August 28 - The Journal of the National Cancer Institute

News for SpectraScience (SCIE)

According to Dr. Linda Morris Brown of RTI International, "The primary risk factors that have been identified for adenocarcinoma of the esophagus and its precursor lesion are gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and obesity, particularly abdominal obesity."

We have been writing about a San Diego-based cancer screening company, SpectraScience (OTCBB: SCIE) which expects to have FDA approval for the esophagus screening application for its WavSTAT platform by the end of this year, and whose platform technology has been proven to have a higher degree of sensitivity, allowing for more accurate and earlier detection of cancers such as esophageal and colon cancer.

You have got to realize that I have been a fighter in this war against cancer for a long time. My mother died from cancer, my mother-in-law died from cancer my brother died from cancer. My wife had breast cancer and my youngest daughter had breast cancer.

So cancer has been a constant enemy of the Thompson household and will do anything I possibly can, so I have been looking around at some really great innovative companies that show tremendous opportunity to do what is necessary to really find the kind of cures that I am hoping to find.

And SpectraScience fits that category right dead center. SpectraScience has got a tremendous opportunity to be one of the best diagnostic companies in the world. It comes up with five different technological advancements that are really some of the best in the world - if not the best. And that is why I am so happy to be part of the growth of that company. I think that company has an extremely bright future and anybody that has been afflicted with cancer will recognize that technology detection is the first step to curing this insidious disease.

And that is why I am so excited about being with SpectraScience. I believe that they are going to play such a valuable role in really the fundamental way to really solve this problem and be able to save the lives of many people - as well as the suffering. The pain and suffering that go with cancer is just tremendous and if you can detect it early - and that is what SpectraScience has.

They have new technology for so many different cancers, esophageal, lung cancer and colon cancer and those are just three of the major cancers for which detection is so important. SpectraScience fits that space front and center. "Bulls-eye", I call it, and that's what SpectraScience is, it zeros in and gets the bulls-eye where the cancer is where the lesions are and is able to give the doctor, really the kind of expertise they need to cure these cancers.

All I can say is that I am delighted to be with them, I am excited about the possibilities and the future and I am really confident that it is going to be a fantastic growth company that is going to continue to improve with new technologies for the foreseeable future.

The fact that SpectraScience is rolling out an application to detect esophageal cancer, at a point which incidence is clearly on the rise, is compelling for patients, doctors and the investment community. We have noted previously that SpectraScience is transitioning from R&D to commercialization, it has brought a seasoned sales veteran in the medical devices field on board and it is now in the process of filling its pipeline for sales - and demand is rising.

The stock is currently trading at $0.50, holding a market cap of $34.18 million. The company's corporate communications firm, Hayden Communications, a well-respected Wall Street consultancy, made the following comments about the prospects for its esophageal application in a report:

We arrived at a cumulative annual number of screenings in the U.S. of about 3.6 million screenings per year to arrive at an estimated $1 billion market.

Again, in our forecasts, we only included the fee-per-use model and have excluded the disposable forceps component until we see the sales model further validated, bringing our forecasted contribution from the Barrett's application to $30 million by 2012.  If we included this component at $125 per use, then the additional contribution to our revenue forecast by 2012 would be about $25 million.

So, with a cumulative market opportunity of $55 million over the next five years for its Barrett's application, and incidences of esophageal cancer on the rise as recently noted by the Journal of National Cancer Institute, there is some distinct upside in the stock if the company begins to prove out its worth in the fight against esophageal cancer. We have not mentioned, in this article, the addressable market opportunities for its colon cancer and cervical cancer screening applications.

Bottom line, in our opinion, is that SpectraScience represents a tremendous opportunity for aggressive growth oriented investors.

Important Disclosure: The SCPEditor is an affiliate of Hayden Communications, which is retained by SpectraScience as a corporate communications consultant, and the Small Cap Pulse has been compensated $6,000 by SpectraScience to provide market exposure programs to its readership. The information and trades provided here and in the comments are for informational purposes only and are not a solicitation to buy or sell any of these securities. Investing involves substantial risk and you should evaluate your own risk levels before you make any investment. Past results are not an indication of future performance.