MetaStat’s MetaSite Breast™ Diagnostic Assay Predicts Metastasis in Breast Cancer Study

MONTCLAIR, NJ--(Marketwired - October 04, 2013) - MetaStat Inc. (OTCQB: MTST) (“MetaStat” or the “Company”), a life science company focused on understanding and treating systemic metastasis, today announced that a study of nearly 500 women with breast cancer showed the value of the Company’s MetaSite Breast™ test in the prediction of metastatic disease. The sponsored study was conducted in collaboration with Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Weill Cornell Medical College.

The MetaSite Breast™ test is a mechanism-based assay that identifies the tumor microenvironment of metastasis (“TMEM”) and can predict the likelihood that a woman with breast cancer will develop a distant metastasis, including spread to the liver, lungs, bone, brain, and other organs. The assay identifies the microanatomic landmark where tumor cells invade into the bloodstream via their direct interaction with endothelial cells and macrophages. Distant metastasis to other organs is a major cause (up to 90%) of death in women with breast cancer, and occurs largely through spread of the tumor via the bloodstream.

An earlier study, which was based on 60 patients with early stage breast cancer and published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, showed that MetaSite Score in the primary breast cancer was associated with increased risk of metastasis. The recently completed study involving 481 women with breast cancer confirmed that the MetaSite Score (a count of the number of TMEM structures) was found to be associated with a statistically significant increase in the risk of distant metastasis. This relationship was found in the predefined subgroup of women with ER+/Her2- breast cancer, a subtype, which accounts for more than 60% of all breast cancers. The study also determined that the prognostic information provided by the MetaSite Score was independent of key clinicopathologic variables such as the number of lymph nodes to which the tumor had spread, the size of the primary tumor, and the IHC-4 score (a test which provides similar prognostic information to that of the Oncotype DX assay). The results of the study have been submitted for publication, and will be presented at the 2013 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium and other scientific meetings.

About MetaStat, Inc.
MetaStat is focused on developing and commercializing novel diagnostic technologies and therapeutics for the early and reliable prediction and treatment of systemic metastasis -- cancer that spreads from a primary tumor through the bloodstream to other areas of the body. Systemic metastasis is responsible for ~90% of all solid tumor cancer related deaths and as such, we believe that more effective treatment of metastatic disease and/or the prevention of systemic metastasis is needed to improve patient outcomes.

Our MetaSite Breast™ and MenaCalc™ diagnostic product lines are designed to accurately predict the probability of systemic metastasis and to allow clinicians to better “customize” cancer treatment decisions by positively identifying patients with a high-risk of systemic metastasis who need aggressive therapy and by sparing patients with a low-risk of systemic metastasis from the harmful side effects and expense of chemotherapy. Furthermore, we believe our MenaCalc™ diagnostic platform may be applicable in up to 80% of all solid epithelial cancers, including breast, prostate, lung and colorectal, which account for over 50% of all new cancer cases in the U.S. each year.

Additionally, we are developing our MenaBloc™ therapeutic platform, with the goal of discovering inhibitors of the Mena pathway that can be advanced as anti-cancer therapeutics in multiple epithelial-based tumor types.

Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and other risks, including those set forth in the Company’s Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements.