Echo Therapeutics and Cato BioVentures Sign Right of First Offer Agreement for Dermatology Products and Transdermal Drug Delivery Te...( FRANKLIN Mass. April 21 /- Echo T...),Health

FRANKLIN, Mass., April 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Echo Therapeutics (OTC Bulletin Board: ECTE) today announced that it has signed a dermatology product and transdermal drug delivery technology right of first offer agreement with Cato BioVentures, the venture capital affiliate of Cato Research, a global contract research and development organization. The agreement grants Echo exclusive rights of first negotiation to all dermatology product and transdermal drug delivery technology opportunities identified or acquired by Cato BioVentures.

"This agreement expands our long-standing strategic relationship with Cato BioVentures and Cato Research and enables us to leverage their deep industry access to a wide range of business development opportunities in our core focus areas," said Patrick Mooney, M.D., Echo's Chairman and CEO. "Cato is familiar with our core transdermal platforms--AzoneTS(TM) for drug reformulation and the Symphony tCGM System for non-invasive continuous glucose monitoring--and understands our model to leverage those platforms internally and with product and technology acquisition opportunities that fit our model."

"As a 20-year old company with a broad network of industry and regulatory contacts worldwide, we have access to dozens of high-quality drug and technology development opportunities each year, many of which could be commercially relevant to Echo's strategic plan," said Allen Cato, M.D., Ph.D., Principal of Cato BioVentures and co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cato Research. "This agreement allows us to leverage the expertise of Echo's management team and its market resources to assess and potentially access efficiently and cost-effectively select drug and technology development opportunities that could add value to our companies."

About Echo Therapeutics

Echo Therapeutics is focused on transdermal medical devices and specialty pharmaceuticals. Echo is developing a non-invasive (needle-free), wireless
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