MCI Onehealth and LMC Healthcare's Centricity Research to Accelerate Access and Delivery of Clinical Research

TORONTO, March 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MCI Onehealth Technologies Inc. ("MCI") (TSX: DRDR), a clinician-led healthcare technology company focused on increasing access to and quality of healthcare, and LMC Healthcare, and LMC Clinical Research Inc. dba Centricity Research, Canada's largest provider of clinical research, are pleased to announce a partnership that will increase patient access to international research studies and accelerate enrolment and improve retention in sponsored clinical trials.

"Through this partnership with Centricity, MCI vastly expands the scope and volume of clinical trials for which we can offer our entire patient population and our large physician network. We will also leverage our clinical insight capabilities and our purpose-built AI- and tech-enabled tools to decrease enrolment times and speed up trial access," said Dr. Alexander Dobranowski, founder and CEO of MCI. "MCI patients will benefit from more varied, more relevant and more efficiently facilitated opportunities to participate in clinical research that can bring with it optimized care for themselves and for future generations."

As one of Canada's largest clinic networks of walk-in, family physicians, specialists and other healthcare services, MCI is the healthcare provider of choice for more than a million patients each year, both new and from its historical roster of more than 3.2 million patients. Through partnerships with leading edge tech platforms, including MCI subsidiary Khure Health's 110 algorithms for rare and chronic conditions, MCI has capacity to quickly and cost-efficiently screen, contact, consent and engage potential participants for clinical research. Via partnership with LMC, this capacity will be deployed for a substantially larger number of clinical trials to meet the needs of Centricity's pharmaceutical and life science clients who require large volume of otherwise difficult-to-find relevant patients for such trials.

"Sponsors of clinical research know all-too-well how difficult, costly and time-consuming the process is for recruitment and retention of participants. By working with Centricity and MCI, they can benefit from immediate consideration of very large ethnically diverse patient populations, advanced technology for highly targeted recruitment and engagement, and numerous centres-of-excellence in three provinces for the provision of patient-centered care and the delivery of research protocols," said Karri Venn, COO, President of Centricity. "Partnering with MCI gives us the distinct advantage of offering faster recruitment, leading to faster research conclusions in a high-demand, high-impact market in which Centricity is already a well-established leader. Further to this, we will now be able to offer many important and sometimes life-changing research opportunities to all MCI patients."

As a health technology leader, MCI nurtures international opportunities to leverage its vast pool of high-quality structured clinical information. MCI's audience for clinical insights continues to grow in Canada and internationally and will further benefit from collaboration with Centricity. Precise terms of the partnership have not been disclosed. Collaborative trial recruitment through this partnership will commence presently, with revenue impacts to begin to be noted in MCI's second quarter of 2023.

"This strategic collaboration immediately creates value for multiple stakeholders from MCI's clinical insights as a service program, while optimizing care for the patients of today and tomorrow," added Dobranowski.

About MCI

MCI is a healthcare technology company focused on empowering patients and doctors with advanced technologies to increase access, improve quality, and reduce healthcare costs. As part of the healthcare community for over 30 years, MCI operates one of Canada's leading primary care networks with approximately 280 physicians and specialists, serves more than one million patients annually and had nearly 300,000 telehealth visits last year, including online visits via mciconnect.ca. MCI additionally offers an expanding suite of occupational health service offerings that support a growing list of nearly 600 corporate customers. MCI provides data insights as a service in six categories: rare disease; complex major medical/chronic; patient cohort building; clinical trial recruitment; synthetic health data and bespoke insights. Led by a proven management team of doctors and experienced executives, MCI remains focused on executing a strategy centered around acquiring technology and health services that complement the company's current roadmap. For more information, visit mcionehealth.com.

About LMC Healthcare

LMC Healthcare (LMC) is Canada's largest specialist care provider in diabetes & endocrinology. We're transforming diabetes care by making it more accessible, comprehensive and patient-centric than ever before. LMC has 13 multi-disciplinary centers of excellence in 3 provinces (Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec).

About Centricity Research

Centricity Research (formerly LMC Manna Research) is one of the largest network of clinical research sites in North America. Centricity was founded on the principle that everyone deserves the equal opportunity to a life of improved health. Centricity provides Canadians the opportunity to take part in clinical trials across all areas of primary health and multiple medical specialties. Our goal as an organization is to provide access to medications and devices that can change the lives of people living with different health conditions. With the support of tens of thousands of Canadians in the last 20+ years, we have improved the health of tens of millions of individuals worldwide.

For media enquiries please contact:
Nolan Reeds | MCI Onehealth | [email protected]

Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release, constitute "forward-looking information" and "forward looking statements" (collectively, "forward looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and are based on assumptions, expectations, estimates and projections as of the date of this press release. Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements with respect to the anticipated benefits of MCI's partnership and offering with Centricity Research, as well as MCI's future growth, strategic plan, results of operations, performance and business prospects and opportunities, in general. The words "increase", "expanding", "accelerate", "empowering", "improve", "expected", "helping to", "opportunities", "leading to", "objective", "anticipated", "continues to" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain future conditions, actions, events or results "will", "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "can", or negative versions thereof, and other similar expressions, identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon management's perceptions of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as a number of specific factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by MCI as of the date of such statements, are outside of MCI's control and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies which could result in the forward-looking statements ultimately being entirely or partially incorrect or untrue. Forward looking statements contained in this press release are based on various assumptions, including, but not limited to, the following: MCI's ability to maintain and grow its partnership with Centricity Research and to realize on the potential benefits of their combined platform; MCI's ability to achieve its growth strategy; the demand for MCI's products and fluctuations in future revenues; the availability of future business ventures, commercial arrangements and acquisition targets or opportunities and MCI's ability to consummate them; the effects of competition in the industry; the requirement for increasingly innovative product solutions and service offerings; trends in customer growth; sufficiency of current working capital to support future operating and working capital requirements; the stability of general economic and market conditions; currency exchange rates and interest rates; equity and debt markets continuing to provide MCI with access to capital; MCI's ability to comply with applicable laws and regulations; MCI's continued compliance with third party intellectual property rights; and that the risk factors noted below, collectively, do not have a material impact on MCI's business, operations, revenues and/or results. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties that may be general or specific and which give rise to the possibility that expectations, forecasts, predictions, projections or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that assumptions may not be correct, and that objectives, strategic goals and priorities will not be achieved.

Known and unknown risk factors, many of which are beyond the control of MCI, could cause the actual results of MCI to differ materially from the results, performance, achievements or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include but are not limited to those factors which are discussed under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in MCI's annual information form dated March 31, 2022, each of which is available under MCI's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. The risk factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect MCI and the reader is cautioned to consider these and other factors, uncertainties and potential events carefully and not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's expectations and plans relating to the future. MCI disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law. All of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements.