Precision Therapeutics Releases Highlights from FY 2017 Business Update Call
GlobeNewswire•April 4, 2018
MINNEAPOLIS, April 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Precision Therapeutics Inc. (AIPT) (“Precision” or “the Company”), formerly Skyline Medical, a company focused on applying artificial intelligence to personalized medicine and drug discovery, today released highlights from its business update call for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2017.
During the earnings call, members of Precision Therapeutics’ management team discussed the Company’s recent progress executing against its new growth strategy in the precision medicine market. The call also featured commentary from Kevin Hungerford, the Company’s new Global VP of Sales and Marketing, who discussed the factors behind the significant sales growth projected by the Company’s Skyline Medical division.
The call covered the following topics:
Limitations of existing methods used in the testing of new cancer therapies that are currently on the market:
Dr. Carl Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of Precision Therapeutics, commented, “For years, the search for new cancer therapies has been hampered by the lack of good biologically relevant models to test potential new therapies. Pharma companies have used so-called immortalized cell lines to test new drugs. These cell lines were originally derived from patient tumors and then modified so that they may easily be manipulated in the lab. As a result, the majority of these cell lines do not behave in the same manner as the original tumor cells, which has led to many failed drug candidates.”
As a result, the data on novel drugs that is generated from these immortalized cell lines is of questionable value. “As they say, ‘Garbage In Garbage Out’,” continued Dr. Schwartz.
Dr. Schwartz went on to explain the limitations of the patient-derived mouse and rat models that are currently used in clinical trials: “Despite the fact we understand more about the mutations and the gene expression of the tumor, laboratory models that reflect these subtle differences have been lacking. Mouse/rat models are popular but they are burdened with low throughput and high expense which has impacted their adoption both for recommending patient therapy as well as for screening of new drugs.”
Why the Company’s approach represents an advancement over current practices:
The Company formed TumorGenesis as a subsidiary in February of this year and appointed Dr. Mark Collins, Vice President of Innovation and Strategy at Helomics Corporation, as its President. TumorGenesis aims to develop tumor models that closely mimic the behaviour of tumors inside the body.
The TumorGenesis approach uses fresh tumor tissue from the patient. The full quality of the tumor is captured using tags that target each cancer cell subtype within the specific tumor. The tumor is then ‘reassembled’ on a 3D scaffold in an environment that closely mimics the patient’s own body. The Company has already made meaningful progress executing on its plans to advance the development of these next generation tumor models by signing licensing agreements with three companies: SyntArray, LLC, 48Hour Discovery and CellBridge Incorporated.
“Unlike the traditional mouse model, this approach is scalable for high throughput using standard consumables, equipment and reagents,” commented Dr. Schwartz. “By implementing this strategy and developing tumor models that closely mimic the behaviour of tumors inside the body, we believe Precision Therapeutics has a huge opportunity to become a crucial partner to the healthcare industry and build value for our shareholders.”
Precision Therapeutics’ 25% stake in Helomics Corporation, a personalized medicine and precision cancer diagnostic company
The Helomics’ Precision Oncology Insights service provides oncologists and their patients with a personalized, precision roadmap for therapy based on testing the response of the patient’s own tumor to a panel of standard of care drugs. Unlike many current approaches that simply look for mutations in key cancer genes, for which there are very few approved drugs, the Helomics Precision Oncology Insights service uniquely combines the drug response with the mutation/expression profile of the patient’s own tumor to provide actionable data to guide patient therapy.
During the call, Jerry Vardzel, Chief Executive Officer of Helomics Corporation, explained how the Helomics business will be impacted by the development of the TumorGenesis approach: “We believe that the TumorGenesis approach will be a major step forward in being able to test drugs in a model system that closely mimics the way a tumor grows in the body.
“Firstly, adopting the TumorGenesis approach will benefit Helomics by significantly enhancing the precision of the tumor drug response testing we currently perform by providing a model that captures the full heterogeneity of the tumor and grows the tumor in 3D and in more physiologically relevant way. Secondly, it will provide higher quality, more biologically relevant data to improve the decision-making power of the Helomics D-CHIP AI platform. This in turn will result in the D-CHIP becoming a very comprehensive AI-powered model of tumor biology, complete with drug response, and genomic information that can be used both for clinical, research and diagnostic use. Thirdly, Helomics will expand and store these tumor cells creating a one-of-a-kind, patient-derived tumor biobank that can be used for the testing of new drugs in partnership with Pharma companies.”
Mr Vardzel concluded, “As you can see, TumorGenesis and Helomics hold significant potential to revolutionize the development of precision cancer therapies and diagnostics.”
Sales progress at Skyline Medical, a division of Precision Therapeutics
In 2017, the Company implemented a refocused sales and marketing campaign, which included the hiring of key sales personnel, increased participation at major industry conferences and an awareness campaign to encourage its customers to use its disposable products, which are an important source of recurring revenues to the Company.
The Company sold ten STREAMWAY Systems in 2017, five of which were sold in the fourth quarter of 2017. “This demonstrates the continued traction of our sales and marketing campaign,” commented Dr. Carl Schwartz.
Mr. Kevin Hungerford, Global Vice President of Sales and Marketing, commented on the 2018 outlook for the Skyline Medical division. “In the first three months of 2018, the company sold 16 STREAMWAY Systems demonstrating significant growth compared with the 10 units sold throughout all of 2017. Four of the 16 unit sales were incremental sales to a prominent Minnesota based hospital system. Generating additional unit sales to existing customers, is not only a faster method of securing sales, it also validates the Company’s market positioning as a credible and industry-leading provider of medical waste management solutions.”
The Company has also made initial investments in its international commercial strategy by signing independent distribution agreements in Australia, Canada and Switzerland. In early 2018, the company opened European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and appointed a Vice President of International Sales.
Mr. Hungerford concluded, “While our commercial activities in international markets are at a very early stage, we're encouraged by the progress made to date. We expect to secure 100 STREAMWAY Systems in 2018. This number is based on our current relationship with potential and existing customers throughout the United States.”
A webcast of the event is available on the Investors section of the Company’s website at www.skylinemedical.com
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