A Medical Device Daily

Endocare (Irvine, California), a company developing minimally invasive technologies for tissue and tumor ablation, reported that it has agreed to a consent judgment with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and also has entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice (DoJ).

The company said the agreements resolve investigations begun by the SEC and by the DoJ in January 2003. The consent judgment is subject to court approval.

Under the terms of the consent judgment, Endocare, without admitting or denying wrongdoing, will pay a total of $750,000 in civil penalties and is enjoined from future violations of securities laws.

Under the terms of the agreement with the DoJ, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California has agreed not to prosecute the company for any crimes committed by the company's employees relating to the DoJ's investigation. The agreement becomes final and irrevocable on Jan. 1, 2007.

Craig Davenport, Endocare CEO and chairman, said the settlements “are a critical step forward and are an important milestone for our company. The financial and personnel resources committed to this effort have been substantial, and we are grateful that the investigations are finally over . . . . Resolving these investigations has been a priority since I joined Endocare over two and a half years ago.

“With resolution, we can now focus on the future . . . including the completion and implementation of our strategic plan and the further development and commercialization of our technology platform. In addition, we intend to pursue relisting on Nasdaq.”

Endocare has concentrated on developing technologies for the treatment of prostate cancer and says that its technologies have broad applications across a number of markets, including the ablation of tumors in the kidney, lung and liver.