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Organization and Description of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2012
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Organization and Description of Business

Note 1: Organization and Description of Business

 

SpectraScience, Inc. was incorporated in the State of Minnesota on May 4, 1983 as GV Medical, Inc. In October 1992, GV Medical discontinued its prior business, refocused its development efforts and changed its name to SpectraScience, Inc. The “Company,” hereinafter, refers to SpectraScience, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries Luma Imaging Corporation (“LUMA”) and Spectra Science International, Inc. (“International”) From 1996, the Company primarily focused on developing the WavSTAT Optical Biopsy System (the “WavSTAT System”).

 

The Company has developed and received the European CE mark approval to market a proprietary, minimally invasive technology that optically illuminates tissue in real-time to distinguish between normal, pre-cancerous or cancerous cells without the need to remove the subject cell tissue from the body to make such determinations. The WavSTAT System operates by using cool, safe laser light to optically illuminate and analyze tissue, enabling the physician to make an instant diagnosis during endoscopy when screening for cancer, and if warranted, to begin immediate treatment during the same procedure. Beginning in December 2011, the WavSTAT 4 version of the product began to be sold in the European Union for colon cancer detection. In June 2012 the Company entered into a distribution agreement with PENTAX Europe, GmbH, for the sale of its systems internationally.

 

On November 6, 2007, the Company acquired the assets of LUMA in an equity transaction accounted for as an acquisition of assets and now operates LUMA as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. LUMA had acquired the assets from a predecessor company that had developed, and received FDA approval for, a non-invasive diagnostic imaging system that can detect cervical cancer precursors and which utilizes an underlying technology that is similar to that of the WavSTAT System. The addition of the LUMA technology to the Company’s existing WavSTAT System technology provides the Company with a broad suite of fluorescence-based intellectual property and know-how. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010, the Company wrote off the remaining fair value of the LUMA inventory in order to focus on the continued development and marketing of the WavSTAT System. The Company retained the intellectual property of LUMA for use in the development of future generations of the WavSTAT System.

 

The transaction was accounted for as an acquisition of assets that included intellectual property, inventory and equipment. The intellectual property consisted of a total of 34 issued U.S. Patents and 28 additional patent applications.