MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Skyline Medical Inc. (NASDAQ:SKLN) (“Skyline” or the “Company”), producer of the FDA-approved
STREAMWAY® System for automated, direct-to-drain medical fluid disposal, today announced that it is expanding into Next Generation
Sequencing (“NGS”) through the licensing of an NGS platform MiSeqDx®, from Illumina.
The MiSeqDx NGS platform will allow gene sequencing of tumor specimens from cancer patients which will provide rich genomic data
for the D-CHIP™ AI-based bioinformatics platform being built out as part of the Skyline-Helomics joint venture. The D-CHIP platform
then identifies the correlations between the patient demographic data, the tumor gene sequence (obtained by NGS), and the drug
responses of the individual patient’s tumor. Pharma partners who subscribe to the D-CHIP service can mine the knowledgebase of
tumor mutations and drug response to design the next generation of cancer treatments.
“Licensing the NGS platform is expected to drive commercial traction for both the D-CHIP platform and the additional CRO
services offered by the Skyline-Helomics joint venture. We fully expect the NGS platform to drive revenue from new partnerships
early in 2018,” stated Dr. Carl Schwartz, CEO of Skyline Medical. “This further demonstrates our commitment to establishing the
Company at the frontier of the personalized medicine sector and to building value for our shareholders.”
“The NGS platform will allow us to add targeted sequence data from tumor specimens for a range of key cancer genes to the D-CHIP
platform. Pharma companies which license our D-CHIP platform will benefit from these actionable insights to drive biomarker
discovery and validation, aiding them in the selection of patients for clinical trials as well as drug-repurposing activities,”
commented Gerald Vardzel, President and CEO, Helomics.
“The MiSeqDx is the only FDA approved platform for In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) use. We believe that licensing the NGS platform
will give us access to approved IVD tests which will attract clinical testing business from a variety of local hospitals, academic
centers and small and medium size companies,” said Mark Collins PhD, VP of Innovation and Strategy, Helomics.
About Skyline Medical
Skyline Medical produces a fully automated, patented, FDA-cleared waste fluid disposal system that 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.
About Helomics Corporation
Helomics® is 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 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.
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 the proposed joint ventures, including the need to negotiate the
definitive agreements for the joint ventures; possible failure to realize anticipated benefits of the joint ventures; and costs of
providing funding to the joint ventures. 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; 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.
Contacts:
Skyline Medical
Carl Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer
(651) 389-4800
cschwartz@skylinemedical.com
Investors
KCSA Strategic Communications
Elizabeth Barker
(212) 896-1203
skln@kcsa.com