Medcotek licenses technology developed at University at Buffalo

By Samantha Maziarz Christmann
The Buffalo News
April 11, 2008

Medcotek Inc., a local medical software company, signed a licensing agreement this week with the University at Buffalo allowing the company to use technology newly developed by university researchers.

Medcotek’s teleradiology infrastructure provides medical professionals with the ability to remotely view, manipulate and diagnose X-rays via the Internet, without the use of specialized hardware.

A three-dimensional viewer and data-transmission system developed by Vipin Chaudhary, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at UB, increases the quality and efficiency of that process.

“It’s very exciting to see something we’ve been developing being used in real life. It’s a lot better than just publishing papers and then having nothing happen,” Chaudhary said. “It’s a testament to the work my group has been doing, and how it can be applied.”

Securing intellectual property through the licensing agreement will allow Medcotek to seek investors and continue developing the technology. Medcotek has already begun marketing a prototype and expects a product launch this year.

With the technology, the company hopes to gain an edge in the billion-dollar teleradiology market, which it predicts will grow by 14 percent annually.

Medical professionals have become increasingly dependent upon teleradiology as a widespread shortage of radiologists leaves many patients without qualified doctors nearby to examine and diagnose radiology data. The technology allows doctors in remote locations to more effectively collaborate on patient care.

Medcotek, a teleradiology service provider, relocated to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus from North Carolina last year, and Chaudhary was recruited as part of the UB 2020 plan last fall.

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