HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Power3 Medical Products, Inc. (OTC BB: PWRM), announced today that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with NeoGenomics, Inc. (NASDAQ: NGNM) of Fort Myers, Florida, to form a joint venture Contract Research Organization (CRO).
Under the terms of the agreement, Power3 and NeoGenomics will jointly own the CRO, whose mission will be commercialization of Power3’s portfolio of Intellectual Property, centering on the 523 biomarkers it has discovered from a broad range of diseases, centering on the blood-based tests for breast cancer, ALS, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. The CRO will work to further develop diagnostic tests and other services.
Power3 will own a minority interest of the new CRO, which is expected to be launched in the third or fourth quarter of 2007. As part of the agreement, Power3 will receive $200,000 of working capital from NeoGenomics, and grant NeoGenomics options to increase its equity stake in Power3 up to 60% of the fully diluted shares.
Power3 will license its proprietary tests and other IP to the CRO for selected non-FDA approved applications on a non-exclusive basis, and provide certain management personnel. NeoGenomics will provide the CRO with access to cancer samples, management, sales and marketing personnel, laboratory facilities and working capital.
In addition to the 534 biomarkers it has discovered and validated, Power3’s IP portfolio includes 17 pending patents and provisional patent applications, plus research agreements and license agreements in the areas of cancer, drug resistance, neurodegenerative disease, and metabolic syndrome.
Uniting Global Scientific Leaders
“This agreement unites recognized leaders of the global scientific and medical communities by bringing together Power3’s proteomic-based biomarkers, intellectual property and extensive bank of clinical samples with NeoGenomics’ unique genetics diagnostic testing development capabilities,” said Dr. Ira L. Goldknopf, director of proteomics for Power3.
To date, he said, Power3’s “growing database has more than 2,000 clinically significant documented patient samples. We have developed and validated a reproducible and robust proprietary methodology for analyzing disease specific protein biomarkers in human blood serum for diagnostic tests in breast cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Now, with this agreement, Power3 has taken an important step to bring our portfolio of protein biomarkers to market, uniting proteomics with genomics for even greater potential impact.”
Power3 ‘Achieving a Long-Awaited and Important Step’
Steven B. Rash, Power3’s chairman and CEO, said the agreement “is cause for celebration. Today, Power3 has achieved a long-awaited and vitally important step in our goal of commercializing our portfolio of biomarkers for diagnostic tests in a number of disease areas and has the potential to bridge the gap between proteomics and genomics.
“And,” he said, “we are doing so with a first class diagnostic testing laboratory . . . a perfect partner in NeoGenomics to help us validate our proteomic-diagnostic technology.”
Mr. Rash said the agreement “demonstrates the strength of Power3’s broad IP portfolio and the company’s ability to partner with bio-medical companies to commercialize its technology in markets with critical unmet needs. “It is important to note,” he said, “that Power3 retains the right to exclusively license our IP to pharmaceutical companies in support of drug development activities. Now that we have a partner the caliber of NeoGenomics, who can develop companion diagnostic tests for the pharmaceutical industry, we believe our product offerings will be seen as even more compelling to this key customer base.”
Mr. Rash said that for Power3 shareholders, the licensing of the company’s technology to the CRO “has the potential to result in a strong revenue stream in the near and long term, which would allow us to move full-speed ahead to validate and commercialize technologies we’ve discovered and pioneered. Power3 should also be better able to continue its efforts in discovering and validating biomarkers, and developing additional diagnostic tests that can help solve pressing clinical problems involving diseases that impact large populations, which to date have been difficult to diagnose and treat.”
‘Power3 an Emerging Force in Proteomics’
“Today, many chronic diseases are not diagnosable until after the patient has had the disease for a significant period of time, said Robert Gasparini, president and chief scientific officer of NeoGenomics. “We believe that proteomics, along with our focus on genetic pathology, are the two emerging fields likely to give us the technology, tools and answers needed to bridge this gap to earlier detection. Power3 is becoming an emerging force in the proteomics community by developing and validating a process for reproducing protein biomarkers. We are delighted to work with them on this venture.”
“Power3 has recently reported some very compelling and statistically significant results in externally sponsored, blinded studies of normal and abnormal disease samples,” Mr. Gasparini said. “These results and the reproducibility of Power3’s process to find biomarkers is what caught our eye. With their ability to identify and correlate specific protein biomarkers with specific disease states, we believe that the CRO will be able to develop antibodies for these biomarkers that can then be used to develop proprietary, reagent-based high throughput tests. Importantly, if done correctly, these high throughput tests should be able to be done on blood serum specimens before a disease state is fully manifested as opposed to how we do business today by testing a specimen once the disease state is expected or has been manifested. This has the potential to lead to much earlier diagnosis which is often a key to the effective treatment of cancer and other diseases. In effect, this joint venture CRO is going to act as the development arm for the research being done by Power3.”
Mr. Rash concluded by saying, “Under the terms of our agreement, NeoGenomics and Power3 expect to take the next six months to further define the business model of this joint venture in more detail, with our ultimate goal to build a profitable CRO as quickly as possible that offers a wide array of differentiated services to the research community. Importantly, we expect that the joint venture CRO will be able to generate revenue almost immediately.”
About Power3 Medical Products
Power3 Medical Products, Inc. (OTC: PWRM, www.Power3Medical.com), is a leading proteomics company engaged in the commercialization of protein biomarkers, pathways, and mechanisms of diseases, through the development of diagnostic tests and drug targets for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Power3’s patent-pending technologies are being used to develop screening and diagnostic tests for the early detection and treatment of disease, and its identified protein biomarkers, drug targets, and diagnostic tests are targeted toward markets with critical unmet needs in areas such as breast cancer and neurodegenerative disease. Power3 operates a state-of-the-art proteomics laboratory in The Woodlands (Houston), Texas.
About NeoGenomics, Inc.
NeoGenomics, Inc. is a high-complexity CLIA–certified clinical laboratory that specializes in cancer genetics diagnostic testing, the fastest growing segment of the laboratory industry. The company’s testing services include cytogenetics, fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH), flow cytometry, morphology studies, anatomic pathology and molecular genetic testing. Headquartered in Fort Myers, NeoGenomics has labs in Nashville, Irvine, Calif., and Fort Myers, and services the needs of pathologists, oncologists, urologists, hospitals and other reference laboratories throughout the United States. For additional information about NeoGenomics, visit http://www.neogenomics.org.
This press release contains 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. With the exception of historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release involve risk and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.
Contacts
Power3 Medical Products, Inc. Steven B. Rash, 281-466-1600 srash@power3medical.com or
The Kaminer Group David A. Kaminer, 914-684-1934 dkaminer@kamgrp.com
