Blaze Bioscience Inc. Announces Publication Of Tumor Paint BLZ-100 Data In Cancer Research

Findings provide validation of BLZ-100 in the veterinary clinical setting

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blaze Bioscience, the Tumor Paint Company^®, a biotechnology company focused on guided cancer therapy, today announced the publication of a manuscript in Cancer Research validating the preclinical utility of Tumor Paint BLZ-100 in canine patients with naturally occurring solid tumors. The article entitled “Preclinical validation of the utility of BLZ-100 in providing fluorescence contrast for imaging canine spontaneous solid tumors” by Fidel et al, is available in the October 15, 2015 issue of Cancer Research and online at http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org.

“These findings provided key information to support clinical translation of BLZ-100”

Tumor Paint BLZ-100 was administered before surgery to dogs with a variety of naturally occurring tumors. Fluorescent contrast was assessed ex vivo and intraoperatively in a subset of canine patients. Proof of concept for the utility of BLZ-100 was achieved in a number of cancer types most notably in subcutaneous soft tissue sarcomas. The study was fully funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) through a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract¹ and was conducted at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

“These findings provided key information to support clinical translation of BLZ-100,” said Julie Novak, Blaze Bioscience VP of Research and Principal Investigator of the NCI contract. “Success of this canine study led to the follow-on NCI SBIR Phase II contract and the recently announced clinical trial in soft tissue sarcoma. This publication is an important validation of the Tumor Paint platform and Blaze’s continued commitment to steadily advance our pipeline.”

About BLZ-100

BLZ-100 is the first product candidate from Blaze’s Tumor Paint platform and consists of an Optide (optimized peptide), which binds and internalizes into cancer cells, and a fluorescent dye, which emits light in the near-infrared range. Tumor Paint products are designed to provide real-time, high-resolution intraoperative visualization of cancer cells, enabling more precise, complete resection of cancer throughout surgery. Preclinical utility of Tumor Paint technology has been demonstrated in a wide range of cancer types. BLZ-100 is currently in multiple Phase 1 proof-of-concept clinical studies to evaluate the safety and imaging characteristics of BLZ-100 in solid tumor cancers, including brain, breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, and sarcoma.

About Blaze Bioscience

Blaze Bioscience, Inc. is a privately held biotechnology company focused on guided cancer therapy. Blaze was founded in 2010 by Dr. Jim Olson, a pediatric neuro-oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Heather Franklin, a former member of the executive management team at ZymoGenetics. Blaze is working to develop Tumor Paint products and Optide-based therapeutics. Surgery is first-line therapy for most solid tumor cancers and Tumor Paint products intend to improve cancer surgery by providing real-time, high-resolution visualization of cancer cells throughout surgery. The ability to see cancer cells in real time and high resolution throughout surgery should enable better detection and more complete and precise surgical removal of cancer—while sparing surrounding normal tissue. In addition to the Tumor Paint platform, Blaze is collaborating with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to discover and develop products based on knottin peptides as part of the Optides platform. This program extends the expertise gained in developing the Tumor Paint platform to optimized knottin peptides for therapeutic and imaging applications. For additional information, please visit www.blazebioscience.com.

¹ This project has been funded in whole with Federal funds from National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN261201200054C.