SAVANNAH, Ga. - (Business Wire) Due to the recent downward pressure on the price of Health Discovery Corporation’s common stock (OTCBB: HDVY) after breaking through multiple 52-week highs in a few short weeks as it did in the past month, the Company has received numerous investor inquiries. Given these inquiries and in order to make Company information available on a uniform basis, the Company would like to provide an intra-quarterly update on its activities, to and including, but not limited to, the following since its most recent quarterly filing: - The Company’s private placement Series B fund raising is going extremely well and the Company expects to close this round of financing in the next few weeks. These Series B shares are not common shares and are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are pleased to announce that many of the participants in this Series B funding round are current shareholders of the Company.
- The Company continues to make great progress on its urine-based prostate cancer test.
As previously announced, HDC recently entered into royalty-bearing licenses for its new urine-based prostate cancer test with Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX) and Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) for development and commercialization. The Company also entered into royalty-bearing licenses for its tissue biopsy-based prostate cancer test with Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) and Clarient Inc. (NasdaqCM: CLRT) for development and commercialization.
- The Company’s minority-owned subsidiary, Smart Personalized Medicine, LLC, has recently entered into a licensing agreement with a world-renowned international cancer center to develop a breast cancer prognostic test and, with the Company, are currently in discussions with a national clinical laboratory for development and commercialization of the test.
- The Company is finalizing the image processing development on its PAP Smear interpretation test. The Company entered into a development and commercialization agreement with DCL Laboratories for this test as well as tests for ovarian and endometrial cancer.
- Discussions are underway with an international diagnostics company regarding the development and commercialization of the Company’s colon cancer molecular diagnostic test.
- Since the recent press release on the status of the Company’s IP portfolio on October 19, 2009, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued additional Notices of Allowance on two of HDC’s patent applications covering the use of SVMs for analysis of spectral data. Spectral data are generated by instruments including mass spectrometers, which are widely used for detection of chemical properties of materials that can be analyzed based on their atomic or molecular weights, optical detectors, such as infrared telescopes and laser analyzers, audio signal analyzers, and medical testing systems, such as EEG and ECG analysis. Both patent applications cover the direct analysis of spectral data using SVMs, which represents a significant improvement over earlier methods that required identification and extraction of individual peaks in the spectra, which was frequently a manual operation, before any analysis could occur.
“As a Company, we are focused on creating shareholder value and expect that from time to time shareholders will take some profits from their investment, especially when the company breaks through multiple 52-week highs in a few short weeks as we did in the past month,” Dr. Barnhill said. “Additionally, we were proud to be recently listed by the Wall Street Journal Market Watch as a “Best Performing Stock” in the Biotechnology sector.
“Over the past several months, the Company has taken prudent, definitive steps to strengthen its staffing, to bolster its investor relations/public relations capacity by hiring a New York City firm and to improve our capital structure,” said Dr. Barnhill.
“I am very excited by our progress and feel that there has never been a more promising time in the Company’s history than now,” said Dr. Barnhill.
Prostate Cancer Screening Remains Vitally Important
There appears to be considerable confusion in the media regarding the American Cancer Society’s position on the value of universal prostate cancer screening. The critical issue regarding the American Cancer Society’s position on prostate cancer screening is not that screening, per se, is unwarranted but that the currently available PSA diagnostic test is inadequate for justifying mass screening for prostate cancer, and that a new, more accurate test is desperately needed. In other words, it is the test, not the testing, that is inadequate, wasteful, and in some cases, harmful, and given the availability of the “right” test, it would be unwise to abandon prostate cancer screening or even seriously consider doing so.
U.S. & Global Market Opportunity for Health Discovery Corporation
HDC receives, licensing and milestones fees as well as royalty payments on a per test basis upon the sale of patient tests, including HDC’s prostate cancer tests. HDC’s initial target market for prostate cancer is significant. For example, in the U.S. alone there are 25 million PSA tests (prostate specific antigen) performed annually. There are an additional 25 million PSA tests performed annually outside the U.S. The PSA test sells in U.S. national clinical laboratories for approximately $100 per test. The PSA test has come under increasing scrutiny due to its known limitations. HDC, with its partners, expects to provide an alternative to the PSA test in the U.S. and globally.
According to Dr. Barnhill, “The future for cancer screening is indeed bright.” In fact, it would be impossible to accomplish the nation’s best visions for healthcare-reform without vastly increasing the numbers of patients being screened and the frequency of their early-detection screenings—as well as increasing the use of companion diagnostic tests to screen for those patients who are likely to respond favorably to an expensive or dangerous therapy, such as chemotherapy.
Health Discovery Corporations Invites the American Cancer Society to Act Immediately
Given the promising future of molecular diagnostic testing, and the increased accuracy of these tests, Health Discovery Corporation asks that the American Cancer Society immediately and strongly reassert its position that, at least, in the case of prostate cancer screening, the availability of a new and vastly superior screening diagnostic tool could be of immense public health benefit.
If we focus on the science, as well as the economics, because, as it turns out both are in alignment here, we will jointly get to the right place after all, a place where the benefits of prostate cancer screening using a new, very powerful test far outweigh the risks and other costs.
About Health Discovery Corporation
Health Discovery Corporation is a molecular diagnostics company that uses advanced mathematical techniques to analyze large amounts of data to uncover patterns that might otherwise be undetectable. It operates primarily in the emerging field of personalized medicine where such tools are critical to scientific discovery. Its primary business consists of licensing its intellectual property and developing its own product line of biomarker-based diagnostic tests that include human genes and genetic variations, as well as gene, protein, and metabolic expression differences and image analysis in digital pathology and radiology. For more information, see www.healthdiscoverycorp.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which is necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, statements regarding future performance, opportunities and investments, and anticipated results in general. From time to time the Company may make other forward-looking statements relating to other matters, including without limitation, commercialization plans and strategic partnerships. Actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, including, among other things, the acceptance of our approach to applying mathematics computer science and physics into the disciplines of biology, organic chemistry and medicine and our products and technologies associated with those approaches, the ability to develop or commercialize new drugs, therapies or other products based on our approaches, and other factors set forth from time to time in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
All forward-looking statements and cautionary statements included in this document are made as of the date hereof based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or cautionary statement.
for Health Discovery Corporation
Tom Gallagher, 212-922-0900
Investor Relations
tgallagher@dgi-nyc.com
or
Matthew Swetonic, 212-922-0900
Media Relations
mswetonic@dgi-nyc.com
