PhotoMedex, AzurTec form alliance to develop, distribute skin cancer detection system

By Lisa Kerner

Erie, Pa., April 6 - PhotoMedex, Inc. said it has signed an agreement with AzurTec, Inc. to resume development and to manufacture and distribute AzurTec's MetaSpex Laboratory System (MLS), a light-based system designed to detect certain skin cancers.

As part of the agreement, PhotoMedex acquired a 14% stake in AzurTec in exchange for 200,000 shares of PhotoMedex restricted common stock. If AzurTec raises an additional $1 million in equity capital in the next nine months, PhotoMedex said it will issue a five-year term warrant on 100,000 shares of its common stock, without dilution of its 14% position.

"The AzurTec products are intended to address diagnostic accuracy while also reducing costs in the health care system," PhotoMedex president and chief executive officer Jeffrey F. O'Donnell said in a news release.

AzurTec products will enable dermatologists and surgeons to identify a suspect pigment or tumor more quickly at the bedside, rather than waiting for pathology testing of tissue and test results, officials said.

A follow-on clinical trial is planned for later this year for the use of the MLS without the need for corroboration of negative findings and for broader use in the detection of carcinomas.

PhotoMedex said the MLS will also serve as a platform for later applications, including direct, on-the-body (in situ) detection of cancer margins during surgery, replacing the need for biopsy samples and ex-vivo testing.

"Our investment in, and collaboration with, AzurTec is aimed to accelerate the development and distribution of the MLS ex-vivo product offering, and to provide first rights to distribution of the MLS in situ product offering," O'Donnell added in the release.

Newtown, Pa.-based AzurTec is a development-stage company that develops products for the detection and treatment of cancer and other conditions, using hyper-spectral imaging technology.

PhotoMedex develops excimer laser and fiber optic systems and techniques for dermatological applications. The company is located in Montgomeryville, Pa.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.