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Print Edition StoriesWednesday, June 17, 2009
Echo’s needleless glucose monitoring heads to S. Korea
By Mass High Tech staff
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Echo Therapeutics Inc. reports it has licensed its needleless glucose-monitoring technology to South Korea-based Handok Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. for $600,000 and royalties and other payments.
Under the deal, Franklin-based Echo (OTC:ECTE; Bulletin Board: ECTE) has granted Handok rights to develop, market, sell and distribute its Symphony transdermal continuous glucose monitoring (TCGM) system for use in medical facilites and the home.
Symphony is a patented skin ablation-control technology intended to allow for quick and painless removal of the outermost layer of the skin for transdermal drug delivery and glucose management.
Cash-strapped Echo’s fortunes have been up and down recently.
Earlier this month, Echo announced it had received a $1.99 million loan from Platinum Montaur Life Sciences LLC. The loan, which came with 10 percent annual interest, is due June 29. After getting loan extensions, the company paid off $2.25 million of debt held by Imperium, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nevertheless, Imperium reportedly told Echo the payments were late, saying the company was in default. Echo said it believes it was not in default.
Last month, the company announced it could bring in up to $14 million from a licensing agreement with Ferndale Pharma Group, giving Ferndale the right to develop and sell a lidocaine application using Echo’s needle-free skin preparation system.
At the end of March, Echo Therapeutics had only $56,000 in cash and a working capital deficit of nearly $5 million. It also has a “going concern” opinion hanging over its head, meaning the company may not have the financial resources to continue operating. The company posted a net loss of $1.3 million in the first quarter.
Echo, originally known as Sontra Medical Corp., is led by chairman and CEO Patrick T. Mooney, who joined Echo in September 2007 as a result of the merger of Sontra and then privately-held Echo Therapeutics Inc. of North Carolina. Its board includes MIT professor and entrepreneur Robert S. Langer.
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