SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - March 04, 2014) - SpectraScience, Inc. (OTCQB: SCIE), a medical device company utilizing light technologies to detect and diagnose cancers, announced today that has submitted a request to the German organization DIMDI (German Institute of Medical Documentation and Information) for a unique OPS (Operationen und ProzedurenSchlussel) code for the WavSTAT4 Optical Biopsy System. Acquiring a unique OPS code will allow German hospitals to measure the use of the WavSTAT® System and make provisions to include it in the highly evolved prospective payment system called the German DRG.
“This is an important first step which will allow us to accelerate our sales efforts in hospitals across Germany once the code is granted,” said Michael Oliver, SpectraScience’s President and CEO. “We expect the decision process regarding our request to take from six to nine months. In the meantime we will encourage interested hospitals to make NUB (Neue Untersuchungs und Behandlungsmethoden) Application.”
The NUB application allows for negotiated reimbursement between individual hospitals utilizing a new technology and the approval authority (InEK). This pathway has the potential to accelerate market access for new technologies, but requires significant effort from hospitals making the application. Each hospital will be required to submit an NUB application individually. Before a NUB is issued the product must be adequately used, correctly coded and exhibit a cost profile that makes a significant difference.
Mr. Oliver added, “The bottom line is that our WavSTAT4 Optical Biopsy System provides a fast, safe, accurate and cost-effective way to differentiate benign and cancerous lesions in the colon with a 96% negative predictive value. We look forward to making it available to patients throughout the German healthcare system.”
About SpectraScience, Inc.:
SpectraScience is a San Diego based medical device company that designs, develops, manufactures and markets spectrophotometry systems capable of determining whether tissue is normal, pre-cancerous or cancerous without physically removing tissue from the body. The WavSTAT Optical Biopsy System uses light to optically scan tissue and provide the physician with an immediate analysis. With FDA approval for sale in the U.S. and the CE Mark for the European Union, the WavSTAT System is the first commercially available product that incorporates this innovative technology for clinical use.
For more information:
Visit our web site www.spectrascience.com
Forward-Looking Statement for SpectraScience, Inc.
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that may cause SpectraScience’s actual results to differ materially from results discussed in forward-looking statements. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by SpectraScience in this news release, its most recent Form 10-K and in SpectraScience’s other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect SpectraScience’s business. These forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the cautions and risk factors filed by SpectraScience in its annual report on Form 10-K and other documents.
Contacts:
Media and Investors:
SpectraScience, Inc.
Lowell Giffhorn
CFO
Phone: (858) 847-0200 x2019
Email: Email Contact
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