24th May 2007

Digital Angel and VeriChip have established a joint committee to design and develop a working, implantable glucose microchip to determine glucose levels in the bodies of animals and humans, negating the need for diabetics to draw blood in order to monitor their individual blood glucose levels. The committee will oversee future clinical trials in animals and humans, and is also responsible for selecting technology and marketing partners. The goal for the chip is to function inside the body for a period of at least six months.

The committee is led by Dr. Howard S. Weintraub who explained “Following our patent award in October 2006, we are positioned to begin development of a glucose microchip, which has the potential to revolutionize the way people with diabetes live and the medical care they receive. There are estimated to be hundreds of millions of people around the world living with diabetes, many of whom are not compliant with their care regimens due in large part to the discomfort and inconvenience of pricking their fingers numerous times per day. This chip could provide a painless way to quickly and accurately scan blood glucose levels to an external reader.”

Dr. Weintraub has been a Director of Digital Angel since March 2002. Dr. Weintraub retired from C. R. Bard, Inc., a medical device company, in 2003, where he was Vice President, R&D, Corporate Staff. From 1988 to 1998, he held a series of senior research and technology management positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Dr. Weintraub was previously associated with Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a Johnson and Johnson company, from 1973 until 1988, where he held senior research management positions. He also has authored or co-authored over 50 scientific publications and abstracts. Dr. Weintraub previously served as chairman of the Industrial Pharmaceutical Technology Section of the AAPS (formerly APhA), and was the chairman of the Drug Metabolism sub-section of the Research and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association. Dr. Weintraub earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Pharmacy from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in biopharmaceutics from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Checking blood glucose levels regularly is critical to properly managing diabetes. The conventional method – a finger prick – is invasive, painful and often inaccurate. The implantable bio-sensor chip will have a passive transponder, a sensor and integrated circuitry that could allow anyone implanted with the microchip to painlessly scan it to determine their blood glucose concentration. The RFID microchip would then quickly and accurately transmit the glucose data back to a wireless scanner that displays the glucose level. The RFID microchip will be powered by the scanner signal, avoiding the need for a battery in the microchip.

VeriChip also sells passive RFID systems for identification purposes and active RFID systems for local-area location and identification purposes. VeriChip recently began to market its VeriMed Patient Identification System for rapidly and accurately identifying people who arrive in an emergency room and are unable to communicate. This system uses a human-implantable passive RFID microchip, the implantable VeriChip, cleared for medical use in October 2004 by the United States Food and Drug Administration.

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