Echo Therapeutics is a transdermal medical device company with extensive expertise in advanced skin permeation technology. In particular, the company is developing the PreludeTM SkinPrep System to allow for painless and significantly enhanced skin permeation that will enable both needle-free drug delivery and analyte extraction, plus the Symphony tCGM System, a non-invasive, wireless, transdermal continuous glucose monitoring system for use in hospital critical care units and for people with diabetes.
The skin permeation technology utilized is based upon Echo’s patented feedback control algorithm, which allows system removal of only the outermost layer of dry dead skin cells, painlessly preparing the skin for optimal permeation. The whole process is designed as a safe, effective, fast-acting, and pain free platform for needle-free drug delivery as well as for the pain-free extraction of analytes used for things like glucose monitoring.
The ability to painlessly monitor glucose levels will allow Echo to tap into the huge and growing global diabetes market. The cost of diabetes care in the U.S. alone is, according to the ADA, more than $174 billion, based upon a 2007 figure, including medical expenditures and lost productivity. The ADA estimates that people with diabetes average medical expenditures more than twice as high as those without diabetes, and that nearly 10% of all healthcare dollars can be attributed to the disease. In addition, a significant portion of overall diabetes care costs go to blood glucose monitoring.
Echo currently has two key strategic partnerships in place:
• Ferndale Pharma Group, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary Eloquest Healthcare Inc. have been licensed by Echo to develop, market, and sell the Prelude device for enhanced, fast acting, and needle-free delivery of Ferndale’s topical lidocaine product in North America and the U.K.
• Handok Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. has been licensed to develop, market, and sell the Symphony® tCGM System for continuous glucose monitoring in South Korea.
For additional information, visit the company’s website at www.EchoTX.com
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