Masimo Founder and CEO and Co-Inventor of Measure-Through-Motion Pulse Oximetry, Joe Kiani, Awarded by the Ibero-American Society of Neonatology for Improvements to Neonatal Health in Latin America

Joe Kiani (Photo: Business Wire)

IRVINE, Calif.--()--Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) announced today that its Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Joe Kiani, has been honored by the Ibero-American Society of Neonatology (SIBEN) at its 17th Annual Congress (this year held virtually) with the Award for Improvement of Neonatal Health in Latin America. In her award presentation, SIBEN Scientific Group member Dr. Susana Rodríguez praised Mr. Kiani for his lifelong dedication to improving newborn care.

SIBEN, founded in 2004, is dedicated to improving newborn care throughout Latin America—where 15 babies die every hour, with 60% of those who die before their first birthday dying during the first 28 days after birth.1 SIBEN is comprised of more than 2,000 healthcare professionals associated with neonatal care.

Dr. Rodríguez noted that Mr. Kiani’s commitment to neonatal care started with the invention, in 1995, of Masimo Signal Extraction Technology®, or SET®, pulse oximetry, whose breakthrough ability to measure through motion and low perfusion led to remarkable improvements in neonatal care. In particular, use of SET® has played a key role in reducing the rate of neonatal blindness (retinopathy of prematurity). In 2003, Dr. Augusto Sola (Managing Director of SIBEN) and colleagues showed that using a new protocol with Masimo SET®, clinicians reduced ROP to nearly zero over five years.2 A later study showed that the protocol’s success depended on SET® technology, as the same protocol with a competing pulse oximeter did not reduce ROP.3 Today, SET® pulse oximetry is used to monitor more than 200 millions patients each year,4 and has been shown, among other benefits, to help improve critical congenital heart disease (CCHD) screening in newborns.5

Continuing, Dr. Rodríguez highlighted how Mr. Kiani’s creativity and vision have led to many additional medical advancements in the years since, with Masimo, which recently celebrated its 31st anniversary, remaining at the forefront of global medical innovation. Mr. Kiani has long championed the importance of patient safety, and in 2013 created The Patient Safety Movement Foundation, dedicated to achieving zero preventable deaths by 2030. To date, more than 4,700 hospitals in 50 countries have committed to this goal—and an estimated 93,000 lives are being saved annually.6 Among other honors and awards, Mr. Kiani has been named SafeCare’s Person of the Year and one of “50 Experts in Patient Safety” by Becker’s Hospital Review. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Chapman University, and is an Honorary member of the Mexican Academy of Surgery.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Kiani said, “Thank you to all the neonatologists and the care providers around neonates. There’s so much apathy, and I think that’s the biggest hurdle to improving patient care – but not with neonatologists and neonatal nurses. You have never stopped amazing me with how much you care for our babies, your patients. I also want to thank SIBEN for the incredible work you’re doing to bridge the gap between knowledge and what’s practiced. You know better than I that what’s common practice is unfortunately not always best practice – and your work – to educate, educate, educate – is critical in bridging that gap, so more babies get the best care possible. I want to thank Dr. Susana Rodríguez and the board of SIBEN for honoring me with this meaningful award.”

Kiani continued, “I want to tell you how blessed I feel to have friends like Mohammad Diab and Dr. Augusto Sola, who helped me with a great innovation, not only to innovate our measure-through-motion pulse oximetry, but to innovate a way to use it to help so many babies. That gift, which these two incredible friends have given me, has allowed me to feel fulfilled, and even though I know I’m just a speck in time and in space, at least we’ve been together, my dear friends, a useful speck, that may have given birth and happiness to more specks to enjoy the joy and pain of life, which is precious. Thank you again for this incredible award. Thanks for encouraging me to try harder, and for encouraging others to try harder, to do the right thing.”

@Masimo | #Masimo

About Masimo

Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) is a global medical technology company that develops and produces a wide array of industry-leading monitoring technologies, including innovative measurements, sensors, patient monitors, and automation and connectivity solutions. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes and reduce the cost of care. Masimo SET® Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion™ pulse oximetry, introduced in 1995, has been shown in over 100 independent and objective studies to outperform other pulse oximetry technologies.7 Masimo SET® has also been shown to help clinicians reduce severe retinopathy of prematurity in neonates,3 improve CCHD screening in newborns,5 and, when used for continuous monitoring with Masimo Patient SafetyNet™ in post-surgical wards, reduce rapid response team activations, ICU transfers, and costs.8-11 Masimo SET® is estimated to be used on more than 200 million patients in leading hospitals and other healthcare settings around the world,4 and is the primary pulse oximetry at 9 of the top 10 hospitals according to the 2020-21 U.S. News and World Report Best Hospitals Honor Roll.12 Masimo continues to refine SET® and in 2018, announced that SpO2 accuracy on RD SET® sensors during conditions of motion has been significantly improved, providing clinicians with even greater confidence that the SpO2 values they rely on accurately reflect a patient’s physiological status. In 2005, Masimo introduced rainbow® Pulse CO-Oximetry technology, allowing noninvasive and continuous monitoring of blood constituents that previously could only be measured invasively, including total hemoglobin (SpHb®), oxygen content (SpOC™), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®), methemoglobin (SpMet®), Pleth Variability Index (PVi®), RPVi™ (rainbow® PVi), and Oxygen Reserve Index (ORi™). In 2013, Masimo introduced the Root® Patient Monitoring and Connectivity Platform, built from the ground up to be as flexible and expandable as possible to facilitate the addition of other Masimo and third-party monitoring technologies; key Masimo additions include Next Generation SedLine® Brain Function Monitoring, O3® Regional Oximetry, and ISA™ Capnography with NomoLine® sampling lines. Masimo’s family of continuous and spot-check monitoring Pulse CO-Oximeters® includes devices designed for use in a variety of clinical and non-clinical scenarios, including tetherless, wearable technology, such as Radius-7® and Radius PPG™, portable devices like Rad-67™, fingertip pulse oximeters like MightySat® Rx, and devices available for use both in the hospital and at home, such as Rad-97®. Masimo hospital automation and connectivity solutions are centered around the Masimo Hospital Automation™ platform, and include Iris Gateway®, Patient SafetyNet, Replica™, Halo ION™, UniView™, UniView: 60™, and Masimo SafetyNet™. Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at www.masimo.com. Published clinical studies on Masimo products can be found at www.masimo.com/evidence/featured-studies/feature/.

ORi and RPVi have not received FDA 510(k) clearance and are not available for sale in the United States. The use of the trademark Patient SafetyNet is under license from University HealthSystem Consortium.

References

  1. SIBEN data on file.
  2. Chow LC, Wright KW, Sola A. Can Changes in Clinical Practice Decrease the Incidence of Severe Retinopathy of Prematurity in Very Low Birth Weight Infants? Pediatrics. 2003 Feb;111(2):339-45.
  3. Castillo A et al. Prevention of Retinopathy of Prematurity in Preterm Infants through Changes in Clinical Practice and SpO2 Technology. Acta Paediatr. 2011 Feb;100(2):188-92.
  4. Masimo data on file.
  5. de-Wahl Granelli A et al. Impact of pulse oximetry screening on the detection of duct dependent congenital heart disease: a Swedish prospective screening study in 39,821 newborns. BMJ. 2009;Jan 8;338.
  6. Patient Safety Movement Foundation data on file.
  7. Published clinical studies on pulse oximetry and the benefits of Masimo SET® can be found on our website at http://www.masimo.com. Comparative studies include independent and objective studies which are comprised of abstracts presented at scientific meetings and peer-reviewed journal articles.
  8. Taenzer A et al. Impact of pulse oximetry surveillance on rescue events and intensive care unit transfers: a before-and-after concurrence study. Anesthesiology. 2010:112(2):282-287.
  9. Taenzer A et al. Postoperative Monitoring – The Dartmouth Experience. Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation Newsletter. Spring-Summer 2012.
  10. McGrath S et al. Surveillance Monitoring Management for General Care Units: Strategy, Design, and Implementation. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 2016 Jul;42(7):293-302.
  11. McGrath S et al. Inpatient Respiratory Arrest Associated With Sedative and Analgesic Medications: Impact of Continuous Monitoring on Patient Mortality and Severe Morbidity. J Patient Saf. 2020 14 Mar. DOI: 10.1097/PTS.0000000000000696.
  12. http://health.usnews.com/health-care/best-hospitals/articles/best-hospitals-honor-roll-and-overview.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes forward-looking statements as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, in connection with the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding the potential effectiveness of Masimo SET®. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations about future events affecting us and are subject to risks and uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control and could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in our forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors, including, but not limited to: risks related to our assumptions regarding the repeatability of clinical results; risks related to our belief that Masimo's unique noninvasive measurement technologies, including Masimo SET®, contribute to positive clinical outcomes and patient safety; risks related to our belief that Masimo noninvasive medical breakthroughs provide cost-effective solutions and unique advantages; risks related to COVID-19; as well as other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our most recent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), which may be obtained for free at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, we do not know whether our expectations will prove correct. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today's date. We do not undertake any obligation to update, amend or clarify these statements or the "Risk Factors" contained in our most recent reports filed with the SEC, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under the applicable securities laws.

Contacts

Media Contact:
Masimo
Evan Lamb
949-396-3376
elamb@masimo.com

Release Summary

Joe Kiani, Founder & CEO of Masimo & co-inventor of measure-through-motion pulse oximetry, was honored by SIBEN for improvements to neonatal health.

Contacts

Media Contact:
Masimo
Evan Lamb
949-396-3376
elamb@masimo.com