EMERYVILLE, Calif., June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Bionovo, Inc. (NASDAQ: BNVI), a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of safe and effective treatments for women's health and cancer, today announced it will be presenting data on novel approaches for the quantification of actives in botanical drug mixtures. The data will be presented at the American Society of Mass Spectroscopy (ASMS) annual meeting in Denver, CO, June 5-9, 2011.
Botanicals have been the source for medical treatment of diseases for millennia. Many of the current best selling drugs were discovered and developed from botanical sources. Large numbers of compounds have been identified from plants possessing multiple pharmacological actions. Many analytical methods have been developed using LC-MS/MS methods focusing only on a single target compound. These methods lacked good chromatographic separation. Botanical extracts contain many active metabolites and isomers. Bionovo developed sensitive LC-MS/MS methods for simultaneous accurate quantification of multiple active isomers with good separation in botanical extracts.
"It is very challenging to accurately quantify multiple, very similar, active compounds using rapid methods," said Dr. Yan Ling Zhang, Director of Analytical Chemistry at Bionovo. "When developing these methods it is very easy to overlook closely related compounds. We are happy to report that we successfully developed such methods with multiple components with similar molecular weights, separated by just minor differences in the position of some of its groups. This advance in methodology opens the door to far more accurate and rapid approaches to mixture analysis of closely associated compounds."
"Bionovo continues to pioneer discovery and development efforts in the un-tapped area of botanical drug development. The studies presented at ASMS this year expand on our ability to quantify, with very sensitive methods, multiple components simultaneously. This work is critical to botanical drug characterization, manufacturing controls and their pharmacological assessment. We identified closely related active isomers that provide the platform to new structure activity relationship with our nuclear receptor targets. By harnessing these current and other technologies Bionovo is positioned to exploit many more botanical drugs used in traditional medicines," stated Dr. Isaac Cohen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bionovo, Inc.
About Menerba
Menerba is an oral drug candidate designed for the safe, effective treatment of vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes) associated with menopause, which is manufactured from botanical sources. Menerba is an estrogen receptor beta (ER-b) selective drug, developed as an alternative to the products currently on the market which have been shown to increase the risk for breast and uterine cancers. It has been shown that the increased risk of breast and uterine cancers is associated with activation of estrogen receptor alpha (ER-a) and that activation of estrogen receptor beta (ER-b) blocks the growth promoting effects on breast cancer cells. The active ingredients in Menerba are derived from botanicals with centuries of recorded safe, effective use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Bionovo recognizes the opportunity to commercialize a product that would be as effective as hormone therapy, without the health risks. Menerba has completed a Phase 2 trial with positive results for efficacy and has been evaluated by an independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board and passed through a standard two-round examination for safety. Menerba also has been shown in animal studies to prevent the proliferation of breast cancer and to have a beneficial effect on osteoporosis, though this has not yet been studied in humans.
About Bionovo, Inc.
Bionovo, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of safe and effective treatments for women's health and cancer, markets with significant unmet needs and billions in potential annual revenue. The Company applies its expertise in the biology of menopause and cancer to design new drugs derived from botanical sources which have novel mechanisms of action. Based on the results of early and mid-stage clinical trials, Bionovo believes they have discovered new classes of drug candidates within their rich pipeline with the potential to be leaders in their markets. Bionovo is headquartered in Emeryville, California and is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol, "BNVI". For more information about Bionovo and its programs, visit: http://www.bionovo.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Bionovo, Inc. that can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believes," "expects," or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties relating to product development, efficacy and safety, regulatory actions or delays, the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection, market acceptance, physician acceptance, third party reimbursement, future capital requirements, competition in general and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at http://www.sec.gov. Bionovo, Inc. is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE Bionovo, Inc.
