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AcuNetx Enters Partnering Initiative With Circadian Technologies to Introduce Worker Impairment Testing to Industry

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 November 2006, 15:01 CST

AcuNetx, Inc. (OTCBB:ANTX) today announced that it had signed an agreement with Circadian Technologies, Inc. ("Circadian", Stoneham, MA) that allows Circadian to introduce the AcuNetx ClearCheck™ and SafetyScan™ Cleared-For-Duty™ services to Circadian's worldwide industrial client base.

Cleared-For-Duty is AcuNetx' proprietary methodology that determines whether a person is, or is not, psychomotor impaired, i.e, would fail a roadside sobriety check. ClearCheck, the localized operator-driven version, or SafetyScan, the Web-connected version, both require a test subject to follow a moving light stimulus for 90 seconds while gazing into a darkened viewport. Eye movements are captured with infrared cameras and then computer analyzed and compared to the subject's "normal" archived eye movements. The comparison instantly provides a PASS or FAIL reading. If a subject PASSes, he/she is Cleared-For-Duty. FAILure results in automatic notification of a supervisor to assure that the subject does not engage in high-risk work, and to decide what further steps may be necessary to determine the cause of the FAIL result. The technology has been scientifically validated for psychomotor impairment from any cause, including alcohol, illicit drugs, prescription or over-the-counter medications, and fatigue. The test method employs the Standardized Field Sobriety Test and Drug Recognition Expert protocols that have been upheld in U.S. courts for the past 30 years.

Circadian (www.circadian.com) is the leading international research and consulting firm that advises most sectors of industry--including transportation, manufacturing, and construction--addressing shift-work issues such as worker fatigue, substance abuse and worker safety in high-risk jobs. Circadian has amassed thousands of industrial clients worldwide over the last twenty years, including many of the U.S. Fortune 500.

Under the terms of the AcuNetx-Circadian agreement that begins on January 1, 2007, Circadian will introduce AcuNetx ClearCheck and SafetyScan solutions to its global client base according to client needs. Circadian will also serve as AcuNetx' post-market surveillance research partner, to determine the long-term effects and business benefits that accrue to those employing Cleared-For-Duty testing in the workplace.

"We at Circadian are very pleased to confidently introduce our clients to the AcuNetx Cleared-For-Duty service. This gives employers an economical, real-time means to identify impaired workers, and call a 'time-out' before they engage in hazardous duties," said Martin Moore-Ede, MD, PhD, the Chairman and CEO of Circadian. Dr. Moore-Ede, former professor at Harvard Medical School and current worldwide authority on the relationship of human physiology to stressful work environments, went on to say, "The global economy sustains massive losses--in the hundreds of billions of dollars every year--as the result of impaired workers who create injuries, deaths and property destruction. Instances such as the Exxon-Valdez disaster, trucking accidents, airliner crashes and tens of thousands of other losses have been the result of impaired personnel. Having a quick, easy and inexpensive means to determine worker impairment before the fact is an incredible advance."

"Circadian is the best partner we could have to help us introduce Cleared-For-Duty testing to the workplace," said Dr. Terry Knapp, CEO of AcuNetx. "Until now, random and for-cause urine testing has been the chief means by which workers are tested in attempting to create a safe, 'drug free' workplace. It is estimated that U.S. industry spends more than $4 billion per year on such tests. Yet urine testing does not determine if a worker is impaired at the moment. It only looks backward as to what a worker may have taken some time in the past. Urine testing is invasive of privacy, it is demeaning, and it leads to an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. Urine testing is useful--but only as a back-up to a failed Cleared-For-Duty test. We look forward to entering this multi-billion dollar market sector and generating a decisive shift of spending to Cleared-For-Duty testing," Knapp said.

About AcuNetx, Inc.:

AcuNetx combines diagnostic, analytical and therapeutic devices with proprietary software to permit: health providers to diagnose and treat balance disorders and various bone deficiencies; law enforcement officers to evaluate roadside sobriety; and employers in high-risk industries to determine--in real-time--the mental fitness of their employees to perform mission critical tasks. AcuNetx is headquartered in Superior CO, and has operating divisions in Torrance, CA. For more information concerning AcuNetx and its divisions, please visit www.acunetx.com

Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. While these statements are made to convey to the public the company's progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the company at this time, actual results may differ materially from those described. The company's operations and business prospects are always subject to risk and uncertainties. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ are set forth in the company's periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: Business Wire

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