Echo Therapeutics Bullish on Recent News (OTC:ECTE)

Diabetes Home Use Market

Diabetes is a chronic and life-threatening disease caused by the body’s inability to produce or properly use insulin, a key hormone the body uses to manage glucose, which fuels the cells in the body. Insulin regulates the uptake of sugar from the blood into the cells. When glucose builds up in the blood instead of going into cells, it can cause the cells to become starved for energy and, over time, damage the eyes, kidneys, nerves or heart. Although not all of the causes of diabetes are known, genetics and lifestyle factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play important roles. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), about 21 million people in the United States, or approximately seven percent (7%) of the population, have diabetes, including over 6 million people who remain unaware that they have the disease. In addition, before people develop Type 2 diabetes (discussed below), they usually have “pre-diabetes,” or blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. According to the ADA, there are 54 million people in the United States who have pre-diabetes.

When blood glucose levels are high, diabetes patients often administer insulin to reduce their blood glucose level. Unfortunately, insulin administration can reduce blood glucose levels below the normal range, causing hypoglycemia. In cases of severe hypoglycemia, diabetes patients risk severe and acute complications, such as loss of consciousness or death. Due to the drastic nature of acute complications associated with hypoglycemia, many diabetes patients are afraid of sharply reducing their blood glucose levels and often remain in a hyperglycemic state, exposing themselves to long-term complications of that condition.

Diabetes is typically classified into two major groups: Type 1 and Type 2. Type 1 diabetes usually develops in children and young adults and is characterized by the body’s inability to produce insulin. People with Type 1 diabetes rely on frequent administration of insulin to regulate their blood glucose levels. Type 2 diabetes, by far the most common form of the disease worldwide, results when either the body does not produce enough insulin or cells in the body ignore the insulin produced and become insulin-resistant. People with Type 2 diabetes often require diet and nutrition management, exercise, oral medications or insulin administration to regulate their blood glucose levels.

Technical Analysis

Taking a look at the 6 month chart, we notice that the RSI has found consolidation from the 50 – 70 range, thus at its current point in 50, it represents a strong buy based on the fact that it remains oversold at this point. Looking at the MACD and EMA, it is also moving towards a golden cross, and based on the recent buying pressure and strong volume, this shouldn’t be a problem. The next resistance the stock should test would be the around the $1.43 level should the volume continue.

Latest Company News

Echo Therapeutics Announces Positive Results of a Clinical Study Testing Symphony(TM) tCGM System in Patients with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes

FRANKLIN, Mass., Nov. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Echo Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ECTE), a company developing its needle-free Symphony(TM) tCGM System as a non-invasive, wireless, transdermal continuous glucose monitoring (tCGM) system and the Prelude(TM) SkinPrep System for transdermal drug delivery, today announced positive results of a clinical study of its Symphony tCGM System in patients with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. Echo’s non-invasive Symphony tCGM System consists of its wireless transmission and transdermal biosensor technologies and its Prelude SkinPrep System, which incorporates leading-edge, needle-free, controlled skin ablation. Echo’s Symphony tCGM System is designed to provide patients with diabetes and critical care patients with a reliable, affordable, and easy-to-use, needle-free continuous glucose monitoring device. The purpose of the study was to test the performance of its new, improved one-piece, cost-effective and easy-to-use biosensor.

“This study represents another major step forward in our Symphony development program,” stated Patrick Mooney, M.D., Echo’s Chairman and CEO. “We believe that we have successfully developed a new cost-effective, one-piece biosensor and, with this study, we have demonstrated improvement in the accuracy of our Symphony system glucose readings. Data from this study demonstrates that Symphony, using the new, improved, cost-effective biosensor, is safe, accurate and reliable at monitoring glucose levels. We look forward to continued progress with our Symphony development program throughout this year and next as we move toward our goal of making Symphony available to patients.”

Study Design

After Prelude skin ablation, ten (10) Symphony tCGM biosensors were applied to subjects with Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes. Venous reference blood samples were taken from intravenous lines at 15-minute intervals for 24 hours and measured on a YSI 2300STAT PLUS laboratory analyzer. At the conclusion of the 24-hour study period, the test skin sites were inspected for redness or any other undesirable effects.

Analytical Methods

CGM performance is evaluated with multiple analytical tools, as defined by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute’s POCT05-A guideline. The primary metric, used to evaluate clinical accuracy, is the continuous glucose-error grid analysis (CG-EGA). The CG-EGA is a categorization of all data pairs based on the clinical significance of the accuracy. Accurate readings result in the same clinical decision when based on the CGM trend vs. the underlying blood glucose fluctuations. Benign errors lead to the same clinical outcome as accurate readings even though the actual clinical decision may differ. Erroneous readings lead to clinical errors. CGM performance is measured as the sum of accurate readings and benign errors. Numerical accuracy is the other key method for evaluating CGM performance. The most widely accepted tool is mean absolute relative difference (MARD). MARD is a standard error calculation tool that is used to measure the average absolute value of the relative (or percentage) difference between two measurements.

Study Results

Using approximately 900 Symphony tCGM glucose readings paired with reference blood glucose measurements, CG-EGA revealed that the accuracy of the Echo’s Symphony tCGM System, measured as a percentage of accurate readings and benign errors, was 97%. The MARD for the study was 12.89%. There were no adverse events reported from the Prelude skin permeation or the Symphony tCGM biosensor.

Disclosure: Long ECTE