VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - April 24, 2014) - BIOASIS TECHNOLOGIES INC. (OTCQX:BIOAF)(TSX VENTURE:BTI), a pioneering biopharmaceutical company focused on overcoming the limitations of therapeutic drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier, has identified a new family of peptides that conserve the brain shuttling properties of Transcend. Transcend is biOasis' proprietary vector which has the function of shuttling molecules across the blood-brain barrier. In side-by-side comparisons, these new peptide vectors are more efficient than the native, full-size Transcend molecule at delivering cargo to the brain.
This new family of peptides is able to shuttle a variety of therapeutic and biologics into the brain and their transport is not limited by the size of the transported therapeutic or its composition. This family, the second generation of Transcend, offers multiple advantages compared to Transcend. For example, the costs of production are extremely low as the peptides can be easily synthesized and a wide variety of peptide-cargo conjugates with different applications to a range of diseases can be produced simply and predictably. The peptide vectors are particularly well-suited to coupling to small molecule chemotherapeutics and other drugs. Thus development of new drugs using these new shuttle vectors can be accomplished more quickly and at much lower costs. This new family of novel chemical entities will provide a strong patent position for the company and its current and future partners.
Professor Wilfred Jefferies, biOasis' founding scientist states, "After several years of innovation based on Transcend, our team has identified a new class of small carriers that can shuttle drugs across the blood-brain barrier allowing them to enter and distribute in the brain. In preclinical animal models the peptide vector-conjugates have shown remarkable efficacy. The discovery and translation of these new carrier entities into novel therapeutics provides a glimpse into the future treatment of Neurological Disorders."
About Transcend
Transcend offers the creation of a new class of drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of brain metastatic cancer and other brain disorders, such as neurodegeneration and metabolic disease. The blood-brain barrier represents the single greatest challenge in treating diseases and other disorders within the brain. Diseases such as cancer are readily treated in many areas of the body, but drugs designed to treat cancer simply cannot penetrate the blood- brain barrier. The ability to more effectively permeate the blood-brain opens the door for the creation of new drugs designed to treat a wide variety of neurological diseases and disorders. Additionally, Transcend offers the potential to take existing clinically approved drugs that are near their end of patent life and extend them.
About biOasis
biOasis Technologies Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Based on Transcend, biOasis proprietary brain delivery platform, the company is focused on creating new drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier to address unmet medical needs in the treatment of brain diseases such as neurodegeneration, metastatic cancer and metabolic diseases. 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.
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On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Rob Hutchison Chairman & CEO
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