Amy Keller | 7/1/2010

The company is also developing another non-implantable device that can check the blood sugar levels of diabetics by measuring the levels of acetone in their breath as they exhale. PositiveID purchased the intellectual rights to the technology earlier this year from Easy Check Medical Diagnostics, which is headquartered in Miami and Tel Aviv. “All we have to do is miniaturize it,” Silverman says.

In addition, the company has completed a prototype “iGlucose system” to automatically and continuously communicate blood sugar readings to an online database. The company envisions integrating its iGlucose system and its other rapid testing devices so that all test results could be automatically downloaded into a patient’s online personal health record.

Implanting the chip [Photo: Newscom]

To create a health record compatible with Microsoft HealthVault, Google Health and other electronic medical record systems, PositiveID has partnered with Boston-based FIS, a provider of technology to the banking industry.

Until those products hit the market, PositiveID is operating using revenue from NationalCreditReport.com, a subsidiary that provides credit monitoring and identity theft protection products. Those products bring in approximately $250,000 a month. The company’s main source of capital comes from selling shares of stock, which trade on Nasdaq as PSID.

The company, Silverman says, is debt-free with about $6 million in cash and is selling another round of stock — in part to fund the testing of its planned products.

While the controversy generated by PositiveID’s implantable chip has quieted down, Silverman is still wary that any new implantable products could arouse fears of Big Brother. “I’ve been around a long time, and I know if we ultimately get some type of federal approval or FDA approval for the implantable glucose chip, I’m sure some people will raise their head again — but for now, we’re focused on delivering products.”

VeriChippings

The Jacobs became the first VeriChip-implanted family in 2002. [Photo: Newscom]

» In 2002, Jeff and Leslie Jacobs, and their then-14-year-old son, Derek, became the first people to be implanted with VeriChip’s controversial RFID chip — a move that earned the Boca Raton family considerable media attention. (Derek died in a motorcycle accident on Sept. 30, 2006, at age 18.)

» In 2004, Mexico’s Attorney General, Rafael Macedo de la Concha, told the media that he and at least 18 employees had been implanted with the VeriChip for security reasons.

» In 2004, the Baja Beach Club in Barcelona began offering VIP patrons VeriChip implants that provide them special access to VIP areas and links to prepaid accounts to pay for drinks.

» In 2005, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, VeriChip Corp. donated implantable chips to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which used them to track and identify corpses in Mississippi and Louisiana.

» Between 2007 and 2009, more than 100 patients and caregivers who were clients of Alzheimer’s Community Care in West Palm Beach received VeriChip implants as part of a project to provide a safety net for Alzheimer’s patients to help identify them and notify caregivers in case of an emergency.

Tags: Healthcare