Breakthrough Cancer Technology To Be Funded By The Crowd

HOUSTON, March 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In a step toward democratizing the financing of a breakthrough cancer drug technology, CNS PHARMACEUTICALS, Inc., announced today the launch of its equity crowdfunding campaign on Republic, utilizing new equity crowdfunding securities laws called regulation CF or Reg CF for short, to support the development of Berubicin, its lead drug candidate for the treatment of Glioblastoma, the most aggressive type of brain cancer.

Republic link: https://republic.co/cns-pharmaceuticals

Berubicin was discovered at the prestigious University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the largest cancer research and treatment center in the world. The brainchild of world-renowned cancer therapeutics expert Waldemar Priebe, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at the Department of Experimental Therapeutics at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Berubicin may change the way Glioblastoma is treated worldwide.

"There are roughly 13,000 cases of Glioblastoma diagnosed each year in the United States alone," stated John M. Climaco, CEO of CNS Pharmaceuticals. "Sadly, almost all will eventually prove fatal. Despite decades of research into Glioblastoma, there are no significant therapies that have impacted overall survival. This disease simply does not discriminate - Senator John McCain was recently diagnosed with Glioblastoma and Senator Ted Kennedy and Beau Biden, Vice President Joe Biden's son, both succumbed to this aggressive disease. To the sorrow of patients and their families alike, even access to the best treatments available in the world today has proven insufficient against this type of brain cancer, where the average survival is only 14-16 months after diagnosis… essentially a DEATH sentence for these patients."

Among the main reasons that Glioblastoma has proven so difficult to treat is ironically also one of the body's best natural defense systems: the Blood Brain Barrier, or BBB for short. The BBB protects the brain from external poisons and thus prevents most anticancer drugs available that could effectively kill these tumors from reaching the brain. The BBB is comprised of special endothelial cells which pump potentially harmful substances out, including all traditional chemotherapy drugs. However, Berubicin is different. Berubicin was developed with unique characteristics which were shown in a previous Phase I clinical trial to effectively bypass the BBB, reach the brain and destroy Glioblastoma cells.

"Berubicin could be a total game changer," said Mr. Climaco. "In fact, in Berubicin's Phase I clinical trial, a significant percentage of patients showed a clinical response. No anthracycline - the class of anticancer drugs to which Berubicin belongs - has ever been able to show anything like this based on this class of drugs' inability to get into the brain. Should our future clinical trials allow us to demonstrate that Berubicin has this unique activity and provides unprecedented effectiveness, this could be the most important advancement in treating this type of cancer in over a century."

CNS has assembled a world-class team of researchers and executives to continue Berubicin's development. Mr. Climaco, an attorney by training, co-founded and was the CEO of Axial Biotech, Inc. where he raised more than $50 million in financing to develop ScoliScore, the first DNA-based prognostic test for an orthopaedic disease. Sandra Silberman, M.D., PhD., the Chief Medical Officer of CNS Pharma, is a practicing physician in the Duke University Medical Center Hematology/Oncology fellowship program, and was formerly one of the leaders of the global clinical development for Gleevec™, one of the most important anticancer drugs ever approved. CNS Pharma also has an outstanding board of directors and scientific advisory board, including Don Picker, Ph.D., who led the development of Carboplatin, among the world's leading anticancer drugs, which was acquired by Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Sigmund Hsu, M.D., an internationally renowned specialist in diseases of the brain and central nervous system, and George Gumulka, Ph.D., a scientist and executive with over thirty years of experience in biotechnology and chemical research and development.

While CNS Pharma has raised seed financing from high networth investors, we are extremely excited to begin our equity crowdfunding campaign today, bringing the opportunity to participate in this groundbreaking research and development to a much wider and more diverse investor audience via the Republic equity crowdfunding portal.

Republic link: https://republic.co/cns-pharmaceuticals

"Until recently, only venture capitalists and high net-worth individuals would have a chance to even see these kinds of opportunities, let alone invest in them," said Mr. Climaco, "but a change in the securities laws has opened up the field. In Republic, we have a platform and a partner to help us bring our story directly to the investing public in a way never before possible. Although developing new drugs is clearly an expensive proposition, CNS Pharmaceuticals and Republic have created a way for ordinary individuals and sophisticated investors alike to marshal resources and help potentially change the lives of many very sick people around the world."

"Republic is pleased to welcome CNS Pharmaceuticals as our first biotech offering," said Kendrick Nguyen, CEO of Republic. "The emergent space of biotech crowdfunding helps diversify the offerings on Republic and supports our mission of democratizing startup investing."

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, the ability of CNS to raise sufficient funding in this offering and in its planned follow-on offering to complete a Phase II trial for Berubicin and the successful execution of a Phase II clinical trial for Berubicin. These statements relate to future events, future expectations, plans and prospects. Although CNS believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, expectations may prove to have been materially different from the results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. CNS has attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including "believes," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "projects," "intends," "potential," "may," "could," ''might," "will," "should," "approximately" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those discussed in CNS's Form C filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), as updated from time to time. Any forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of its date. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after its date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONTACT: John Climaco, jclimaco@cnspharma.com