ALR Technologies Inc has expanded sales of its ALRT Med Reminder products to the European market. The first order already has been shipped.

ALR Technologies and MedicAlarm Ltd reached agreement that MedicAlarm will serve as the marketing, sales and distribution agent in the UK and Europe for ALR Technologies' Med Reminder medication reminder devices. MedicAlarm placed an initial order for ALRT Med Reminders that has been shipped for resale to consumers in the UK.

Peter Murray, a Director of MedicAlarm, said that after placing samples of ALRT Med Reminders with medical personnel at selected UK teaching hospitals, he became convinced that the ALRT Med Reminders would serve an important need for a large population of Europeans who take medications for various chronic conditions.

"The patients who were provided with ALRT Med Reminders were pleased with their ease-of-use and the reliability of reminding them to take the necessary actions or medications," Murray said. "And hospital personnel found the PC100 computer programmable model very easy to set for the patient and send home with them. We see considerable applications for the ALRT Med Reminder products and look forward to working with ALR Technologies."

Stan Cruitt, President of ALR Technologies, said the initial sale into the European market is a significant milestone in the growth of the company's business.

"With a growing number of medical clinics, medical schools and health organizations now using our products in the US, we are expanding the scope of our products' reach," Cruitt said. "The addition of the UK greatly enhances the growing demand for ALR Med Reminders and demonstrates the need to improve compliance with medications throughout the world."

"The World Health Organization recently released a report highlighting the impact from people not taking medications as prescribed -- the health consequences and increased costs of additional providing healthcare when medications aren't taken on time -- and pointed out that the cost of not taking medications correctly exceeds the costs of purchasing the medications," Cruitt added.

ALRT Med Reminders address the problem of patient "noncompliance" with medications -- more readily understood as "not taking medicine on-time as prescribed by a physician." Noncompliance, according to the office of the U.S. Inspector General, causes 10 percent of all hospitalizations and more than 125,000 deaths annually in the cardiovascular area alone.

Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, ALR Technologies Med Reminders are easy to use and affordably priced. They remind patients to take their medications on time with both an audio and visual cue.

ALR Technologies currently sells a manually programmed ALRT Med Reminder as well as the PC100, which is programmed using a computer. The PC100 can be set quickly and easily at a pharmacy or medical clinic and sent home with patients. However, the PC100 does not have to be set by a healthcare professional -- all ALRT Med Reminder models can be easily programmed by either the patient or a caregiver.