In the last week there has been a large spike in traffic, and many new readers, looking at some old BuyersStrike! posts about tiny bio-dreadful reverse merger company Echo Therapeutics (ECTE) fka Sontra Medical fka Choicetel. (Catch up on Echo here, here, here and here and here).
The traffic spike was so intriguing that your author decided to take a look and see if anything had changed Echo. And, sure enough, the company has issued press release after press release lately. For example, today Echo announced a key new hire:
PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Echo Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ECTE), a company developing the Symphony® tCGM System as a non-invasive, wireless, transdermal continuous glucose monitoring (tCGM) system and the Prelude® SkinPrep System for transdermal drug delivery, today announced that Samir Farah, who has more than fifteen years of medical product design and development experience, has joined Echo Therapeutics’ management team at a critical stage in product development and company growth.
Samir Farah joins as Vice President of Product Development executing Echo’s product roadmap strategy and reports directly to Marshall (“Mac”) Deweese who was recently appointed Senior Vice President of Operations. “Samir’s wealth of knowledge and product development experience will help support Echo’s goal of attaining FDA marketing clearance of our Symphony tCGM System,” said Patrick T. Mooney, M.D., Chairman and CEO of Echo Therapeutics.
Samir is going to have his work cut out for him, given than Echo had submitted a 510(k) filing for an improved version of their existing lidocaine delivery device to the FDA in November 2010. Approval should have come in a customary 90 days. From a press release exactly 11 months ago:
FRANKLIN, Mass., Nov. 11, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Echo Therapeutics, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ECTE), a company developing its needle-free Symphony™ tCGM System as a non-invasive, wireless, transdermal continuous glucose monitoring system and its Prelude™ SkinPrep System for transdermal drug delivery, today announced that a 510(k) premarket notification has been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Prelude SkinPrep System and 4% lidocaine cream. Market clearance is expected to take ninety (90) days.
Almost a full year later, and a quick search of the FDA database available here, shows no nothing for poor little Echo. Who is worse off, newcomer Samir or ECTE‘s herd of sheep-like shareholders?
And that is just dissecting one press release from these clowns.