SAN DIEGO, July 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SpectraScience, Inc. , a San Diego-based medical devices company, today announced that it has placed its LUMA Cervical Imaging System to detect pre-cancers at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa under the direction of Dr. Colleen Kennedy.
Dr. Kennedy stated, “We are indebted to the John and Mary Pappajohn Cancer Center Fund for their generous donation allowing us to implement the LUMA system at the University of Iowa. We look forward to benefiting from the enhanced productivity that it provides and, more importantly, for the ability to provide better patient care and outcomes. We are the only medical center currently in the mid-west providing this state-of-the art technology.”
The LUMA Cervical Imaging System was developed to significantly improve the detection of high-grade precancerous cervical abnormalities that have the potential to become invasive cancer. Based on data from the National ALTS study, it is estimated that precancerous disease goes undiagnosed in about 200,000 women each year.
The LUMA System provides a safe and effective method, that when used as an adjunct to colposcopy, has been demonstrated to uncover at least 26% more high-grade precancerous disease than colposcopy alone. The latter is the current gold standard following an abnormal Pap test.
SpectraScience CEO Jim Hitchin commented, “We are pleased to have placed our LUMA System at the prestigious University of Iowa facility and believe that it is a strong validation of our technology. We are committed to developing and bringing more effective cancer screening technologies to the market with the result of better and earlier diagnosis.”
Management estimates that the there are more than 2 million procedures performed annually at more than 1,600 sites throughout the U.S. The University of Iowa performs approximately 1,300 procedures annually.
SpectraScience has filed for 60 patents worldwide on its WavSTAT(R) Optical Biopsy System and LUMA Cervical Cancer Imaging System that are used to diagnose tissue to determine within seconds if it is normal, pre-cancerous, or cancerous. The WavSTAT and LUMA systems are currently approved by the FDA for detecting pre-cancer and cancer in the colon and cervix, and an evaluation for detection of pre-cancers in the throat (“Barrett’s esophagus”) is being tested.
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements 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.
About University of Iowa Healthcare
University of Iowa Health Care is a fully integrated academic medical center, uniting the UI Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and UI Physicians, the largest multi-specialty group practice in Iowa. As the state’s premier academic medical center, UI Health Care provides high quality, patient-centered care, conducts groundbreaking biomedical research, and educates the scientists and health care providers of the future.
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. The Company’s LUMA imaging technology has received FDA approval for an optical non-invasive system that is proven to more effectively detect cervical cancer precursors than conventional methods available in the market today.
CONTACT: Jim Hitchin, Chief Executive Officer of SpectraScience, Inc.,
+1-858-847-0200, ext. 201; or Todd Pitcher, Investor Relations of Hayden
Communications, +1-858-518-1387, for SpectraScience, Inc.
