Blaze Bioscience Inc. Announces Tumor Paint BLZ-100 Publication In JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blaze Bioscience, Inc., the Tumor Paint Company^®, a biotechnology company focused on guided cancer therapy, today announced the publication of a manuscript in JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery describing the sensitivity and specificity of Tumor Paint BLZ-100 as a marker of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in animal models. The article entitled “Fluorescence Identification of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma and High-Risk Oral Dysplasia With BLZ-100, a Chlorotoxin-Indocyanine Green Conjugate” by Baik et al was co-authored by the teams at the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Blaze Bioscience and is available in the March 2016 issue of JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery and online at http://archotol.jamanetwork.com.

“This study establishes a further potential application of Tumor Paint BLZ-100 in the surgical and surveillance setting”

Tumor Paint BLZ-100 uptake was tested in models of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and dysplasia. BLZ-100 demonstrated highly sensitive and specific uptake in HNSCC tumor xenografts. Additionally, BLZ-100 uptake increased with the severity of dysplasia and distinguished between high- and low-risk dysplasia indicating that clinically, BLZ-100 may be useful in sparing unnecessary biopsies or, alternatively, prompting necessary surgery.

“This study establishes a further potential application of Tumor Paint BLZ-100 in the surgical and surveillance setting,” said Julie Novak, Blaze Bioscience VP of Research and co-author of the manuscript. “Precision is important in head and neck cancer because sparing normal tissue can help preserve the patient’s appearance and functions such as speech and swallowing.”

About BLZ-100

BLZ-100 is the first product candidate from Blaze’s Tumor Paint platform and consists of an Optide (optimized peptide) 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, potentially 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 an investigational agent currently in multiple Phase 1 proof-of-concept clinical studies to evaluate the safety and imaging characteristics of BLZ-100 in solid tumors, including brain, breast, lung, prostate, colorectal, sarcoma, and skin cancer. More details about on-going trials are available at www.blazebioscience.com or www.clinicaltrials.gov.

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 have the potential 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. Blaze Bioscience Australia Pty Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Blaze Bioscience, Inc. For additional information, please visit www.blazebioscience.com.