HumaScan delays BreastAlert launch

Developmental-stage company HumaScan has hit a roadblock in its quest to commercialize a nonimaging screening device for breast cancer that could compete with mammography. The company anticipates a four to six-month delay for its BreastAlert Differential Temperature Sensor (DTS), a noninvasive, adjunctive screening device for breast disease.

BreastAlert DTS detects temperature differences between breasts, which may indicate the presence of breast disease, including breast cancer, according to the Cranford, NJ-based company.

The initial introduction of BreastAlert DTS was scheduled to begin in the New York metropolitan area on June 30, but was pushed back to make manufacturing refinements the company believes are necessary to achieve consistent, high-quality production. HumaScan anticipates proceeding with its planned national launch in the fourth quarter of 1997.

HumaScan has approximately $11 million in cash and equivalents on hand, and with monthly expenditures of about $325,000, the company believes that it has more than enough capital on hand to successfully launch BreastAlert DTS.

Medical supply company Physicians Sales and Service, which signed an exclusive supply and distribution agreement with HumaScan in February 1996, appears to be supporting HumaScan's decision to delay the launch of BreastAlert DTS. PSS chairman Patrick Kelly said that PSS remains committed to the exclusive distribution of BreastAlert DTS.