SAN DIEGO, Nov. 30, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Pure Bioscience received a $14.2 million award resulting from its arbitration proceeding against NVID International Inc. through the American Arbitration Association International Center for Dispute Resolution.
The award is the result of Pure's October 2003 arbitration action against NVID International and Falken Industries Ltd. PURE sought damages and relief from continued and ongoing public dissemination of false, misleading and disparaging statements as well as complete cooperation in enforcing and defending the Axenohl patent and related technology. The arbitration was bifurcated and PURE proceeded first against NVID. The arbitration against Falken Industries is pending, and a decision from the United States District Court on Pure's motion to compel Falken's participation in the arbitration is expected shortly.
Michael L. Krall, Pure Bioscience's President and CEO, said, "NVID's false claims regarding our patent ownership and royalties due had cast a shadow on our business activity by calling into question our ownership of and right to market our silver dihydrogen citrate technologies. We expect the sales cycle for our silver dihydrogen citrate based products will accelerate now that we can clearly and definitively assert our ownership of the patent to current and potential customers without dispute."
Dennis B. Atchley, Pure Bioscience's Secretary and Corporate Counsel, stated, "The Arbitrator's well-reasoned decision is expected to be confirmed as a judgment in court. The significance of this award is three-fold: first, it confirms Pure's exclusive ownership of the Axenohl patent and related technologies; second, due to the Arbitrator's determination of material breach by NVID International, Pure's royalty and other contractual obligations to NVID are legally terminated; and third, it empowers Pure to go forward free of what the Arbitrator aptly termed, NVID's conduct meant to 'frustrate Pure's ability to exploit the Axenohl patent.'"
Pure 's management, with its legal team, is evaluating the issue of collectibility and potential liability of related individuals and entities.
Technology worth defending
Pure Bioscience's flagship technology is a patented, aqueous antimicrobial called silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC). SDC is an electrolytically generated source of stabilized ionic silver that can serve as the basis for a broad range of products in diverse markets. Colorless, odorless, tasteless and non-caustic, SDC formulates well with other compounds. Pure produces and markets pre-formulated, ready-to-use product, as well as varying strengths of silver dihydrogen citrate concentrate as an additive or raw material for inclusion in other companies' products.
Pure currently has EPA registration for its 2400-parts per million (ppm) technical grade SDC concentrate (trade name Axenohl®) as well as for its Axen® and Axen®30 hard surface disinfectant products for commercial, industrial and consumer applications including restaurants, homes and medical facilities. The Axen30 EPA registration includes a 30 second kill time on standard indicator bacteria, a 24 hour residual kill on standard indicator bacteria, a 2 minute kill time on some resistant strains of bacteria, 10 minute kill time on fungi, 30 second kill time on HIV Type I, and 10 minute kill time on other viruses. These claims distinguish the efficacy of Axen30 from many of the leading commercial and consumer products currently on the market, while maintaining lower toxicity ratings. Based on the EPA toxicity categorization of antimicrobial products that ranges from Category I (high toxicity) down to Category IV, Axen30 is an EPA Category IV antimicrobial for which precautionary labeling statements are normally not required. This compares with Category II warning statements for most leading brands of disinfectant products.
Pure's technology also shows promise as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial for use in human and veterinary healthcare products. PURE has chosen to pursue approvals through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by partnering with Therapeutics, Incorporated, which has assumed responsibility for funding and managing the testing and regulatory process for potential FDA regulated silver dihydrogen citrate-based products. Therapeutics, Incorporated is focusing on development of silver dihydrogen citrate-based products for the treatment of bacterial, viral and fungal mediated diseases and conditions, beginning with women's health products and acne treatment products. Therapeutics, Incorporated expects its development work will result in multiple Investigational New Drug (IND) filings with the FDA.
About Pure Bioscience
Pure Bioscience (www.pure-bioscience.com) develops and markets technology-based products in the bioscience and water treatment sectors to provide non-toxic solutions to global health challenges. Pure's proprietary high efficacy/low toxicity bioscience technologies, including its silver dihydrogen citrate antimicrobials and TriglycylborideTM pesticides, represent innovative advances in diverse markets. PURE is currently America's leader in pharmaceutical water purification with its Fillmaster® equipment, and the Company has expanded into residential water treatment with its Nutripure® water filtration systems. Pure Bioscience is headquartered in El Cajon, California.
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