PHOENIX, Nov. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Precision Therapeutics (Nasdaq: AIPT) (The “Company”) is a company applying artificial intelligence to personalized medicine and drug discovery. Their CEO, Dr. Carl Schwartz, and Richard Gabriel, a consultant brought on to lead the external business development strategy for TumorGenesis, Inc., Precision Therapeutics’ wholly-owned subsidiary, joined Stock Day’s Everett Jolly.
Right off the top Jolly asked about the state of the merger between Precision Therapeutics and Helomics Holding Corporation.
“It’s been almost 4 months of steady work on this merger,” explained Schwartz. “The S-4 just went off this past Monday. We are on our way, so the S-4 is in their hands and we await their comments and or decision. The next step will be a stockholder vote, then we hope to be one company by the end of the year.”
Jolly said that the company works with artificial intelligence to find solutions in the medical and drug discovery fields. He asked Schwartz exactly what that means for listeners.
“There are two facets to our company. The first one is the direct-to-drain system, which is Skyline. That’s a device that fits on the wall in an operating room and takes fluids from the patients directly to the drain, so they are not touched by any of the staff of the hospital or any of the maintenance staff through its process, that’s the original company,” explained Schwartz. “Then there’s Helomics, which is the company we are buying. They are in artificial intelligence and the analysis of tumors.”
Schwartz said they currently own 25% of Helomics and he can’t say much more until the merger is complete. He went on to say there is a third piece to who they are, TumorGenesis, Inc.
“That’s a company that we formed to develop a product that is really quite revolutionary. In the AI business, when they want to test tumors, they use mice. We found that, well Richard will explain it more, but they are developing a new matrix to test these tumors that eliminate the use of a mouse and very carefully replicate the body,” said Schwartz.
Gabriel then explained that TumorGenesis is targeting ovarian cancer with through their research and treatments. He explained that cancer cells fool the body into thinking that they are normal cells. 40% Ovarian cancer patients only have about a 50/50 chance of beating the disease.
“We thought, if we fool the cancer cells, we create an environment for the cancer cells that makes them think they are still inside the human body,” Gabriel explained.” This is all about fooling cancer cells in to growing outside of the body and keeping the DNA they are expressing as a cancer cell inline with what the patient sample originally was. We’ve been able to do that.”
Gabriel said then the company grows the cells and screens multiple combinations of drugs and in multiple dilutions, which is extremely important to the ovarian cancer patient.
“Our first goal is can we turn that 50/50 coin toss in 40% of the patients who survive ovarian cancer into 60/40 or 70/30 or 90/10. That’s a huge breakthrough for the market,” says Gabriel.
He went on to explain that this is not a drug, this is a way for the pathologists to get the tumor sample, screen it across the platform, use all of the other standard tests, so that they can determine what is the particular tumor type a particular patient has. From that they use the Helomics drug screen technology to use the AI and give the oncologist, through the pathologist, the best pathway to treat the patient. Gabriel explained their system is much more cost effective and faster.
“Our system only takes 9 weeks and cost about $12,500” when compared to current treatment which can take 32 weeks and costs $25,000. He says their first goal is ovarian cancer and that they are currently sourcing materials.
Jolly then asked Schwartz how he sees the first and second quarter shaping up for Precision Therapeutics.
“We are excited about that time period, we have a couple of things besides TumorGenesis,” explained Schwartz.” We hope to have the completion of our merger with Helomics and in addition with our STREAMWAY system, which is the direct-to-drain system, we have a new model coming out at the end of the year which is about half the size. With fewer moving marts, a very efficient piece of equipment and we are adding a vacuum pump that will be an adjunct to the machine initially, then will be integrated into the machine in a couple of months. It will make it way more appealing to the operating room.”
For the entire interview, click on the link to the Stock Day podcast: https://upticknewswire.com/featured-interview-ceo-dr-carl-schwartz-of-precision-therapeutics-inc-nasdaq-aipt-2/
About Precision Therapeutics Inc.
Precision Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AIPT) operates in two business areas: first, applying artificial intelligence to personalized medicine and drug discovery to provide personalized medicine solutions for patients and clinicians as well as clients in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and biotech industries, and second, production of the FDA-approved STREAMWAY® System for automated, direct-to-drain medical fluid disposal. For additional information, please visit www.precisiontherapeutics.com.
Precision Therapeutics’ medicine business is committed to improving the effectiveness of cancer therapy using the power of artificial intelligence (AI) applied to rich data diseases databases. This business has launched with Precision Therapeutics' acquisition of Helomics Corporation, a precision medicine company and integrated clinical contract research organization whose mission is to improve patient care by partnering with pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and academic organizations to bring innovative clinical products and technologies to the marketplace. In addition to its proprietary precision diagnostics for oncology, Helomics offers boutique Contract Research Organization (CRO) services that leverage their patient-derived tumor models, coupled to a wide range of multi-omics assays (genomics, proteomics and biochemical), and a proprietary bioinformatics platform (D-CHIP) to provide a tailored solution to our client's specific needs. Helomics is 100% owned by Precision Therapeutics. Helomics® is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the company maintains state-of-the-art, CLIA-certified, clinical and research laboratories. For more information, please visit www.Helomics.com.
Precision Therapeutics has also announced the formation of a subsidiary, TumorGenesis to pursue a new rapid approach to growing tumors in the laboratory, which essentially “fools” the cancer cells into thinking they are still growing inside the patient. Precision Therapeutics and Helomics have also announced a proposed joint venture with GLG Pharma focused on using their combined technologies to bring personalized medicines and testing to ovarian and breast cancer patients, especially those who present with ascites fluid (over one-third of patients). The growth strategy in this business includes securing new partnerships and considering acquisitions in the precision medicine space.
Sold through the Skyline Medical business of Precision Therapeutics, The STREAMWAY System virtually eliminates staff exposure to blood, irrigation fluid and other potentially infectious fluids found in the healthcare environment. Antiquated manual fluid handling methods that require hand carrying and emptying filled fluid canisters present an exposure risk and potential liability. Skyline Medical's STREAMWAY System fully automates the collection, measurement, and disposal of waste fluids and is designed to: 1) reduce overhead costs to hospitals and surgical centers; 2) improve compliance with OSHA and other regulatory agency safety guidelines; 3) improve efficiency in the operating room, and radiology and endoscopy departments, thereby leading to greater profitability; and 4) provide greater environmental stewardship by helping to eliminate the approximately 50 million potentially disease-infected canisters that go into landfills each year in the U.S. For additional information, please visit www.skylinemedical.com.
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Forward-Looking Statements
Certain of the matters discussed in this announcement contain forward-looking statements that involve material risks to and uncertainties in the Company's business that may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the statements made herein. Such risks and uncertainties include (1) risks related to the proposed merger, including the fact that we may not complete the merger; we do not have complete information about Helomics; the combined company will not be able to continue operating without additional financing; possible failure to realize anticipated benefits of the merger; costs associated with the merger may be higher than expected; the merger may result in disruption of the Company’s and Helomics’ existing businesses, distraction of management and diversion of resources; delay in completion of the merger may significantly reduce the expected benefits; and the market price of the Company’s common stock may decline as a result of the merger; (2) risks related to our partnerships with other companies, including the need to negotiate the definitive agreements; possible failure to realize anticipated benefits of these partnerships; and costs of providing funding to our partner companies, which may never be repaid or provide anticipated returns; and (3) other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company that include, among other things, current negative operating cash flows and a need for additional funding to finance our operating plan; the terms of any further financing, which may be highly dilutive and may include onerous terms; unexpected costs and operating deficits, and lower than expected sales and revenues; sales cycles that can be longer than expected, resulting in delays in projected sales or failure to make such sales; uncertain willingness and ability of customers to adopt new technologies and other factors that may affect further market acceptance, if our product is not accepted by our potential customers, it is unlikely that we will ever become profitable; adverse economic conditions; adverse results of any legal proceedings; the volatility of our operating results and financial condition; inability to attract or retain qualified senior management personnel, including sales and marketing personnel; our ability to establish and maintain the proprietary nature of our technology through the patent process, as well as our ability to possibly license from others patents and patent applications necessary to develop products; the Company's ability to implement its long range business plan for various applications of its technology; the Company's ability to enter into agreements with any necessary marketing and/or distribution partners and with any strategic or joint venture partners; the impact of competition, the obtaining and maintenance of any necessary regulatory clearances applicable to applications of the Company's technology; and management of growth and other risks and uncertainties that may be detailed from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available for review at www.sec.gov. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell securities and does not purport to be an analysis of the Company's financial position. See the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and subsequent reports and other filings at www.sec.gov.
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