PositiveID Corporation ("PositiveID" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:PSID) announced today that it has reached an important chemistry milestone in the development of its GlucoChip™, glucose-sensing RFID microchip. The Company has successfully shown that it is able to construct both anchor and reverse anchor building blocks and competitor constructs, which are able to bind with glucose, that can be incorporated into the sensor. These building blocks and competitor constructs bind with glucose to produce a direct, reproducible correlation of glucose levels. The Company expects to complete optimization of the sensing system by mid-2011, at which point it will begin to incorporate the glucose sensing system with the electronics of the RFID microchip to complete development of the glucose sensor.
The Company is currently in Phase II development of GlucoChip. As previously announced, the goal of Phase II is to optimize the sensing system for its glucose response and demonstrate the integration of the components into a stable and reproducible glucose sensing system that will be the critical component of the glucose sensor. In Phase II, PositiveID has screened anchor and reverse anchor constructs for their binding with glucose and appropriateness for immobilization on a solid surface. The results of these screenings will be used to select the best sugar binding partner pairs for incorporation into the prototype.
Robert E. Carlson, Ph.D., President and Chief Science Officer at Receptors, PositiveID's development partner, said, "The significance of today's announcement is that we have reached a point in our development that gives us more confidence that we can create a stable and reproducible glucose sensing system. Constructing a material that binds to glucose and produces a consistent response curve that can be read and correlated to glucose levels was a significant hurdle."
Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of PositiveID, said, "We are now at a stage in our development that, we believe, tells us that the chemistry required for GlucoChip supports accurate measurement of glucose, and by mid-year, we anticipate completing the optimization of the glucose sensing system. As we push forward, we are hopeful that we can take GlucoChip to the next stage of development and leverage our expertise with RFID implantable microchips."
GlucoChip is an implantable glucose-sensing microchip currently under development with chemistry partner Receptors LLC. GlucoChip is based on the Company's FDA approved microchip for patient identification, the VeriChip, and the Company's Patent No. 7,125,382 for an "Embedded Bio-Sensor System." The Company's Embedded Bio-Sensor System patent covers a bio-sensor system that utilizes radio frequency identification technology and includes a remote transponder in wireless communication with an implantable passively-powered on-chip transponder.
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