Investor
and Media Relations:
Marty
Tullio, Managing Partner
McCloud
Communications, LLC
marty@mccloudcommunications.com
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CNS
Response: Letter to Shareholders
Costa Mesa, CA – September 2, 2009 – CNS Response, Inc.
(OTCBB:CNSO) provides a Letter to Shareholders from Chief Executive
Officer George Carpenter.
“Dear
Shareholder,
We’ve had
some significant positive developments recently and I promised to keep you
updated: in the last four months we’ve financed the Company, added top-notch
talent to our Board, hit significant milestones on our clinical trial and
commercial initiatives, and begun key product improvements.
As you
may recall from my last note, when the Board changed leadership in April we were
a company with negative shareholder equity, at risk of not completing our major
clinical trial, and carrying significant unpaid obligations (like incorporation
in Delaware). We set out three straightforward, short-term goals to secure the
Company’s survival and build a foundation for future growth:
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1.
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Complete the Depression
Efficacy Trial -- finish recruiting and proceed with site lockdown,
statistical analysis, and publication strategy, pursuant to a November
release of top-line data. In June we completed recruiting with 114
subjects, after our biostatistician notified us that the study was fully
powered. All patients are expected to have completed the trial protocol by
September 12, with site data lockdown already begun. These milestones keep
us on track for release of the TRD trial results at U.S. Psychiatric
Congress in November.
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2.
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“Monetize the test” -- prove that
commercialization of rEEG®
can reduce the Company’s cash burn by the end of calendar
2009.
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Good
clinicals alone can’t bring a promising new technology to market. The question
is, can rEEG testing grow profitably? In my previous update, I estimated that
breakeven cash flow at current expense levels requires over 500 paid tests per
month; our goal is to demonstrate meaningful progress in closing that gap by the
end of 2009.
We have
recently taken steps to improve and protect our assets by implementing a
physician portal which provides for faster and easier access to information and
results by our doctors. And we filed for patent protection in all European
countries.
We have
continued our focused network strategy with physicians and have improved our
test volume.
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3.
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Raise $4-5 million -- to
properly capitalize the company through clinical trial completion and
early commercialization. On August 26th
we completed our first equity closing with over $2 million in new capital.
We expect to raise a total of $4-5 million by the end of September. These
funds will provide the Company with the proper balance sheet strength to
take advantage of market and product opportunities as they develop, and to
complete the existing mission-critical milestones. The offering was
underwritten by Maxim Group in New York at a per share price of $.30 with
warrants to purchase common stock at $.30 per
share.
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CNS
Response: Letter to Shareholders
Page
2
Additionally,
we’ve added a fourth goal, to reflect our commitment to building our foundation
for growth and shareholder accountability:
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4.
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Governance -- Our goal
in the coming year is to make sustained progress on governance by
assembling a world-class board of directors and listening to them. To that end, with the
closing of the offering mentioned above, John Pappajohn and Tommy Thompson
joined the CNS Response Board. John Pappajohn is an experienced healthcare
venture capitalist with a record of taking good ideas and bringing them to
market. Tommy Thompson was an innovator as Secretary of Health and Human
Services and a four-term Governor of Wisconsin. The insight and experience
of these two accomplished individuals will be invaluable as we move
through clinical trials to
commercialization.
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Finally,
as you may know, Len Brandt has taken unprecedented steps to unseat what is now
a top-notch board of directors and return himself to control. Brandt has
repeatedly ignored SEC rules, Delaware law and our bylaws, and has published a
long list of half-truths and misinformation.
You may
therefore be receiving 2 proxy cards in the mail this month: one from the
Company, for a validly noticed and properly documented Annual Meeting, to be
held at 10:00 a.m. on September 29th PDT at
the Island Hotel in Newport Beach, CA. It will be the first annual meeting in
the Company’s history, open to all shareholders of record as of August 27,
2009.
You may
also receive a proxy card from Len Brandt, which we do not believe will be
usable for any validly called shareholder meeting or purpose. However, if you fill out and return
this card, it may result in a quorum at one of his purported meetings and may
unintentionally assist Len Brandt in his efforts to take over the company, even
if you vote against him. Since the Company and most shareholders won't be
there, he can get a bare majority of a bare quorum. In other words, shareholders
with slightly over 25 percent of the outstanding shares could end up usurping
the voice of 75 percent of the shareholders.
Unfortunately
the Company has had to waste valuable resources, both personnel and capital, to
ensure that ALL CNS shareholders have a voice in the election of
directors.
Of
course, there are two sides to any dispute. I came to this Company to work with
Len Brandt, as did all the Directors and managers who he brought into the
Company to make referenced-EEG a success. I think he’s a visionary, a
charismatic figure, and I don’t know that CNS Response would have gotten this
far without his relentless and single-minded pursuit of his vision. I also think
he has great difficulty listening to and following the counsel of others,
including his own Board, and I believe this proxy contest is not the first
instance of that. At this stage in CNS Response’s development, we need
leadership that can listen, grow, and be held accountable.
I
appreciate your comments, ideas, and support. We’re rolling
now.
Sincerely
yours,
George
Carpenter
George C.
Carpenter IV
Chief
Executive Officer”
Additional Information and Where to Find
It
CNS
Response, Inc. (the “Company”) intends to file one or more a proxy statements
with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) in connection with its
Annual Meeting of Stockholders and one or more purported meetings called by a
stockholder of the Company, Leonard Brandt. CNS SECURITYHOLDERS ARE URGED TO
READ THE PROXY STATEMENTS AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS FILED OR THAT WILL BE
FILED WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN
IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Stockholders will be able to receive the proxy statement
and other relevant documents free of charge at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov
or from the Company at 2755 Bristol Street, Suite 285, Costa Mesa, CA
92626.
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CNS
Response: Letter to Shareholders
Page
3
Participants in
Solicitation
CNS and
its directors (other than Leonard J. Brandt) and executive officer (George
Carpenter, who also serves as a director) may be deemed to be participants in
the solicitation of proxies in respect of the matters to be
considered
at the
Company’s 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders the purported special meeting
called by Leonard Brandt or any consent solicitation undertaken by Brandt.
Securityholders may obtain information regarding the names, affiliations and
interests of such individuals in CNS’s Form 10-K and Form 10-K/A filings with
the SEC on January 13, 2009 and January 28, 2009, respectively. To
the extent holdings of CNS securities of the participants have changed since the
amounts reflected in those filings, such changes have been or will be reflected
on Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 or Form 5 filed by those persons
with the SEC. Additional information regarding the interests of these persons in
these matters will be included in the Company’s definitive proxy
statements.
About CNS
Response
Today,
most physicians are able to base treatment on objective test data, such as EKGs,
MRIs, blood tests, etc. Broadly speaking, such advances have not yet
come to those physicians practicing psychiatry.
CNS
Response has developed a patented data-analysis capability that, with the help
of a simple, non-invasive EEG, will analyze a patient’s brain waves and compare
the results to an extensive patient outcomes database. The process produces a
rEEG® report providing a psychiatrist with guidance to personalize medication
regimens for a patient, based on the patient’s own brain physiology. To read
more about the benefits this patented technology provides physicians, patients
and insurers, please visit the CNS Response website, www.cnsresponse.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Except
for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed are
forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. These statements
involve risks and uncertainties as set forth in the Company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks and uncertainties could cause
actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements made
herein.
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