RICHMOND, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/05/08 --
BioCurex Inc. (OTCBB:
BOCX) has incorporated a fully-owned
subsidiary, BioCurex China, in Shanghai. This followed a lengthy
legal process - required of all foreign companies - that took
several months to complete.
The subsidiary will initially operate as a clinical laboratory
for RECAF testing and will serve both local hospitals and
physicians.
This expansion is completely separate from the licensing
agreements BioCurex has with Abbott Laboratories and Inverness
Medical Innovations. There is no direct or indirect collaboration
with these licensees on this Chinese venture, which relates solely
to BioCurex's determination to accelerate the commercialization of
its technologies.
There are several major points worth noting, as to the "how" and
"why" of this expansion.
(1) No new financing from the market will be required - thus
there will be no share dilution.
(2) At least initially, the revenue from these manual assays
marketed in China won't be comparable to the far greater anticipated
revenue to come from Abbott, Inverness and any third licensee. These
companies remain BioCurex's #1 priority.
(3) Fast, low cost cancer detection fills a universal need. This
is particularly applicable for emerging nations with limited
resources and low labor costs. In these markets, a manual assay is
affordable, while automated instruments are out of reach. To launch
this program, BioCurex is establishing itself in the largest city in
the world's largest nation, Shanghai - making it highly
cost-effective and an ideal test market.
(4) "Home brew" tests in clinical labs generally require less
regulatory approvals than commercial kits - making them ideal for
expanding into other regions.
(5) In a second stage, marketing in China will be extended to
other large cities such as Beijing, Tianjin and Hong Kong. In
addition, BioCurex China will seek distribution of the finished kits
to other clinical laboratories throughout the rest of the country.
The technical and regulatory aspects of BioCurex China will be
managed by a former BioCurex scientist, who moved back to Shanghai
after helping to develop the RECAF technology. Legal and accounting
issues will be handled by independent firms reporting directly to
BioCurex Inc.
In its previous licensing agreements, BioCurex has reserved the
right to manufacture, sell and license manual RECAF blood tests to
an unrestricted number of clients or licensees. Again, while we
anticipate that the bulk of our future revenue will originate from
our semi-exclusive licensees, this first direct step towards
commercialization represents an important move forward for BioCurex.
It also offers the potential for generating significant sales within
a relatively short time.
Dr. Ricardo Moro, BioCurex' CEO, comments: "We are particularly
excited by this development but we realize that it will not be a
substitute for future revenues from licensees.
"It will give us the opportunity to commercialize our RECAF
technology for the first time and provide us with a revenue stream.
Just as important, we will also have the freedom to expand this
manual testing as quickly as possible, without being at the mercy of
our licensees, time-frame.
"While royalties from our semi-exclusive licensees will likely
represent the bulk of our revenues, our monthly expenses are very
low and it is anticipated that net revenue from manual assays will
exceed them in a short period of time.
"The recent change in the world's economy poses a challenge to
high technology companies in the process of commercializing their
technologies. Our response to that challenge is to focus all of our
resources in generating revenue as soon as possible, from signing a
third semi-exclusive licensing agreement to commercializing manual
tests. It is difficult to tell where the first revenues will come
from; our licensees or direct sales, but working on all fronts in
parallel maximizes our opportunities and expedites the process. To
the best of our knowledge, no other technology can match this
product. The profit margin should be considerable."
About BioCurex:
BioCurex, Inc. is a biotechnology
company that is developing products based on
patented/proprietary technology in the areas of cancer diagnosis,
imaging and therapy. The technology identifies a cancer marker known
as RECAF(TM), which is found on malignant cells from a variety of
cancer types but is absent in most normal or benign cells.
BioCurex has signed licensing agreements for its cancer detection
blood tests with Abbott Laboratories and with Inverness Medical
Innovations (for further information on these agreements see:
http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1092562/000100487808000117/sb2amnd4s1april08.txt).
The cancer marker RECAF(TM) has emerged as a potential biomarker
that may be useful in the development of new cancer diagnostics
tests. Preliminary studies from the investigators at BioCurex have
reported a high level of clinical sensitivity and specificity for
RECAF in many of the most common cancers, including prostate,
breast, colorectal, lung and others.
Note:
The Company has not authorized the release of this information in
any form that contravenes the Communication Act and will not be
responsible for unsolicited massive distribution of this material by
e-mail or facsimile by unauthorized parties. Statements in this
press release, which are not historical facts, are "forward-looking
statements" within the meaning given to that term in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company
intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe
harbors created thereby. Since these statements involve risks and
uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, the Company's
actual results could differ materially from expected results.
Contacts:
BioCurex, Inc.
Ricardo Moro
(604) 207-9150
Website: www.biocurex.com
AGORACOM
Investor Relations
Website:
www.agoracom.com/IR/Biocurex