PositiveID's Implantable Microchip: Out of the News But Not Out of the Minds of the Ruling Elite

Down With the Chip: PositiveID Axes Its Scary Medical Records Implant

I'm not ready to relax my vigilance. Until there is an official announcement from the company, I'll consider this "news" a rumor. Also, Silverman did not say they have stopped making the chip — only that they have stopped marketing it. Just because the public didn't want it doesn't mean they still won't get it somehow. I do not believe the chip "blinked out of existence;" rather, I think it more likely blinked out of sight. The Pentagon has been keen on this chip for some time, and there may be other interested parties. Remember that we are already being mass-medicated with the fluoride in our water. - comment posted to this article by namealreadytaken, July 20, 2010

July 15, 2010

BNET - In a huge disappointment to bloggers and conspiracy theorists everywhere, PositiveID (PSID) CEO Scott Silverman says his company has stopped marketing its medical records microchip implant for humans. The reason: No one wants it. The news came not in an investor relations press release or an 8-K filing with the SEC, but in a Florida Trend magazine feature on the company formerly known as VeriChip.

PositiveID has suffered months of negative chatter for variously suggesting that its chips could be usefully implanted in maritime workers (their records are hard to get hold of in foreign ports); Alzheimer’s patients; diabetics; people afraid of identity theft; patients in certain Florida health systems; and anyone else who might enter a hospital.

Silverman says he’s preparing to issue a new round of stock in his company. PositiveID’s last mention of “VeriMed” (the most recent of several confusing rebrandings of the original VeriChip/Health Link device) in an SEC filing was in the company’s quarterly 10-Q earnings report. The boilerplate said VeriMed was an ongoing business for PositiveID, but the company also listed under “risk factors:”

Uncertainty as to whether a market for our VeriMed system will develop and whether we will be able to generate more than a nominal level of revenue from this business.

You’d think some investors might regard it as material that the company was discontinuing its most famous product, even if that product was never a big revenue driver. But no. Somewhere between the May 6 SEC filing and the July 1 magazine piece, the chip blinked out of existence as a meaningful business without an official announcement.

PositiveID is continuing to advance the technology for non-implantable businesses and an implantable glucose-detecting chip for diabetics. Silverman told FT he’s expecting controversy if the FDA ever gives it a green light:

… Silverman is still wary that any new implantable products could arouse fears of Big Brother. “I’ve been around a long time, and I know if we ultimately get some type of federal approval or FDA approval for the implantable glucose chip, I’m sure some people will raise their head again — but for now, we’re focused on delivering products.”

Chip Implanter PositiveID Aims to Clean Up a PR Mess -- One of Its Own Making

April 19, 2010

Bnet - The pressure has finally taken its toll: PositiveID (PSID), the microchip implant company formerly known as VeriChip, has hired a PR firm to clear up inaccuracies in the media about its products — many of which originate from PositiveID’s own Web sites and its annual report.

There’s a lesson for managers here: hiding in a bunker and hoping that bad press about your business will go away on its own is a rotten strategy. Only by being upfront, transparent and above all quick in your response to negative coverage can you nip PR challenges in the bud.

PositiveID has suffered for months from dismal headlines about its experiments on elderly Floridians with Alzheimer’s and its plans to inject as many people as possible with RFID-enabled microchips that grant doctors access to their online medical records.

Until now, PositiveID had rarely responded to the press, and even turned down a request by BNET for a Q&A with CEO Scott Silverman to rebut allegations about the company. (The offer still stands.)

When BNET noted recently that PositiveID wanted to expand its Health Link medical record system to sailors and seafarers, a representative from Gibraltar Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based PR firm, wrote to demand a correction: a representative from Gibraltar Associates, a Washington, D.C.-based PR firm, wrote to demand a correction:

Health Link is a software-based product, and has nothing to do with the FDA-approved RFID microchip products under development at PositiveID.

The reason Health Link and the microchip are confused is because of PositiveID’s own web site, which once had a page that said:

Health Link is the connection between you and your personal health record. Health Link utilizes a tiny, passive microchip (the nation’s first and only microchip cleared for patient identification by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration) and a secure, private online database that links you to your personal health record.

… About the size of a grain of rice, the microchip is inserted just under the skin and contains only a unique, 16-digit identifier. … unlike conventional forms of identification, the Health Link cannot be lost, stolen, misplaced, or counterfeited. It is safe, secure, reversible, and always with you.

That sounds a lot like a microchip to me, especially as the page was dominated by a photo of a microchip and a headline that said, “The Health Link Microchip,” which you can see in this copy of the original page. When I pointed this out to Gibraltar, the page disappeared. The rep said in an email:

The old VeriChip Web site you link to and quote is no longer active -– the company, now known as PositiveID, has a new Web site here: www.positiveidcorp.com

So let me clarify this again for you -– Health Link is a software-based PRH product. I understand the confusion that could result from reading the old site. It is in no way affiliated with the FDA-approved RFID VeriChip or any other injectable products PositiveID currently has under development.

For good measure, the rep added later:

I understand that the presence of the old site may have created some confusion. It has been taken down.

So far, so good.

Unless you’re an investor reading PostiveID’s annual report, as filed with the SEC. It describes Health Link as an FDA-approved microchip system on pages 6 and 26:

Our HealthID segment also includes the VeriMed system, which uses an implantable passive RFID microchip (the “VeriChip”) that is used in patient identification applications. Each implantable microchip contains a unique verification number that is read when it is scanned by our scanner. In October 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, cleared our VeriMed Health Link system for use in medical applications in the United States.

When I asked PositiveID to clear up the various brand names — VeriMed, VeriChip, Health Link – used to describe this suite of products, the Gibraltar rep replied:

VeriChip Corporation previously marketed a product by the name of Health Link that included both an RFID microchip and a PHR [personal health record], but the pairing is not being offered at this time.

So there you have it: The chip and the medical record system used to be the same thing but now they’re separate. And while the company is offering its Health Link medical records system to various customers, that offer does not come with chips. (Of course, it’s still not clear why you’d want to get a VeriChip implant if it’s not linked to the Health Link system.)

All clear?

Addendum: PositiveID even made a TV commercial in which its microchip was described as “Health Link.” Watch it here before it mysteriously disappears.

PositiveID Corporation Adds Vice President of Marketing and Business Development to its HealthID Division

August 2, 2010

GlobeNewswire via COMTEX News Network - PositiveID Corporation ("PositiveID" or the "Company") announced today that Mary Ellen Harrison has joined the Company as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. Harrison will be responsible for developing the overall go-to-market strategies, including forging partnerships and distribution relationships, for the Company's HealthID development products.

Harrison has more than 15 years of business development experience and previously led business development efforts at Sensei Inc., a mobile and web-based wellness solutions provider formed by Humana Inc. Prior to Sensei, Harrison served as the Global Head of Marketing and International Account Management of a $1 billion business unit within Tyco Inc., where she headed marketing and led a global team responsible for marketing, strategic planning and sales. She also served as executive vice president for global strategy and business development for a joint venture company funded by Oracle Corporation and Alcatel. She currently serves on the Advisory Board for Arizona State University's School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering and has held senior marketing, sales and strategy roles with global leaders such as AT&T Inc., NCR Corporation and Bank of America Corporation.

Harrison will initially focus her efforts on developing a marketing strategy and partnership opportunities for the Company's iGlucose system, a stand-alone, self-contained unit that automatically queries a diabetic user's data-capable glucometer for blood glucose data and sends that data via encrypted SMS text messaging to an online database. The Company expects to submit its 510(k) for the iGlucose system in 2010.

Scott R. Silverman, Chairman and CEO of PositiveID, said, "We are excited to have Mary Ellen join our team at this important time for our Company as we develop our marketing strategy and launch plans for our iGlucose system and other diabetes management products under development. We believe that Mary Ellen's expertise and proven track record of building successful relationships and products will be leveraged to benefit our Company, our stakeholders and those affected by diabetes."

About PositiveID Corporation

PositiveID Corporation develops and markets healthcare and information management products through its RFID-based diagnostic devices and identification technologies, and its proprietary disease management tools. PositiveID operates in two main divisions: HealthID and ID Security. For more information on PositiveID, please visit www.PositiveIDCorp.com.

Statements about PositiveID's future expectations, including the ability of the Company to launch its iGlucose system and future HealthID products, and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

SOURCE: PositiveID Corporation

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