Masimo Invests in Anesthesia Awareness Technology. Good Move? We Don’t Think So.

Masimo is one of the coolest companies out there. Any time it announces a new device, we get excited to profile the company’s new technologies. But when Masimo recently announced an investment of $3.5 million in SEDLine brain function monitoring business, we raised our eyebrows.
SEDLine, Inc’s electroencephalogram (EEG) brain function monitors are eerily similar to Aspect Medical‘s BIS technology. Available for many years now, BIS has been promoted by the company as a useful gadget for intraop use to monitor the depth of anesthesia, either for MAC or general anesthetic cases. Truth be told, after millions of dollars and years of promotion, BIS did not get far. It’s still rarely used, because most anesthesiologists would rather adjust the depth of anesthesia based on heart rate, BP, and other indirect parameters, rather than on a number derived by a proprietary algorithm that no one has seen. Furthermore, the American Society of Anesthesiologists does not recommend the widespread use of brain function monitoring devices, such as BIS. The other problem, of course, is the devastating study published in the March, 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, from which Aspect’s stock has never recovered.
So to our eyes, the EEG-based depth of anesthesia monitoring technology has hit the wall. We don’t know everything, and the future might be bright, but somehow paint us skeptical on this Masimo move.
Aspect Medical Systems’s stock chart is below.

Press releases: Masimo Announces Investment in SEDLine Brain Function Monitoring Business…; SEDLine™ Announces Acquisition of Hospira Brain Function Monitoring Business
Product page: SEDLine™ Brain-Function Monitoring System…
American Society of Anesthesiologists’ patient awareness info…