New Partnership Aims to Produce Innovative Healthcare Products to Prevent the Spread of Deadly Illnesses in Hospitals
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Garmatex Technologies, Inc. ("Garmatex" or "the Company"), a leading inventor of performance fabric and apparel solution-focused technologies, has signed a Letter of Intent ("LOI") for a five year term with Diagnomics Inc. ("Diagnomics"), a biotech company that provides next-generation healthcare solutions from personal genomics. The LOI sets out, among other things, the intent of the two companies to combine their expertise and resources to develop leading-edge healthcare scrubs and linens that will use advanced, anti-microbial fabric technologies to limit pathogen transference of bacteria and fungi that can contaminate healthcare environments.
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The goal of developing these products is to save lives and healthcare venue expenses, by preventing the unnecessary spread of dangerous hospital-acquired infections ("HAI") and other ailments. At present, HAIs affect millions of patients worldwide each year. According to Columbia University, approximately two million patients suffer from HAIs in the USA, and nearly 90,000 are estimated to die annually. The overall cost of HAIs to US hospitals ranges from $28 to $45 billion per year.
Clinical testing of Garmatex's fabric technologies will be conducted through Diagnomics' Eone-Diagnomics Genome Center ("EDGC"), a biotech-healthcare facility in Songdong, South Korea, to prove the efficacy of Garmatex's fabric technologies for the protection from, or treatment of, certain infections. The healthcare scrubs and linens developed by Garmatex and Diagnomics will feature Garmatex's proprietary anti-microbial technology, Bact-Out®, a revolutionary, natural anti-microbial treatment that has a bacterial and fungal reduction rate of 99.9% after more than 50 washes.
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald, Co-Founder and CTO of Diagnomics, commented on the Garmatex and Diagnomics collaboration: "We have become experts in diagnosing and treating disease, but we are still at the mercy of these bacteria and fungi. The loss of life and the cost is exorbitant—we're looking forward to working with Garmatex to prevent further pathogen transference in the future."
Garmatex and Diagnomics are working to address this issue by developing a complete portfolio of healthcare fabric technologies for commercialization, to prevent further spreading of HAIs and pathogens. Diagnomics has agreed to make a significant strategic investment into Garmatex in return for the exclusive rights to sell the products in South Korea, and Dr. Gruenwald will be joining Garmatex as an expert advisor to help direct Garmatex's entrance and growth within the healthcare market. The key goal for both companies is to optimize the technology and provide patients and hospitals with a more sustainable and affordable alternative for preventing HAIs and other ailments.
Martin Doane, Garmatex's CEO and President, said: "We believe our relationship with Diagnomics is unique among textile innovation companies. No one else is taking such a rigorous, pioneering approach – marrying cutting-edge textile technology with world-class, genomics-level medical science. We expect to begin clinical tests of our fabrics at the Eone-Diagnomics Genome Center in early 2015. We recently toured the lab and were blown away by the scientific sophistication of the facility and expertise of the researchers and technicians working there."
About Diagnomics Inc.
Diagnomics is a highly innovative, biotech company based in San Diego, California that provides solutions for personalized medicine and next generation healthcare. Diagnomics' mission is to help individuals with the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of various cancers and infections. The company was founded in 2012 by an internationally recognized duo of genome and bioinformatics scientists, Dr. Min Seob Lee and Dr. Stefan Gruenwald, who performed the first human genome re-sequencing project and completed sequencing of one of the first personal human genomes. Diagnomics has recently partnered with the Eone-Diagnomics Genome Center (EDGC), a newly established biotech-healthcare facility in Korea, where clinical trials and other scientific testing are performed, including testing of Garmatex fabrics. For more information please visit: http://www.diagnomics.com
About Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
Dr. Stefan Gruenwald's career in Life Sciences spans more than two decades. He is the Founder of Corporate Governance Partners, Co-Founder, seed investor and Chief Technology Officer of Diagnomics, Co-Founder and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) at the DNA SEQ Alliance, as well as Managing Partner at Genautica with over 20 years of experience in the biotech industry in San Diego, CA. Dr. Gruenwald was the VP or R&D at PharMingen and the VP R&D at Becton Dickinson. Later he was the Founder of Orbigen and involved in several merger/acquisitions. He studied Human Medicine, Biology and Physics at the Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Dr. Gruenwald is also a curator of a popular Science Newsletter that over 300,000 individuals subscribe to: http://www.scoop.it/t/amazing-science
About Garmatex Technologies, Inc.
Headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., Garmatex Technologies is fast becoming a market leader in leading edge, scientifically-engineered fabric technologies. Garmatex harnesses advanced, nano-level processes that manipulate raw textiles and alter fabric molecules to provide superior fabrics that perform under extreme conditions. Garmatex offers innovative solutions for athletic and lifestyle apparel as well industrial and commercial products. Its current products and fabrics include: Kottinu™, T3®, Bact-Out®, CoolSkin®, WarmSkin®, IceSkin™, ColdSkin™, SteelSkin™, Satinu™, SlimSkin™, AbsorbSkin™, CamoSkin® and RecoverySkin™. Going forward, Garmatex plans to expand its portfolio by collaborating with leading research and development teams to produce textiles that improve the health, well-being and effectiveness of people and products. Garmatex was formed in 2012 and has offices in Canada, the US, Taiwan and will soon open offices in the Netherlands and Barbados. For more information please visit: http://www.garmatex.com/
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Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This news release contains forward-looking statements, which reflect the expectations of management of the Company with respect to potential future events. Forward-looking statements consist of statements that are not purely historical, including any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (i) the Company entering into a formal agreement with Diagnomics to combine their expertise and resources; (ii) statements regarding the clinical testing results of the Company's fabric technologies and the efficacy of the fabric technologies; (iii) statements regarding the completion of a portfolio of fabric technologies for commercialization and (iv) statements regarding Diagnomic's significant strategic investment in the Company. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of such risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation: the Company being able to negotiate a formal agreement with Diagnomics; Diagnomics obtaining the funds necessary to complete its significant investment in the Company; an economic downturn or economic uncertainty in the Company's key markets; the Company's inability to effectively manage the growth and the increased complexity of its business; the Company's highly competitive market and increasing competition in the market; the Company's inability to deliver its products to the market and to meet customer expectations due to problems with its distribution system; the Company's failure to maintain the value and reputation of its brand and the Company's failure to raise the capital necessary to carry out its business plan and operations. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results, performance or developments could differ from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. Although the Company believes that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate.
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SOURCE Garmatex Technologies, Inc.
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