SensiVida Medical Technologies to conduct clinical trials of minimally invasive allergy test system

July 3, 2009

JULY 3, 2009--SensiVida Medical Technologies, Inc. (Henrietta, NY) says it has received clearance from the Western Institutional Review Board (WIRB; Olympia, WA), to begin clinical trials of its minimally invasive allergy test system. The microsystems-based optical technology promises to automate bio-sensing and data acquisition while minimizing patient discomfort. The platform targets other applications too, including glucose and cholesterol monitoring, and blood coagulation and TB testing.

JULY 3, 2009--SensiVida Medical Technologies, Inc. (Henrietta, NY; OTCBB:SVMT) says it has received written clearance from the Western Institutional Review Board (WIRB; Olympia, WA), to begin clinical trials of its minimally invasive allergy test system. The company's microsystems-based optical-digital technology promises to automate bio-sensing and data acquisition while minimizing patient discomfort. The platform targets a number of multi-billion dollar market opportunities in addition to allergy testing: disease-state diagnostics, pain-free automated glucose monitoring without bio-fouling, blood coagulation testing, tuberculosis (TB) testing, and cholesterol monitoring.

According to the WIRB, "The Board determined that the device as used in the research study is a non-significant risk device."

SensiVida Medical Technologies resulted from the purchase of SensiVida Medical Systems in March 2009 by Mediscience Technology (Cherry Hill, NJ). Mediscience, a developer of minimally invasive autofluorescent-based technology for early detection of cancer, expanded its technology platform with the acquisition; the merged entity was named Sensivida Medical Technologies.

At the time of the acquisition, David Smith was appointed chairman of the new board of directors. Kamal Sarbadhikari and Jose Mir were appointed as president and CEO, and chief technology officer, respectively. Peter Katevatis resigned as CEO, treasurer and chairman of the Mediscience board and continues as a director of SensiVida Medical Technologies's new board.

Sarbadhikari is an entrepreneurial senior executive with 40 years of start-up and management of Fortune 1000 companies. Prior to SensiVida, he ran Bausch and Lomb's surgical businesses. He was part of the original team responsible for commercializing soft-contact lenses.

Mir started his career at the Eastman Kodak Company, pioneering new technologies that enabled some of the world's earliest digital imaging products. Most recently, he founded SensiVida Medical Systems and served as its president/chief technology officer for three years.

Smith is a founding member of Infotonics Technology Center and served as its president, CEO and chairman of the board from 2002 to 2008.

Posted by Barbara G. Goode, [email protected], for BioOptics World.