CHICAGO, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CytoCore, Inc. , has announced that the company has secured $4 MM in new equity financing during the quarter ending June 30, 2006 as the organization has neared completion of its financial restructuring and prepared for clinical trials and manufacturing.
During this period, CytoCore raised approximately $4 million in new funding through the sale of equity which has permitted the company to settle most of its legal claims and a majority of its significant liabilities, move forward aggressively with two new clinical trials, and prepare the e2 Collector(TM) for manufacturing.
CytoCore’s CEO Dr. David Weissberg stated, “When our current management team assumed responsibility for CytoCore in September of 2005, the company was struggling and close to collapse. In the past year, through the support of our shareholders, public investors, large institutional investors, scientific team and friends, we have significantly improved the financial condition and operations of the company. With the conversion of debt and the settlement and payment of liabilities, the majority of CytoCore’s future cash resources will be devoted to clinical operations and the development and marketing of its products.”
In early 2006, the company obtained licenses for two new technologies from Dr. George Gorodeski and University Hospitals of Cleveland; the P2X7 biomarker and the Drug Delivery System. These two technologies expanded CytoCore’s existing product portfolio to create an unparalleled set of products that address cervical and uterine cancer detection for women: the e2 Collector(TM), the P2X7 Marker and AIPS system, the Drug Delivery System and a uterine cancer screen test.
The P2X7 marker is unique in the universe of cancer biomarkers. Laboratory testing on the marker suggests that it may be a genetic mechanism that controls the apoptosis or cell death process in epithelial cells. Dr. Gorodeski has published two papers on this science and marker: the first was featured in the May issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the latter will appear in the October issue of the American Association of Cancer Research Journal and will focus on the clinical aspects of the P2X7. This marker has demonstrated very high levels of sensitivity and specificity for all forms of uterine and cervical cancers and has shown initial sensitivity for other epithelial cancers as well.
The Drug Delivery Device, as the fourth product in the InPath(TM) product suite, is unique in the world of the Pap test and cervical dysplasia as well. It is expected to be capable of bringing localized therapeutic treatment to the cervix through a patch that may contain any of several choices: mild chemo, anti-viral, or immuno-stimulant compounds.
Currently, CytoCore has sufficient cash reserves to move forward with all of its current clinical and product development projects. The company’s clinical projects include basic research at Dr. Gorodeski’s lab with the P2X7 biomarker and its capabilities, and the launching of two short clinical trials this fall that are expected to be completed by the year’s end.
Along with these efforts, the company has been developing two products for near term distribution and sale: the e2 Collector(TM) and the AIPS microscope platform. The company is currently qualifying the manufacturers to produce the e2 Collector(TM). CytoCore expects this process to be concluded by early September with product availability in the first months of 2007.
The AIPS Platform has completed both its initial hardware and software development phase and will be tested in September and October. During the remainder of the year, the AIPS will be customized to serve as the platform for the CVX cocktail. Once this customization is complete, the company will begin trials for the CVX cocktail with the P2X7 marker and the AIPS platform -- the next step in upgrading the Pap test.
Given the tremendous attention being focused on the areas of cervical cancer, the Pap test, HPV tests, HPV vaccines, etc., CytoCore is receiving strong interest and inquiries from physicians who would like to participate in the trials. This is a result of the company’s identification of a solution to the deficiencies in the Pap test as it currently exists to the medical scientific community. CytoCore expects the e2 Collector(TM) and subsequent products to be warmly received by physicians and their patients as they are brought to market.
With the progress the company has made to date, CytoCore will hold its first investor conference call of the current year in mid-September. The management and scientific team will report on our progress and entertain Q&A from investors.
About CytoCore Inc.
CytoCore develops cost-effective cancer screening systems, which can be utilized in a laboratory or at the point-of-care, to assist in the early detection of cervical, endometrial, and other cancers. The InPath(TM) System is being developed to provide medical practitioners with a highly accurate, low-cost, cervical cancer screening and treatment system that can be integrated into existing medical models or at the point-of-care. More information is available at: http://www.cytocoreinc.com .
Certain statements in this release are forward-looking. These statements are based on CytoCore’s current expectations and involve many risks and uncertainties, such as the company’s inability to obtain sufficient financing, the possibility that clinical trials will not substantiate CytoCore’s expectations with respect to the InPath(TM) System, and other factors set forth in reports and documents filed by CytoCore with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from CytoCore’s current expectation depending upon a number of factors affecting the Company’s business. These factors include, among others, risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company’s periodic public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005. Except as expressly required by law, CytoCore undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein.
CytoCore, Inc.
CONTACT: Patty Briguglio of MMI Associates, Inc., +1-919-233-6600,patty@mmimarketing.com , or Gene Martineau, Communications & BusinessDevelopment Consultant on behalf of CytoCore, Inc., +1-212-348-1880,ebm@interport.net
Web site: http://www.cytocoreinc.com/
