Sleep-related breathing disorders, which include obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), affect as much as 20 percent of the North American population. Oral appliances are a well-known and often preferred treatment option for patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea. Oral appliances only treat about 60 percent of OSA cases – and the challenge is selecting which patients will respond to the treatment. With Zephyr’s MATRx Plus system, testing to determine treatment response happens before undergoing an expensive, time-consuming process. Zephyr’s MATRx Plus is a home-based, patient-centric and easy-to-use system. Use of the MATRx Plus offers significant benefit to both the patient and the dentist by allowing a sleep physician to confidently prescribe treatment for OSA.
With the introduction of MATRx Plus to the dental market, Dentsply Sirona, Inc., and Zephyr start their cooperation. The goal is to bring together their experience in providing technologies and applications for OSA treatments. In conjunction with its investment, Dentsply Sirona has appointed Dr. Stefan Hehn, Vice President Imaging Systems, to Zephyr’s board of directors to spearhead the cooperation. “I’m excited to work closely with the Zephyr team to integrate existing Dentsply Sirona products and technology with the MATRx and MATRx Plus to make a better, safer and faster dental solution to treat OSA. This will not only make dentists more productive, but also significantly enhance the patient experience,” stated Dr. Hehn. “We are pleased to have Dr. Hehn join our board of independent corporate directors. Dr. Hehn not only brings a wealth of experience, but he also has a track record of successfully bringing new technologies and applications to the dental market”, said Greg Ogrodnick, Zephyr’s Board Chairman.
“Bringing on Dentsply Sirona as both an investor and strategic partner opens up a whole new world of opportunity. A significant challenge to any emerging technology company is building a path to market, and by partnering with a company of Dentsply Sirona’s stature it increases credibility with our customers and provides an established and extensive network to create, build and deliver the best treatments possible for sleep-related breathing disorders,” said Paul Cataford, Zephyr’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are now one step closer to helping more people lead healthy and productive lives through better sleep.” MATRx Plus is cleared in the US for diagnostic indications and approved in Canada for both diagnostic and theragnostic indications.
With SICAT Air Dentsply Sirona offers the first 3D solution that enables the analysis of the upper airways in the 3D volume and illustrates the workflow of an appliance-based treatment completely digitally through the combination of 3D imaging systems like Galileos and selected Orthophos SL 3D units, digital impressions of the CEREC Omnicam and the SICAT Air software. With this workflow, dental practitioners can quickly and easily order mandibular advancement appliances like OPTISLEEP by SICAT that reduce or alleviate the symptoms of mild to moderate OSA.
About Zephyr Sleep Technologies Inc.
Zephyr Sleep Technologies designs, develops and manufactures medical devices for diagnosis and treatment of sleep disordered breathing. Zephyr is now launching its second generation product, the MATRx Plus, which is a tablet-based and cloud-connected medical device designed for home use. The Company was created in 2010 and is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. For further information visit www.zephyrsleep.com
About SICAT
SICAT is an innovative company which was established in 2004 as a joint venture between HICAT GmbH – a spin-off of the caesar research center – and Sirona Dental Systems GmbH. Active in three-dimensional imaging with a selection of products and solutions for dental implantology, sleep apnea, functional diagnostics and therapy as well as oral and maxillofacial surgery, SICAT concentrates on the development of user-friendly and cost-efficient software and hardware.
ABOUT DENTSPLY SIRONA
Dentsply Sirona is the world’s largest manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies, with a 130-year history of innovation and service to the dental industry and patients worldwide. Dentsply Sirona develops, manufactures, and markets a comprehensive solutions offering including dental and oral health products as well as other consumable medical devices under a strong portfolio of world class brands. As The Dental Solutions Company, Dentsply Sirona’s products provide innovative, high-quality and effective solutions to advance patient care and deliver better, safer and faster dentistry. Dentsply Sirona’s global headquarters is located in York, Pennsylvania, and the international headquarters is based in Salzburg, Austria. The company’s shares are listed in the United States on NASDAQ under the symbol XRAY. Visit www.dentsplysirona.com for more information about Dentsply Sirona and its products.
DISCLAIMER
This information and any attachment thereto contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance. These forward-looking statements reflect views and assumptions regarding expectations and projections about future events and are based on currently available information or information available on the date of any document incorporated by reference. You can generally identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “may,” “could,” “estimate,” “will,” “believe,” “anticipate,” “think,” “intend,” “expect,” “project,” “plan,” “target,” “forecast”, and similar words and expressions. However, these words are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections or other characterizations of future events or circumstances are forward-looking statements and may include statements relating to future revenues, expenses, margins, profitability, net income/(loss), earnings per share and other measures of results of operations and the prospects of future growth of our business. These forward-looking statements are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. For a discussion of such risks, uncertainties and other matters that could cause actual results to differ materially, including risks relating to, among other factors, the market for dental products and services, pricing, future sales volume of the Company’s products, the possibility of changing economic, market and competitive conditions, dependence on products, dependence on key personnel, technological developments, intense competition, market uncertainties, dependence on distributors, ability to manage growth, dependence on key suppliers, dependence on key members of management, government regulation, our ability to integrate the businesses of Dentsply Sirona, acquisitions and affiliations, readers are urged to carefully review and consider various disclosures made by the Company and Dentsply Sirona in their public filings, including in their Annual Reports on Form 10-K and in their reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, the Company does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document or the attachments to reflect new information or future events or developments after the date any such statement is made.
