Echo Therapeutics Inc. is a medical device company that specializes in transdermal technology with great expertise in advanced skin permeation technology. The company is developing its Prelude SkinPrep System as a platform technology to allow for significantly enhanced and painless skin permeation.

Needle-free drug delivery with lidocaine, a topical anesthetic, is the first application. Additional applications for painless, needle-free drug deliveries are also planned. Echo’s Prelude System was featured earlier this year in an article which appeared in the Fast Company business magazine. FDA approval is expected later this year.

Another function of the technology is analyte extraction with the company’s patented Symphony tCGM System for needle-free, continuous glucose monitoring in hospital patients with diabetes. This system consists of Echo’s proprietary SkinPrep System, with a wireless biosensor and wireless monitor or handheld device for needle-free, continuous monitoring of glucose levels.

Echo Therapeutics recently announced that it has received the key components for its next-generation Symphony tCGM system design. This newly-engineered design is currently undergoing the final phases of testing. This new design incorporates numerous technological advances required to meet market expectations for system accuracy, ease of manufacture and system cost. The updated Symphony system will be ready very soon for demonstration. Importantly, it will be further tested in a finals series of clinical trials shortly thereafter. It will then be ready for sale subject to FDA market clearance of the product.

Echo Therapeutics believes the addressable market for needle-free, continuous wireless glucose monitoring in the hospital critical care setting is quite large. It estimates that the opportunity exceeds $1 billion annually. Overall, the global glucose monitoring market exceeds $12 billion annually.

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