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| 8-K - SPECTRASCIENCE INC | v199770_8k.htm |
SpectraScience
Announces Strategic Restructuring of Business
SAN
DIEGO, October 25, 2010 (Marketwire) – SpectraScience, Inc. (OTCBB:SCIE), a San
Diego-based medical device company, today announced that it is
undertaking a strategic restructuring of its business. Under this plan, Mark
McWilliams, who was recently appointed as the Company’s Chairman of the Board,
will serve as interim Chief Executive Officer. Jim Dorst, Chief Financial
Officer of the Company, will expand his role, acting also as Chief Operating
Officer, responsible for day-to-day oversight of the Company’s operations. The
board has created a search committee that will be actively involved in
recruiting a full-time Chief Executive Officer.
Letter
to the Shareholders from the Board
The Board
is committed to refocusing the Company’s efforts on driving sales and building
shareholder value. In the past several months, we have performed an extensive
evaluation of our technology, our sales and marketing efforts to date, and the
markets which we have targeted as growth opportunities. We have also formally
reviewed the management’s strategy and record of execution.
We
believe that key to long-term value creation for SpectraScience and its
shareholders is a clear change of strategy. There must be greater
accountability, as well as the investment and deployment of a more appropriate
set of resources to deliver the level of execution that we believe is
achievable.
Cancer is
a terrible disease. There is a real need in the marketplace for better
diagnostic and screening technologies. WavSTAT™ is positioned to address that
need. Our technology offers the healthcare market with a unique value
proposition. Simply put, it can enable physicians to screen for colon, and in
the future esophageal, cancer with greater accuracy. It can enable healthcare
providers to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Most important, it can
contribute to earlier diagnosis and saving lives.
Fundamental
to achieving success in the Company’s refocused business plan is our commitment
to allocation of our resources in a more disciplined and focused manner to
address the markets we think offer the greatest, and nearest-term opportunities
to validate our technology through sales.
We have
previously announced several distribution partnerships throughout the European
Union. These are all under review. Going forward we will only spend time and
resources with partners in markets where there is a clear business
case.
We have
previously announced a number of clinical studies and clinical trials. These are
also under review. A tactical goal is to tighten the focus of clinical studies
and trials to those which directly support our new strategy and near-term
business interests.
We expect
in the coming weeks to provide more specific information relating to these
efforts heading into 2011, key milestones that we expect to achieve, as well as
new additions to our management and sales team that will help SpectraScience
achieve sales and make this coming year the most successful in its
history. By more carefully focusing our efforts and more effectively
leveraging existing assets, we believe we can achieve our goals.
SpectraScience
is fortunate to have a strong, interested and loyal base of shareholders and
team members. Many of these shareholders have been invested in this Company for
more than a decade. We are grateful for all of your support and are sensitive to
our mandate to maximize shareholder value. We believe that the steps we have
taken, and are planning to take in the near term, are foundational in achieving
that mandate.
We would
also like to thank and recognize Jim Hitchin for having had the vision,
determination and perseverance to acquire the SpectraScience assets out of
bankruptcy in 2004 and attract the funding needed to drive the company forward
in what has proven to be a very difficult environment for every business such as
ours.
As of
October 25, 2010, SpectraScience had approximately $4.0 million in cash and cash
equivalents, and no debt. The Company’s Board of Directors does not expect that
it will require any additional working capital to execute its plan for fiscal
year 2011.
About
WavSTAT™
The
WavSTAT™ Optical Biopsy System employs a spectrometry technique called Laser
Induced Fluorescence (LIF) to optically illuminate and analyze tissue using a
standard biopsy forceps. The WavSTAT System uses an optical fiber to send cool,
safe UV laser light into suspected tissue, where the light reflects back to a
computer at different frequencies, depending on the type of
tissue. For example, in abnormal tissue, cells fluoresce differently
than in healthy tissue and have a different physical “signature” that our system
can interpret as either normal or abnormal. This can greatly assist the
physician by providing an additional indication, displaying a green light for
normal tissue and a red light for abnormal tissue. If the tissue appears
abnormal, physicians can also use the WavSTAT System to biopsy the
tissue.
About
SpectraScience, Inc.
SpectraScience
is a San Diego-based medical device company that designs, develops, manufactures
and markets spectrophotometry systems capable of determining whether tissue is
normal, pre-cancerous or cancerous without physically removing tissue from the
body. The WavSTAT™ Optical Biopsy System uses light to optically scan tissue and
provide the physician with an immediate analysis. With FDA approval for sale in
the U.S. and the CE Mark for the European Union, the WavSTAT System is the first
commercially available product that incorporates this innovative technology for
clinical use. The Company's LUMA imaging technology has received FDA approval
for an optical non-invasive system that is proven to more effectively detect
cervical cancer precursors than conventional methods available in the market
today.
Forward
Looking Statements
This news
release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of
the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding
SpectraScience’s business plan, potential partnership opportunities, clinical
trial efforts, and working capital requirements. These forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause SpectraScience's
actual results to differ materially from results discussed in forward-looking
statements. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various
disclosures made by SpectraScience in this news release, its most recent annual
report on Form 10-K and in SpectraScience's other reports filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission that attempt to advise interested parties of
the risks and factors that may affect SpectraScience's business. These
forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by the cautions and
risk factors filed by SpectraScience in its annual report on Form 10-K and other
reports.
Contact:
SpectraScience,
Inc.
Mark
McWilliams, Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer
Jim
Dorst, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer
(858)
405-9933
Hayden
Communications
Investor
Relations
Todd
Pitcher
(858)
518-1387