Company Overview:

Oncose, Inc. is an emerging market leader in cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment using proprietary technology to detect structural changes in glycoproteins that occur during oncogenesis. Glycoproteins are protein molecules with sugars (glycans) attached that are often found on cell membranes. “Glycoproteomics”—the analysis of glycoproteins and related biochemical pathways—represents an exciting new frontier in the battle against cancer because of recent discoveries that selected glycoproteins alter their structure when cells turn malignant. Detecting and tracking these changes has significant potential to provide enhanced clinical insight into disease progression and appropriate therapeutic choices.
With some of the world’s top glycobiologists leading Oncose’s research efforts—combined with access to state-of-the-art research facilities—the Company is now developing tests that: (1) will greatly reduce the need for more expensive and invasive tests (e.g., biopsies or imaging studies) currently required to confirm a cancer diagnosis; and (2) will aid clinicians in selecting the most effective therapy options.

Current Business Focus:

Abeome is presently focused on developing a serum-based diagnostic for colorectal cancer (see Home page tab or click here for recent update). In December 2005, Abeome announced a deal with Genzyme Corporation, in which it had acquired licensing rights to develop a diagnostic for colorectal cancer by detecting a change in the glycosylation pattern of a patented marker known as Renal Dipeptidase (RDP). By using Oncose technology, we believe we can effectively distinguish cancer RDP from non-cancerous RDP and are directing our efforts to ultimately commercialize an un-invasive blood test to broaden compliance of screening for the disease and to detect colorectal cancer at an early stage of development.

Founders/Management Team:

Oncose was formed in August 2001 by three distinguished University of Georgia (“UGA”) professors to leverage decades of research on glycoproteins and cancer. Its two scientific founders, J. Michael Pierce, Ph.D. and J. David Puett, Ph.D., are internationally-recognized researchers in the field of glycobiology, and have developed assays to confirm structural changes in selected glycoproteins that occur during oncogenesis.

The Company’s third founder, Clifton A. Baile, PhD., is an Eminent Scholar at UGA and a successful entrepreneur who has played key roles at a number of biotech start-ups. He currently serves as Oncose’s Chairman of the Board.

Mike Wanner joined Oncose in January 2005 as President and CEO to drive business strategy and accelerate test development and commercialization. He brings to the Company a track record of building biotech start-ups into successful business entities.

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Scientific Summary:

Researchers estimate that approximately 70% of all proteins encoded by the human genome are glycosylated; that is, they are modified during synthesis by enzymes that add a specific glycan to the primary protein structure.

There is a wealth of scientific evidence that when cells become cancerous, they produce altered glycoprotein structures, detectable using advanced instrumentation in blood serum or urine. Importantly, these changes in glycostructure are not random, but depend instead on the type of cell, the stage of oncogenesis, the type of cancer and other factors. These changes in glycosylation have the potential to serve as specific molecular fingerprints or markers for cancer cells, providing critical information to clinicians wanting to confirm a suspected diagnosis, assess the patient’s prognosis and optimize selection of therapies. How selected markers fractionate, change over time and/or are expressed in tandem with other glycoproteins is expected to provide far greater clinical insight into cancer detection and treatment than current lab tests in use today.
As “proof of concept”, Pierce and Puett have developed successful prototype tests to detect and evaluate specific glycoproteins for three cancers: human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) for choriocarcinoma; prostate-specific antigen (PSA) for prostate cancer; and pancreatic RNAse (pRNAse) for pancreatic cancer. In each case, variant glycoforms of these markers were detected and measured in cancerous cells—but not in healthy ones. Findings on hCG and choriocarcinoma were published in the March 2005 edition of Analytical Biochemistry.

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