Message #26 From:
Stock News Bot Date: November 29, 2006 05:30:00 AM
ZILA News Zila Transitions to Cancer Detection Company
PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zila, Inc. (NASDAQ GM: ZILA), has completed the acquisition of
Professional Dental Technologies, Inc. (“Pro-Dentec®”)
a privately-held, profitable dental products company headquartered in
Arkansas, in a $34 million cash transaction. Pro-Dentec generates annual
revenue of approximately $35 million and EBITDA of approximately $5
million.
“With the acquisition of Pro-Dentec, we have
completed a remarkable transformation of Zila into a cancer detection
company. Pro-Dentec provides us the means to distribute our oral cancer
detection products directly to dental professionals through a
highly-regarded national sales force that is already profitably selling
complementary Soft Tissue Management (STM®)
products; oral cancer is a life threatening soft tissue disease.
Pro-Dentec’s national sales, marketing and
distribution capability provides the infrastructure required to
establish our oral cancer detection products as the standard of care in
dental offices nationally,” stated Douglas D.
Burkett, Ph.D., Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Zila,
Inc.
Pro-Dentec conducts approximately 115 continuing education seminars for
dentists and their staffs each year that are certified by the American
Dental Association and the Academy of General Dentistry. These seminars
are ideally suited to train a large number of dental professionals on
the importance of oral cancer screening. Zila believes that its new
national sales and marketing force will enable the rapid growth of
ViziLite Plus and, following FDA approval, OraTest.
“According to the American Cancer Society, the
incidence of oral cancer has grown while other major cancers have
decreased. Pro-Dentec has the capability to reach most of the nation’s
dentists and has well-established, ongoing relationships with a large
number of dental offices. The screening of at-risk patients with
ViziLite Plus at dental offices within Pro-Dentec’s
existing customer base will provide enormous growth for Zila while
saving lives,” stated Dr. Frank Bellizzi,
President of Zila Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
To facilitate the acquisition of Pro-Dentec, the Company completed two
tranches of a $40 million Private Placement of equity and debt through
its financial advisor and placement agent, Roth Capital Partners, with
the final $16 million tranche for future working capital scheduled to
fund today.
AboutZila, Inc.
Zila, Inc., headquartered in Phoenix, is a leading cancer diagnostic
company initially focused on oral cancer:
Zila Pharmaceuticals is dedicated to establishing ViziLite®
Plus as the new standard of care for the early detection of oral
abnormalities that could lead to cancer, with initial focus on the
dental market through Pro-Dentec®, a
leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of products exclusively to
dental professionals for Soft Tissue Management (STM®)
including the Rota-dent® Professional
Powered Brush, the Pro-Select3®
Piezo-Ultrasonic Scaler System and a suite of pharmaceutical STM®
products for both in-office and home-care use.
Zila Biotechnology is focused on achieving regulatory approval for the
next generation oral cancer diagnostic, OraTest®,
followed by the development of additional applications of its cancer
detection technologies.
For more information about Zila, visit www.zila.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements
are based largely on Zila's expectations or forecasts of future events,
can be affected by inaccurate assumptions and are subject to various
business risks and known and unknown uncertainties, a number of which
are beyond the Company's control. Therefore, actual results could differ
materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein. A wide
variety of factors could cause or contribute to such differences and
could adversely impact revenues, profitability, cash flows and capital
needs. There can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements
contained in this press release will, in fact, transpire or prove to be
accurate. For a more detailed description of these and other cautionary
factors that may affect Zila's future results, please refer to Zila's
Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended July 31, 2006.