Business Wire - June 6, 2005
"In addition to the Company's three issued patents, this application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is the 9th patent application we've filed in the last twelve months," said Dr. Randy White, Xenomics' CEO. "It is a credit to the ingenuity of our scientific team in the US and our joint venture group in Rome and continues the Company's business strategy of aggressive expansion and protection of its intellectual property portfolio."
The patent application for the HIV test comes in the wake of Xenomics' recently filed U.S. patent application for its Tr-DNA test for tuberculosis (TB.) The Company believes that these proprietary tests may enable the creation of more sensitive and accurate medical diagnostic procedures that can be performed through simple, safe and relatively inexpensive analyses of the patients' urine specimens.
Xenomics' tests are further distinguished by their ability to simultaneously detect in a single urine sample both HIV and tuberculosis, a common opportunistic infection in AIDS patients. The sensitivity of Xenomics' technology may hold important implications for the improved diagnosis and treatment of residual HIV infections where the existing viral load test is barely detectable, or not detectable at all in AIDS patients.
"We are now learning that the conventional measurements of HIV infection are giving way to very new science and the Tr-DNA Test is at the forefront with a very new, extraordinarily sensitive clinical tool," said Dr. David Tomei, the Company scientist in charge of SpaXen, s.r.l., the Rome-based joint venture with the Italian National Infectious Disease Institute.
The U.S. patent application signifies Xenomics' continued progress in applying its breakthrough Tr-DNA technology platform, which detects fragments of genetic material that traverse the kidneys and are eventually eliminated in the urine. Xenomics' team of scientists first reported the discovery of Tr-DNA fragments, and the Company is now using its proprietary Tr-DNA development technology to create a family of next-generation medical diagnostic tests.
In April 2005, Xenomics made a strategic business decision to establish a separate Department of Licensing and Intellectual Property to spearhead and sustain the expansion of its intellectual property portfolio. The Company believes that its Tr-DNA technology platform will enable more sensitive, accurate and affordable testing methods that can be conducted on simple urine samples, to create a wide range of biomedical applications, including prenatal tests for fetal genetic abnormalities, and for infectious diseases such as HIV and TB.
"Our mission at Xenomics is to develop and deliver practical diagnostic products based on a safe, simple and effective urine sample," said Dr. White. "Our research with HIV and other infectious diseases has already produced important new clinical data that demonstrates Xenomics' potential to significantly transform, simplify and improve the fast-growing marketplace of DNA-based diagnostic testing, that currently is a $1.5 billion segment of the medical diagnostics industry."
The HIV application of Xenomics' proprietary technology was developed as part of the Company's joint venture with the National Institute for Infectious Diseases, "Lazzaro Spallanzani," in Rome. Because it was developed in Italy, an initial patent for the discovery was filed previously in that country, followed by a broader European patent in recent weeks, in accordance with international patent laws.
About Xenomics, Inc.
Xenomics is a molecular diagnostic company that focuses on the development of DNA-based tests using Transrenal DNA (Tr-DNA). Xenomics' patented technology uses safe and simple urine collection and can be applied to a broad range of applications, including prenatal testing, tumor detection and monitoring, tissue transplantation, infectious disease detection, genetic testing for forensic identity determination, drug development, and research to counter bioterrorism. Scientists from Xenomics were the first to report that fragments of DNA from normal cell death cross the kidney barrier and can be detected in urine. The Company believes that its technology will open significant new markets in the molecular diagnostics field. Xenomics has three issued U.S. patents covering different applications of the technology for molecular diagnostics and genetic testing and a pending European patent for the same applications. The Company has organized a joint venture to conduct research on infectious disease detection with the National Institute for Infectious Diseases (Instituto Nazionale per le Malattie Infettive "Lazarus Spallanzani") in Rome, in the form of a new R&D company called SpaXen Italia, S.R.L. For more information, please visit http://xenomics.com. For more investor-specific information, including daily and historical Company stock quote data and recent news releases, please visit http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/xenomics. To read or download the Company's Investor Fact Sheet visit http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/xenomics/factsheet.html. To view an online video about Xenomics technology and products, visit http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/xenomics/video.html. A TV news report about the Company's next-generation prenatal tests can be viewed at http://www.trilogy-capital.com/tcp/xenomics/ny1_video.html.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements made in this press release are forward looking. Such statements are indicated by words such as "expect," "might," "should," "anticipate" and similar words indicating uncertainty in facts and figures. Although Xenomics believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. As discussed in the periodic reports of Xenomics, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of the following factors, among others: uncertainties associated with product development, the risk that Xenomics will not obtain approval to market its products, the risk that Xenomics' technology will not gain market acceptance, the risks associated with dependence upon key personnel, and the need for additional financing.
CONTACT: Xenomics, Inc.
Randy White, 212-297-0808
or
Trilogy Capital Partners, Inc. (Investor Relations)
Paul Karon, 800-342-1467
paul@trilogy-capital.com
SOURCE: Xenomics, Inc.
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