Shrink Technologies, Inc. ("Shrink Technologies"), a California
corporation, has agreed to be acquired in a stock-for-stock transaction by Shrink
Nanotechnologies, Inc. (OTCBB: AUIO). The transaction closed on May 29,
2009, and as a result, Shrink Technologies, Inc., a California corporation,
is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Shrink Nanotechnologies, Inc. ("Shrink"),
a Delaware corporation. The transaction purchase price was just under US $9,000,000
and called for Shrink to issue 8,888,888 Shrink common shares, 50 Series C Preferred
shares and to add one new person to the Shrink Board of Directors. The closing
price of Shrink's stock on the date of the acquisition was $1.01 per share.
Shrink has applied for a new trading symbol with FINRA and expects to trade
under a new symbol in the coming weeks.
Commenting on the acquisition, Shrink CEO Mark L. Baum stated, "We are
pleased to have concluded the transaction to acquire Shrink Technologies, a
company with a very promising portfolio of licensed technologies which we believe
will be impactful in a number of fast growing multi-billion dollar markets.
We also welcome to Shrink, a team of world class scientists and technology innovators
from some of our Nation's most prestigious academic institutions. Together,
we will continue the vision of Dr. Michelle Khine as we aggressively seek to
commercialize devices engineered from an innovative manufacturing, prototyping
and nano-technology development platform called the Shrink Chip Manufacturing
Solution.
"The most impressive aspect of the technology we have purchased has been
the initial testing results we have seen for our metal-enhanced fluorescence
('MEF') applications. In simple terms, our MEF technology is a marriage of our
rapid prototyping methods with cutting-edge advancements in metal-fluorescence
enhanced immunoassays. The mission of our MEF Solutions Group is to develop
devices based on our patent-pending technologies to significantly enhance existing
platforms across a broad spectrum of product categories.
"Shrink's MEF applications employ metal-based nanostructures created
through Shrink's patent-pending processes in conjunction with standard
fluorescence methods to radically enhance the ability of a diagnostic assay
to detect interactions at a level of sensitivity which we believe is unparalleled.
In essence, many of the potentially exciting interactions that are unable to
be seen by today's methods can be visualized by this new MEF technology.
This has broad implications in the fields of drug discovery, environmental sensing,
medical diagnostics and beyond.
"One important use we believe is in the drug discovery industry. The
drug discovery process often involves the screening of hundreds of thousands
of compounds for highly specific interactions. Only compounds that display high
specificity are further investigated for potential therapeutic benefit. With
current methods, drug companies are limited by the level of sensitivity of screening
assays to detect interactions, thereby excluding potentially groundbreaking
drug candidates that escape detection. Shrink's MEF technology, which
can be integrated into existing market-leading diagnostic systems, has the potential
to identify these missed drug interactions, allowing the drug companies to explore
the therapeutic benefit of these candidates.
"Shrink's MEF technology can be directed towards clinical diagnostic
applications as well. Clinical diagnostic assays are at the frontline for disease
diagnosis and treatment. Doctors rely on clinical lab results to detect the
early onset of disease which better ensures the efficacy of proposed treatments.
However, many diseases are undetectable by current diagnostic methods at onset,
often times preceding symptoms and other signs. This is why the healthcare industry
has placed such a heavy emphasis on screening and early detection; those patients
that are diagnosed earlier more often than not do better than patients that
are diagnosed at later stages. With Shrink's MEF technology coupled with
next generation diagnostic assays, earlier and more specific detection is be
possible. Instead of treating diseases, doctors can focus on preventing them,
thereby saving billions of healthcare-related costs and increasing patient's
quality of life and morbidity.
"We have only begun to touch on the uses for the technologies we have
purchased. Beyond diagnostics, our team of product engineers has created prototype
products for a number of applications including stem cell research and development
tools and custom microfluidic chip prototyping systems. We believe the flexible
'wrinkled' substrates we make have the ability to make solar cells more efficient
'traps' for light, and our engineers are developing biodegradable plastic lattices
for the creation of organ and nerve tissue.
"We believe the next chapter in the history of diagnostic technologies
has begun. We live in a country that has reset its priorities and has concluded
that science and research and development of new and innovative science can
make a difference in the lives of our people and can be a significant part of
how our country provides global leadership in the coming century. We are inspired
by our opportunities and by our national priorities, and we intend to continue
to research develop our technologies and products, and to use our vast and growing
network of academic and industry contacts to review new products and technologies
that may compliment our existing portfolio as we execute on the mission and
vision of our new company."