RICHMOND, British Columbia, May 2, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- BioCurex Inc. (OTCBB:BOCX) is pleased to provide an update of its activities to its shareholders. The Company has been working diligently and effectively in expanding its technology in the scientific and business arenas. The progress to date is summarized below:
Throughout 2006, and in collaboration with Abbott Diagnostics, BioCurex concentrated virtually all of its efforts in converting the format of its radio-labeled test for cancer into a colorimetric (or chemoluminescence) test. This collaboration allowed BioCurex to use the in-house methodology BioCurex had developed over the years to expedite the conversion. The label used for chemoluminescence requires a completely different chemistry than used for the radioactive labeled test previously developed by BioCurex. Given the fact that RECAF is a new marker with complex chemistry, it took our companies the better part of last year and early 2007 to perfect the transition and achieve our mutual goal. Except for some minor details, the format conversion has now been successfully completed resulting in a timely advancement of the present agreement. The focus will move forward to the next commercialization steps.
As a result of the extensive R and D work carried out, several advantages accrued to BioCurex:
a) We are much closer to commercialization of the tests.
b) We can focus on concretizing more licensing agreements
for a ready-to-use format rather than a demo format,
thereby improving the licensing terms.
c) As part of the development work, we achieved the ability
to freeze-dry the reagents, thereby facilitating the
shipment of tests to potential licensees and research
laboratories. This will substantially expedite the
evaluation process and advance - through independent
publications - the establishment of the RECAF marker in
the scientific world.
We have also reported a very important achievement from R and D during this period - the demonstration that RECAF can detect 90% of Stage I and II breast cancers and 75% of Stages I and II of prostate cancer. Early cancer detection is essential for attaining high curability rates. In both breast and prostate cases, the specificity was 100%, meaning that no normal patients appeared as false positives(1). These results were from blinded studies (we did not know the diagnosis at the time of the testing) and they were presented in conferences such as the AACC annual meeting. We have not tested other cancers yet, but there is no reason why other types of cancers would behave differently from breast and prostate cancers. As a matter of fact, independent scientists in Japan have reported similar results on stomach cancers. High specificity is crucial for screening purposes, because the lower the false positives, the lesser the unnecessary cost and pain inflicted on the patients (with PSA, the specificity of cancer versus benign prostate lesions is only 35%, which translates into 2/3 of patients receiving an unnecessary, painful and costly biopsy).
In January 2007, Abbott announced the sale of a diagnostic division to General Electric. Many of our shareholders have called for information about the implications for BioCurex. While the conversations between our company and Abbott must be kept confidential, the following can be stated:
1) Abbott made a basic minimum royalty payment in March 2007
as per our agreement.
2) We are processing the paperwork to transfer the licensing
agreement to General Electric
3) We do not anticipate any negative impact resulting from
this transfer. On the contrary, GE Health Care describes,
as part of its mission statement, a commitment to detect
and treat early cancers
http://www.gehealthcare.com/usen/oncology/index.html),
which is something which RECAF can do well (as previously
reported).
4) GE is a dominant force in the Imaging field. They recently
acquired Amersham, a manufacturer of radiochemicals related
to their imaging business. RECAF can be used not only for
detecting cancer in a blood sample, but also for imaging
malignant tumors with radiochemicals. Therefore there could
be an opportunity for GE to utilize RECAF by combining both
diagnostic techniques.
These factors point to a continuation - and possibly an expansion - with GE of our initial relationship with Abbott Diagnostics.
Finally, our last year's work also resulted in our announced initiative to develop point-of-care tests (also called rapid tests) and we shall be reporting results as they become available in a near future.
The next period will allow a resumption of research related to RECAF based Therapeutics. As the workload with the format change has subsided, we have resumed work on the use of RECAF to specifically target cancer cells not only for imaging purposes, but also to deliver drugs to cancer cells. Normal cells do not express RECAF and therefore the normal cells should be spared by drugs that only kill RECAF positive (hence malignant) cells. We shall release results in this arena as they become available.
In summary, BioCurex has substantially advanced during the last year and is well placed in reference to the commercialization of its blood tests for cancer. The development of the colorimetric blood test is practically complete and will allow a more extensive focus on adding licensees. The point-of-care tests - which address a very large market segment - are being developed and it is worth mentioning that they are not subject to a semi-exclusive license or any other present limitations. Our overall strategy continues to be the creation of a pipeline of RECAF applications that we can then license as they become available. This will provide continuity to our goal to commercialize our technologies. We are pleased to inform our shareholders that we are now better suited to achieve that goal than ever before.
About BioCurex:
BioCurex, Inc. is a biotechnology company that is developing products based on patented/proprietary technology in the areas of cancer diagnosis, imaging and therapy. The technology identifies a cancer marker known as RECAF(tm), which is found on malignant cells from a variety of cancer types but is absent in most normal or benign cells.
BioCurex has signed a licensing agreement with Abbott Laboratories for BioCurex's RECAF(tm) Cancer technology as outlined in a joint press release dated March 29, 2005. The release noted that the cancer marker RECAF(tm) has emerged as a potential biomarker that may be useful in the development of new cancer diagnostics tests. Preliminary studies from the investigators at BioCurex have reported a high level of clinical sensitivity and specificity for RECAF in many of the most common cancers, including prostate, breast, colorectal, lung and others.
To read more about the Company, please visit the News section in our web site (www.biocurex.com).
Note:
The Company has not authorized the release of this information in any form that contravenes the Communication Act and will not be responsible for unsolicited massive distribution of this material by e-mail or facsimile by unauthorized parties. Statements in this press release, which are not historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning given to that term in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results.
(1) We use commercial samples and depending on their particulars, sometimes the results may vary slightly.