Morrison Government confirms $5m funding towards AI facial recognition for pain assessment

Confirming their commitment announced in April 2019, the Morrison Government has signed a $5 million grant to Australian medtech company PainChek (ASX: PCK) which will provide dementia patients with licences to utilise the facial recognition software for the purpose of assessing pain. 

Key to the software which has been clinically tested is its ability to accurately identify the non-verbal patient’s pain levels which will assist aged care facility providers with more effective care. 

The PainChek® Adult App has been granted Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) approval in Australia and CE Mark approval in Europe as a Class 1 medical device to now be used in more than 260 residential aged care homes throughout Australia. 

The $5m of funding will comprise of $500,000 for training materials and an evaluation report, $4.4m for 100,000 PainChek® licenses for people living with dementia across Residential Aged Care in Australia, and a $100k payment for a report at the end of the contract term. 

Beyond the application of PainChek’s software on adults, the company has partnered with the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) to clinically test a modified version of the PainChek App on infants. 

The study will commence later this month where it will be undertaken at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, where data will be recorded from 100 infants undergoing painful procedures. 

Through the app’s intent of giving voice to people who cannot verbalise their pain, the PainChek App will provide the company with Software-as-a-Service revenues which are expected to now grow significantly on the $72,000 in sales made by PainChek in the quarter ending September 2019.