Thursday, July 25th, 2014 – BIOASIS TECHNOLOGIES INC. (OTCQX:BIOAF; TSX.V:BTI), a pioneering biopharmaceutical company focused on overcoming the limitations of therapeutic drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB), announced on May 6th, 2014, that its newly discovered carrier peptide—Transcendpep—effectively delivered siRNA across the BBB and into brain cells. The company announces that it has achieved effective knock-down of the expression of a target gene in the brain in a sequence-specific manner. Independent analysis of brain tissue revealed that, not only did Transcendpep deliver the siRNA to the brain tissue, but it also reduced the expression of the target gene by 40% to 50% after a single dose.
“Injection of a small bioconjugate of siRNA coupled to Transcendpep achieved a significant reduction in target gene expression in the brain,” says Dr. Wilfred Jefferies, Founding Scientist of biOasis. “This represents a potential advancement for reducing disease-associated gene expression that often leads to the pathology present in a variety of brain diseases.”
“These findings expand the preeminent standing of biOasis in the area of BBB carriers and provides vast opportunities for Transcendpep to act as a platform to significantly advance the treatment of brain diseases,” says Rob Hutchison, CEO. “Due to the vast market potential of siRNA delivery to the brain, we are focused on advancing this program to the IND stage and commencing Phase I Clinical Trials as soon as possible. This adds to biOasis’ development programs in the delivery of therapeutics across the BBB, which includes our metabolic disease programs for lysosomal storage diseases such as Hunter Syndrome and Sandhoff Disease and our oncology program (Transcendpep-Herceptin©) for the treatment of brain metastases of HER2+ breast cancer. In addition to the aforementioned programs, we continue to further our partnership with MedImmune and develop relationships with other pharmaceutical companies.”
About Transcend & Transcendpep
Transcend and Transcendpep are biOasis’ proprietary platform for the delivery of therapeutics across the BBB to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of metastatic brain cancers as well as neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases. The BBB represents the single greatest challenge in treating neurological disorders. The ability to effectively permeate the BBB offers the opportunity for clinically approved drugs nearing the end of their patent life, extending their intellectual property.
About biOasis
biOasis Technologies Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada focused on overcoming the limitations of therapeutic drug delivery across the BBB. The company is developing and commercializing a proprietary brain delivery technology to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of central nervous system disorders. biOasis trades on the OTCQX under the symbol “BIOAF” and on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “BTI”. For more information about the company please visit www.bioasis.ca.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 or forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation that may not be based on historical fact, including without limitation statements containing the words “believe”, “may”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “continue”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “expect” and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, events or developments, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, events or developments express or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such factors include, among others, our stage of development, lack of any product revenues, additional capital requirements, risk associated with the completion of clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approval to market our products, the ability to protect our intellectual property, dependence on collaborative partners and the prospects for negotiating additional corporate collaborations or licensing arrangements and their timing. Specifically, certain risks and uncertainties that could cause such actual events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from any future events or results expressed or implied by such statements and information include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties that: products that we develop may not succeed in preclinical or clinical trials, or future products in our targeted corporate objectives; our future operating results are uncertain and likely to fluctuate; we may not be able to raise additional capital; we may not be successful in establishing additional corporate collaborations or licensing arrangements; we may not be able to establish marketing and the costs of launching our products may be greater than anticipated; we have no experience in commercial manufacturing; we may face unknown risks related to intellectual property matters; we face increased competition from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; and other factors as described in detail in our filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements and information, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All forward-looking statements and information made herein are based on our current expectations and we undertake no obligation to revise or update such forward- looking statements and information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Rob Hutchison, Chairman & CEO
“Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release”
Company Contact:
Tiffany Tolmie
biOasis Technologies Inc.
Tel: 778-383-3280 x103
tiffany@bioasis.ca
Investor Relations Contact:
Gale Capital
Tel: 604-200-1480
info@galecapital.com
