Sixteen STREAMWAY Systems sold in Q1 2018, compared with five units sold in Q4 2017 and three sold in Q1 2016
MINNEAPOLIS, March 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Precision Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:AIPT) (“Precision” or “the Company”), today provided a sales update from its Skyline Medical division, producer of the FDA-approved STREAMWAY System for automated, direct-to-drain medical fluid disposal. Skyline Medical sold 16 STREAMWAY Systems in the first quarter of 2018, to a combination of both new customers as well as its existing customer base. This represents significant sales growth, compared with the five STREAMWAY Systems sold in the fourth quarter of 2017 and the three STREAMWAY Systems sold in the first quarter of 2017.
This ramp in sales is due to the Company’s refocused sales and marketing campaign, which included the hiring of key sales personnel, increased participation at major industry conferences and an awareness campaign related to its disposable products. The Company continues to project a total of 100 STREAMWAY System sales in 2018, as announced in its press release dated January 31, 2018. Newly appointed Kevin Hungerford, Global Vice President of Sales and Marketing, will drive these sales and marketing efforts.
Dr. Carl Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of Precision Therapeutics, commented, “We have long believed that the STREAMWAY System offers the best solution on the market for medical waste disposal due to its unique ability to control the spread of infection in the hospital by virtually eliminating any contact between the infectious materials and the patients and staff. Now, following our focused efforts to educate the market about the unique safety and hygiene benefits it offers, we are proud to see purchase orders coming in from across the United States as decision makers are increasingly seeing the value of the STREAMWAY System, driving meaningful sales growth for the Company. Of note, four of the sixteen-unit sales were repeat sales to a major healthcare system which operates medical centers across the U.S. and has approximately 63,000 employees. This is particularly encouraging as building our blue-chip customer base validates the Company as a credible and industry-leading provider of waste disposal solutions to the healthcare market.”
Dr. Schwartz continued, “We are encouraged by this sales momentum and expect it to build throughout the remainder of 2018. The majority of our sales have been in interventional radiology, where the STREAMWAY System is revolutionizing paracentesis and thoracentesis procedures by eliminating the need for evacuated bottles and canisters. We are in advanced discussions with potential customers and believe there is significant room for us to grow our market reach in endoscopy, urology and cystoscopy rooms.”
The Company has also made initial investments in its international sales and marketing strategy by signing independent distribution agreements in Australia, Canada and Switzerland. In early 2018, the Company opened a European Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and appointed a Vice President of International Sales, Mr. Jean-Paul Rasschaert.
Dr. Schwartz concluded, “Building out our sales infrastructure in key international markets expands our potential customer base significantly. We believe our solution is well-suited to the European market, where the importance of the proper management of infectious health-care waste in order to minimize risks to the environment and healthcare staff is well-recognized. We are working hard to establish our presence in this market, and in Australia and Canada where we have signed agreements with independent distributors. Our commercial activities in international markets are at an early stage and we are encouraged by the progress made to date.”
The STREAMWAY System has been approved to be marketed in Canada, Europe and Australia by the respective regulatory agencies in these regions.
About the STREAMWAY System
Produced by Skyline Medical, a division of Precision Therapeutics, the revolutionary, FDA-cleared STREAMWAY System is the first true direct-to-drain fluid disposal system designed specifically for medical applications, such as radiology, endoscopy, urology and cystoscopy procedures. It connects directly to a facility’s plumbing system to automate the collection, measurement and disposal of waste fluids.
The STREAMWAY minimizes human intervention for better safety and improves compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and other regulatory agency safety guidelines. It also provides unlimited capacity for increased efficiency in the operating room, which leads to greater profitability. Furthermore, the STREAMWAY eliminates canisters to reduce overhead costs and provides greater environmental stewardship by helping to eliminate the approximately 50 million potentially disease-infected canisters that go into landfills annually in the U.S. For a demonstration please visit www.skylinemedical.com or call 855-785-8855.
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 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.
Precision Therapeutics’ CRO services 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’ investment in Helomics Corporation, a precision diagnostic 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 CRO services that leverage our 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 20% 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 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.
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 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. Other risks and uncertainties relating to the Company 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.
