Mr. Rashid Ahmed reports

BIOMARK DIAGNOSTICS TO CONDUCT VALIDATION STUDIES FOR ITS PATENTED ASSAYS IN PATIENTS WITH LUNG CANCER

Biomark Diagnostics Inc. expects to begin conducting studies in the fourth quarter of 2015 to validate the use of its patented assays to determine responses to surgical intervention for patients with lung cancer and to further offer a personalized and reliable indicator to monitor persistence, recurrence or state of a tumour. Dr. James Bond, chief of Surrey Memorial Hospital thoracic surgery team, along with the entire thoracic surgical division of Fraser Health Authority, which includes Dr. Ahmad Ashrafi, Dr. Sharon Ong and Dr. Kyle Grant, will serve as principal investigator for this formative clinical validation study, entitled "The use of Biomark's acetyl amantadine patented technology to assess surgical intervention for lung cancer." Fraser Health Authority is one of the largest, fastest-growing health care authorities in Canada, serving a population of 1.8 million, encompassing 12 regional hospitals. It has the largest and busiest thoracic surgery program in British Columbia. In addition, Dr. Daniel Sitar of CancerCare Manitoba will also act as co-principal investigator.

President and chief executive officer of Biomark, Rashid Ahmed, stated: "Lung cancer is the most devastating cancer, with very low five-year survival rates. Having access to an effective, non-invasive means of assessing and monitoring this cancer would be highly beneficial for this group of patients. We believe that our assay could offer a valuable diagnostic tool for surgical oncologists to assess the clinical success and potential recurrence of cancer. We are honoured to have Dr. Bond and the distinguished team at Surrey Memorial Hospital working with us. We expect to begin this trial in the fourth quarter of 2015, subject to ethics approval from Fraser Health Authority."

Dr. Bond said: "At present, we have numerous diagnostic modalities to facilitate the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer. Each of these current modalities is expensive, at risk of false negative results (that is, will miss a cancer diagnosis), has long wait-lists to gain access to these tests and, in the end, requires a specialist (thoracic surgeon) to put all the details together to then plan for treatment. Surgery is still the most important part of cancer cure therapies. Under our current paradigm of care, an interventional procedure is most often used to acquire tissue to confirm a diagnosis. This might mean a bronchoscopy or a lung biopsy performed in the radiology department. As lung biopsies are frequently non-diagnostic, as are bronchoscopies, many of these tests serve to delay definitive treatment while also costing the health care system an immense amount of money for results that are not helpful.

"A urine or blood test used to diagnose lung cancer, and then used again to monitor for recurrence after treatment, has the potential to radically change how we diagnose, and then treat, lung cancer. A urine or blood test will be substantially faster, saving weeks or even months searching for a diagnosis. It will expedite referral to a surgeon or other specialists directly from the general practitioner after a positive blood test. This will result in faster access to curative treatments. As a urine or blood test will have significantly lower costs and without the risk of complications of other tests such as bronchoscopies and lung biopsies, the health care system can redirect those savings where they might be more needed.

"Simply put, a urine or blood test for lung cancer will save lives, will save time and will save health care dollars. The need for such technologies cannot be overstated. This is an important study with far-reaching implications for lung cancer and other cancers as well," added Dr. Bond.

About Dr. Bond

Dr. Bond is a health care innovator with a record of overcoming inertia and streamlining processes. At Surrey Memorial Hospital, he has led a rapid autopilot program to speed up lung cancer wait times from an average of 190 days to 45 days. When a patient receives abnormal lung imaging, he/she is immediately appointed a nurse navigator, who is responsible for planning his/her care and sending imaging to the surgeon for insight. Dr. Bond is an innovative thoracic surgeon who has led the adoption of the Matrix thoracic surgical procedure and created a comprehensive program of care at Surrey Memorial Hospital that is the only one of its kind in Canada. The innovative surgery improves survival rates, reduces lengthy hospital stays and improves long-term outcomes by mitigating chronic pain and breathlessness. Dr. Bond currently trains other doctors in North America on the procedure.

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