Digital Angel Corporation and Verichip Corporation Form Joint Committee to Design and Develop Implantable Glucose-Sensing Microc
May 23 2007 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX: DOC), an advanced technology
company in the field of rapid and accurate identification, location
tracking and condition monitoring of high-value assets, and
VeriChip Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP), a provider of RFID systems for
healthcare and patient-related needs, announced today they have
established a joint committee to design and develop a working,
implantable glucose microchip to determine glucose levels in the
bodies of animals and humans, negating the need for diabetics to
draw blood in order to monitor their individual blood glucose
levels. The committee will oversee future clinical trials in
animals and humans, and is also responsible for selecting
technology and marketing partners. The goal for the chip is to
function inside the body for a period of at least six months. The
committee is led by Dr. Howard S. Weintraub, and also includes Zeke
Mejia, Digital Angel�s Animal Applications Chief Technology
Officer, Yuri Smirnov, Digital Angel�s Animal Applications Senior
Radio Frequency Engineer, Jonathan Musher, M.D., VeriChip�s Chief
Medical Officer, Kevin N. McGrath, Digital Angel�s President and
Chief Executive Officer, and Scott R. Silverman, VeriChip�s
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Additional members will be
added from the medical and scientific communities. Dr. Weintraub
said, �Following our patent award in October 2006, we are
positioned to begin development of a glucose microchip, which has
the potential to revolutionize the way people with diabetes live
and the medical care they receive. There are estimated to be
hundreds of millions of people around the world living with
diabetes, many of whom are not compliant with their care regimens
due in large part to the discomfort and inconvenience of pricking
their fingers numerous times per day. This chip could provide a
painless way to quickly and accurately scan blood glucose levels to
an external reader.� Dr. Weintraub has been a Director of Digital
Angel since March 2002. Dr. Weintraub retired from C. R. Bard,
Inc., a medical device company, in 2003, where he was Vice
President, R&D, Corporate Staff. From 1988 to 1998, he held a
series of senior research and technology management positions at
Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Weintraub was previously associated with
Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a Johnson and Johnson company,
from 1973 until 1988, where he held senior research management
positions. He also has authored or co-authored over 50 scientific
publications and abstracts. Dr. Weintraub previously served as
chairman of the Industrial Pharmaceutical Technology Section of the
AAPS (formerly APhA), and was the chairman of the Drug Metabolism
sub-section of the Research and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers�
Association. Dr. Weintraub earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in
Pharmacy from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in biopharmaceutics
from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Checking blood
glucose levels regularly is critical to properly managing diabetes.
The conventional method � a finger prick � is invasive, painful and
often inaccurate. The implantable bio-sensor chip will have a
passive transponder, a sensor and integrated circuitry that could
allow anyone implanted with the microchip to painlessly scan it to
determine their blood glucose concentration. The RFID microchip
would then quickly and accurately transmit the glucose data back to
a wireless scanner that displays the glucose level. The RFID
microchip will be powered by the scanner signal, avoiding the need
for a battery in the microchip. The patent, No. 7,125,382 was
granted on October 24, 2006, and is titled "Embedded Bio-Sensor
System.� About Digital Angel Corporation Digital Angel Corporation
(www.DigitalAngelCorp.com) develops and deploys sensor and
communications technologies that enable rapid and accurate
identification, location tracking, and condition monitoring of
high-value assets. Applications for the Company�s products include
identification and monitoring of humans, pets, fish, poultry and
livestock through its patented implantable microchips; location
tracking and message monitoring of vehicles and aircraft in remote
locations through systems that integrate GPS and geosynchronous
satellite communications; and monitoring of asset conditions such
as temperature and movement, through advanced miniature sensors.
Digital Angel Corporation is majority-owned by Applied Digital Inc.
(NASDAQ: ADSX), which also owns a majority position in VeriChip
Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP). About VeriChip Corporation VeriChip
Corporation, headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, develops,
markets and sells radio frequency identification, or RFID, systems
used to identify, locate and protect people and assets. VeriChip's
goal is to become the leading provider of RFID systems for people
in the healthcare industry. VeriChip sells passive RFID systems for
identification purposes and active RFID systems for local-area
location and identification purposes. VeriChip recently began to
market its VeriMed(TM) Patient Identification System for rapidly
and accurately identifying people who arrive in an emergency room
and are unable to communicate. This system uses the first
human-implantable passive RFID microchip, the implantable
VeriChip(TM), cleared for medical use in October 2004 by the United
States Food and Drug Administration. VeriChip Corporation is
majority-owned by Applied Digital Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSX), which also
owns a majority position in Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX: DOC).
For more information on VeriChip, please call 1-800-970-2447, or
email info@verichipcorp.com. Additional information can be found
online at http://www.verichipcorp.com. This press release includes
forward-looking statements, including but not limited to statements
regarding the potential development, clinical trials and
commercialization of an implantable glucose-sensing microchip, the
potential of the microchip to revolutionize diabetes care and
management and to negate the need for diabetics to draw blood to
monitor blood glucose levels, its ability to painlessly and
accurately scan, determine, and transmit glucose concentration
levels to a wireless scanner, and the potential for it to operate
properly within the human body for the timeframe intended. The
Company wishes to caution readers that certain important factors
and various risks may have affected and could in the future affect
the Company�s actual results and could cause the Company�s actual
results for subsequent periods to differ materially from those
expressed in any forward-looking statement made by or on behalf of
the Company. With respect to the Company's expectations expressed
in this press release, such risk factors include, but are not
limited to, the performance of the product according to Company
expectations. This information is also qualified in its entirety by
cautionary statements and risk factor disclosures contained in the
Company�s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including the
Company�s annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2006 and its quarterly reports. The Company can offer
no assurances that any projections, assumptions or forecasts made
or discussed in this release will be met, and investors should
understand the risks of investing solely due to such projections.
The Company undertakes no obligation to revise any forward-looking
statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may
arise after the date of this press release.
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