Precision Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AIPT) (“Precision” or “the
Company”), formerly Skyline Medical, a company focused on applying
artificial intelligence to personalized medicine and drug
discovery, today released highlights from its business update call
for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2017.
During the earnings call, members of Precision Therapeutics’
management team discussed the Company’s recent progress executing
against its new growth strategy in the precision medicine market.
The call also featured commentary from Kevin Hungerford, the
Company’s new Global VP of Sales and Marketing, who discussed the
factors behind the significant sales growth projected by the
Company’s Skyline Medical division.
The call covered the following topics:
- Limitations of existing methods used in the testing of
new cancer therapies that are currently on the
market:
Dr. Carl Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of Precision
Therapeutics, commented, “For years, the search for new cancer
therapies has been hampered by the lack of good biologically
relevant models to test potential new therapies. Pharma companies
have used so-called immortalized cell lines to test new drugs.
These cell lines were originally derived from patient tumors and
then modified so that they may easily be manipulated in the lab. As
a result, the majority of these cell lines do not behave in the
same manner as the original tumor cells, which has led to many
failed drug candidates.”
As a result, the data on novel drugs that is generated from
these immortalized cell lines is of questionable value. “As they
say, ‘Garbage In Garbage Out’,” continued Dr. Schwartz.
Dr. Schwartz went on to explain the limitations of the
patient-derived mouse and rat models that are currently used in
clinical trials: “Despite the fact we understand more about the
mutations and the gene expression of the tumor, laboratory models
that reflect these subtle differences have been lacking. Mouse/rat
models are popular but they are burdened with low throughput and
high expense which has impacted their adoption both for
recommending patient therapy as well as for screening of new
drugs.”
- Why the Company’s approach represents an
advancement over current practices:
The Company formed TumorGenesis as a subsidiary in February of
this year and appointed Dr. Mark Collins, Vice President of
Innovation and Strategy at Helomics Corporation, as its President.
TumorGenesis aims to develop tumor models that closely mimic the
behaviour of tumors inside the body.
The TumorGenesis approach uses fresh tumor tissue from the
patient. The full quality of the tumor is captured using tags
that target each cancer cell subtype within the specific tumor. The
tumor is then ‘reassembled’ on a 3D scaffold in an environment that
closely mimics the patient’s own body. The Company has already made
meaningful progress executing on its plans to advance the
development of these next generation tumor models by signing
licensing agreements with three companies: SyntArray, LLC,
48Hour Discovery and CellBridge Incorporated.
“Unlike the traditional mouse model, this approach is scalable
for high throughput using standard consumables, equipment and
reagents,” commented Dr. Schwartz. “By implementing this strategy
and developing tumor models that closely mimic the behaviour of
tumors inside the body, we believe Precision Therapeutics has a
huge opportunity to become a crucial partner to the healthcare
industry and build value for our shareholders.”
- Precision Therapeutics’ 25% stake in Helomics
Corporation, a personalized medicine and precision cancer
diagnostic company
The Helomics’ Precision Oncology Insights service provides
oncologists and their patients with a personalized, precision
roadmap for therapy based on testing the response of the patient’s
own tumor to a panel of standard of care drugs. Unlike many current
approaches that simply look for mutations in key cancer genes, for
which there are very few approved drugs, the Helomics Precision
Oncology Insights service uniquely combines the drug response with
the mutation/expression profile of the patient’s own tumor to
provide actionable data to guide patient therapy.
During the call, Jerry Vardzel, Chief Executive Officer of
Helomics Corporation, explained how the Helomics business will be
impacted by the development of the TumorGenesis approach: “We
believe that the TumorGenesis approach will be a major step forward
in being able to test drugs in a model system that closely mimics
the way a tumor grows in the body.
“Firstly, adopting the TumorGenesis approach will benefit
Helomics by significantly enhancing the precision of the tumor drug
response testing we currently perform by providing a model that
captures the full heterogeneity of the tumor and grows the tumor in
3D and in more physiologically relevant way. Secondly, it will
provide higher quality, more biologically relevant data to improve
the decision-making power of the Helomics D-CHIP AI platform. This
in turn will result in the D-CHIP becoming a very comprehensive
AI-powered model of tumor biology, complete with drug response, and
genomic information that can be used both for clinical, research
and diagnostic use. Thirdly, Helomics will expand and store these
tumor cells creating a one-of-a-kind, patient-derived tumor biobank
that can be used for the testing of new drugs in partnership with
Pharma companies.”
Mr Vardzel concluded, “As you can see, TumorGenesis and Helomics
hold significant potential to revolutionize the development of
precision cancer therapies and diagnostics.”
- Sales progress at Skyline Medical, a division
of Precision Therapeutics
In 2017, the Company implemented a refocused sales and marketing
campaign, which included the hiring of key sales personnel,
increased participation at major industry conferences and an
awareness campaign to encourage its customers to use its disposable
products, which are an important source of recurring revenues to
the Company.
The Company sold ten STREAMWAY Systems in 2017, five of which
were sold in the fourth quarter of 2017. “This demonstrates the
continued traction of our sales and marketing campaign,” commented
Dr. Carl Schwartz.
Mr. Kevin Hungerford, Global Vice President of Sales and
Marketing, commented on the 2018 outlook for the Skyline Medical
division. “In the first three months of 2018, the
company sold 16 STREAMWAY Systems demonstrating significant growth
compared with the 10 units sold throughout all of 2017. Four of the
16 unit sales were incremental sales to a prominent Minnesota based
hospital system. Generating additional unit sales to existing
customers, is not only a faster method of securing sales, it also
validates the Company’s market positioning as a credible and
industry-leading provider of medical waste management
solutions.”
The Company has also made initial investments in its
international commercial strategy by signing independent
distribution agreements in Australia, Canada and Switzerland. In
early 2018, the company opened European headquarters in Brussels,
Belgium and appointed a Vice President of International Sales.
Mr. Hungerford concluded, “While our commercial activities in
international markets are at a very early stage, we're encouraged
by the progress made to date. We expect to secure 100 STREAMWAY
Systems in 2018. This number is based on our current relationship
with potential and existing customers throughout the United
States.”
A webcast of the event is available on the Investors section of
the Company’s website at www.skylinemedical.com
To be added to the Precision Therapeutics’ database, please
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About Precision Therapeutics Inc.
Precision Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AIPT) operates in two
business areas: first, applying artificial intelligence to
personalized medicine and drug discovery to provide personalized
medicine solutions for clients in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic,
and biotech industries, and second, production of
the FDA-approved STREAMWAY® System for automated,
direct-to-drain medical fluid disposal.
Precision Therapeutics' CRO services business is committed
to improving the effectiveness of cancer therapy using the power of
artificial intelligence (AI) applied to rich data diseases
databases. This business has launched with Precision
Therapeutics' investment in Helomics Corporation, a
precision diagnostic company and integrated clinical contract
research organization whose mission is to improve patient care by
partnering with pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and academic
organizations to bring innovative clinical products and
technologies to the marketplace. In addition to its
proprietary precision diagnostics for oncology, Helomics offers
boutique CRO services that leverage our patient-derived tumor
models, coupled to a wide range of multi-omics assays (genomics,
proteomics and biochemical), and a proprietary bioinformatics
platform (D-CHIP) to provide a tailored solution to our client's
specific needs. Helomics is 25% owned by Precision
Therapeutics. Helomics® is headquartered in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania where the company maintains state-of-the-art,
CLIA-certified, clinical and research laboratories. For more
information, please visit www.Helomics.com.
Precision Therapeutics has also announced the formation of a
subsidiary, TumorGenesis, to pursue a new rapid approach to growing
tumors in the laboratory, which essentially “fools” the cancer
cells into thinking they are still growing inside the patient.
Precision Therapeutics and Helomics have also announced a
proposed joint venture with GLG Pharma focused on using
their combined technologies to bring personalized medicines and
testing to ovarian and breast cancer patients, especially those who
present with ascites fluid (over one-third of patients). The growth
strategy in this business includes securing new partnerships and
considering acquisitions in the precision medicine space.
Sold through the Skyline Medical business of Precision
Therapeutics, The STREAMWAY System virtually eliminates staff
exposure to blood, irrigation fluid and other potentially
infectious fluids found in the healthcare environment. Antiquated
manual fluid handling methods that require hand carrying and
emptying filled fluid canisters present an exposure risk and
potential liability. Skyline Medical's STREAMWAY System fully
automates the collection, measurement, and disposal of waste fluids
and is designed to: 1) reduce overhead costs to hospitals and
surgical centers; 2) improve compliance with OSHA and
other regulatory agency safety guidelines; 3) improve efficiency in
the operating room, and radiology and endoscopy departments,
thereby leading to greater profitability; and 4) provide greater
environmental stewardship by helping to eliminate the approximately
50 million potentially disease-infected canisters that go into
landfills each year in the U.S. For additional information,
please visit www.skylinemedical.com.
Contacts:Investor RelationsKCSA Strategic
CommunicationsElizabeth Barker(212) 896-1203ebarker@kcsa.com
MONEYINFO, LLCCharles
Moskowitz617-827-1296info@moneyinfo-llc.com
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