical staff and researchers at The Ottawa Hospital on this initial project. As a leader in respiratory monitoring and clinical decision support, Philips regards the integration of advanced clinical decision support software analytics with monitoring as fundamental to our vision of providing actionable point-of-care monitoring to improve both patient care and efficiencies in the ICU.”

Commented Simon Goulet, TMS’ Chief Operating Officer: “The agreement with Philips represents important validation of our belief that vital sign analytics are key to advancing patient monitoring and care in the ICU.  Interest in our clinical software platform by a global leader in critical care medicine is exciting and we look forward to building on this interest during the coming months.  We are also delighted that the initial study will take place at The Ottawa Hospital, a key clinical partner for us.”

“We rely on Philips monitoring equipment every day to guide us in providing the best possible care for our ICU patients, and we are happy to collaborate with Philips and TMS to advance this technology further,” said Dr. Dave Neilipovitz, Chair and Head of the Department of Critical Care Medicine at The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa, and Clinical Investigator at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute.