http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/business/story.html?id=48ead427-1bad-483f-911d-c1383847f62a
Link: Strong dollar hits Tundra's Maine operation.
"VeriChip Corp. is blaming a news story that tried to link implantable health information chips with cancer for a big decline in shares prices in the last quarter. But behind the bluster, the company is working on some changes that could make investors feel happier: It has started promoting the Ottawa-developed health security bracelet products for infants and Alzheimer's patients that will likely be the company bread and butter for years.
The company's Verimed implantable chips so far have generated talk-show and analyst chatter, but not much sales. (((Here at BEYOND THE BEYOND, we're really big on that "analyst chatter," but let's face it: people who willingly inject glass capsules into their flesh for the sake of a sixteen-digit scannable code have got to be cranks. Or, you know, performance artists.)))
The chips, inserted under the skin, will allow emergency wards to get critical information from people with high-risk conditions that might prevent them from communicating. (((If you're that paranoid about fainting in a medical emergency, why don't you stencil a website with your complete medical history onto your forehead?))) Verimed sales were a paltry $53,000 in the September quarter compared to $7.9 million sales for the security bracelets, up 16 per cent in a traditionally soft quarter. (((Make the bracelets. Really. Bracelets almost make some sense.)))
The Ottawa operation accounts for 140 of VeriChip's 160 employees. The Verimed buzz drove company shares as high as $10 earlier this year. But with the sales shock, VeriChip sales are now trading about $2.88 or less than half the $6.50 IPO price earlier this year.
VeriChip is trying to fix the Verimed problems. It continues to sign up more hospitals and give them scanners to read the implanted chips. It plans a consumer advertising campaign in parts of Massachusetts, Florida and New Jersey where many of the 900 hospitals equipped with scanners are in the hopes more people will buy the chips. There is a chance that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey might cover the implantable chips. Finally, VeriChip is negotiating with Applied Digital, its Florida parent, on reducing debt and its control position below 50 per cent.- - -
