MONTREAL, March 24, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sunshine Biopharma Inc. (OTCQB:SBFM), a pharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of various forms of cancer today announced that a "Notice of Allowance" for the patent application covering its lead antitumor compound, Adva-27a, has recently been issued in India. The allowed claims in India are nearly identical to those already issued in the United States (US Patent Number 8,236,935) where Sunshine Biopharma is the exclusive licensee. In addition to the U.S. and India, Adva-27a patents are issued in Europe and Canada. Sunshine Biopharma has previously announced preclinical results showing that Adva-27a has excellent pharmacokinetics profile in rats and remarkable cytotoxic activity against a variety of multidrug resistant cancer cells including breast cancer cells and pancreatic cancer cells. Adva-27a appears to be unique in its ability to destroy multidrug resistant cancer cells. The GMP manufacturing of two kilograms of Adva-27a for clinical trials is currently underway at LONZA LTD in Switzerland. Sunshine Biopharma is planning to conduct the clinical trials of Adva-27a at McGill University's Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada. All aspects of the clinical trials in Canada will be performed in accordance with FDA approved protocols for direct filing of the results in the U.S.
"Allowance of the Adva-27a patent application in India represents an achievement of a major milestone in our efforts to protect the proprietary nature of this unique anticancer compound," said Dr. Steve N. Slilaty, Chief Executive Officer of Sunshine Biopharma. "In addition to a market comprised of a population of over 1.2 billion people, India is a major participant in the manufacturing and exportation of pharmaceutical products and raw materials around the world," he added.
About Adva-27a
Adva-27a is Sunshine Biopharma's lead anticancer compound, a small molecule that has recently been shown to be effective at killing multidrug resistant breast cancer cells, small-cell lung cancer cells, uterine sarcoma cells and pancreatic cancer cells (Published in ANTICANCER RESEARCH, Volume 32, Pages 4423-4432, October 2012). GMP manufacturing of Adva-27a for clinical trials is currently underway at LONZA in Switzerland. The original U.S. patent covering Adva-27a was issued on August 7, 2012 under U.S. patent number 8,236,935. The Company is planning a Phase I clinical trial of Adva-27a for pancreatic cancer in parallel to the Phase I clinical trial of Adva-27a for multidrug resistant breast cancer to be conducted at McGill University's Jewish General Hospital in Montreal (Canada).
Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements
To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, including statements as to revenue projections, business strategy, outlook, objectives, future milestones, plans, intentions, goals, future financial conditions, future collaboration agreements, the success of the Company's development, events conditioned on stockholder or other approval, or otherwise as to future events, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made.