Amorfix Chief Science Officer to present latest on ovarian cancer therapeutic program at AACR 2013

TSX: AMF

TORONTO, April 3, 2013 /CNW/ - Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. announced today that Dr. Neil Cashman, Company Co-founder, CSO and Chairman of the Board, will provide an update of the Company's ovarian cancer therapeutic antibody program.  The Company previously announced that it had been selected to present an oral platform entitled "AMF-1c-120: an antibody specific for misfolded prion protein expressed on ovarian cancer cells", at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Washington, DC on April 9, 2013.

Dr. Cashman will present a brief overview of the Company's proprietary ProMIS discovery technology platform which was used to identify unique disease specific epitopes (DSEs) on misfolded prion protein.  In addition, the results of a series of studies demonstrating the cell surface expression of misfolded prion protein and selective binding of its proprietary antibody, AMF-1c-120, to ovarian cancer cells, but not normal ovarian cells, as well as the killing of ovarian cancer cells with an antibody-toxin conjugate and preliminary results in animal models of human ovarian cancer will be presented. These results validate the Company's ProMIS™ discovery technology as a valuable scientific discovery platform enabling the development of novel, targeted therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.

Dr. Cashman said, "We have made significant progress with our ovarian cancer therapeutic antibody program. The Amorfix approach to developing targeted therapeutics is unique in the industry and represents a breakthrough approach for therapeutic intervention.  I am excited to share our results with the scientific community".

The Company is developing AMF-1c-120 as a new therapeutic for the treatment of ovarian cancer.  The Company is also developing additional antibodies for the treatment of other types of cancers with its unique and proprietary ProMIS™ platform for identifying cancer specific targets that spare normal cells.

About the ProMIS Discovery Technology and the Company's Prion Protein (PrP) Target
Amorfix's proprietary drug discovery technology, ProMIS™, is a computer based algorithm that predicts Disease Specific Epitopes (DSEs), those regions of proteins most likely to misfold in diseases. Misfolded proteins are found in numerous diseased cells, including various cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. The Company uses this technology to identify DSEs that are only expressed on tumor cells and not normal cells and enables it to develop antibodies that only bind to and kill tumor cells without affecting normal cells. Using this technology, Amorfix has the potential to create antibody therapeutics that are more efficacious and have a much better safety profile, with fewer side effects than current cancer therapeutics.

About Ovarian Cancer
Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women, and it causes more deaths than any other type of female reproductive cancer. Most deaths from ovarian cancer occur in women age 55 and older. Ovarian cancer is often not diagnosed until late-stage disease when the cancer has spread to other organs in the body, which contributes to the short survival time following diagnosis. Ovarian cancer is typically treated with surgery and chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is not very effective as a treatment and is associated with a number of potential dose-limiting side effects due to its non-specific killing of both tumour and normal cells.

About Amorfix
Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. (TSX:AMF) is an early-stage product development company developing therapeutic antibodies and diagnostics targeting misfolded protein diseases. Amorfix utilizes its computational discovery platform, ProMIS™, to predict novel Disease Specific Epitopes (DSEs) on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this technology, Amorfix is developing novel antibody therapeutics and companion diagnostics for cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In addition, Amorfix has developed two proprietary technologies to specifically identify very low levels of misfolded proteins in a biological sample: Epitope Protection™ and AMFIA™, an ultra-sensitive dual-bead immunoassay. Use of these technologies has generated a human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) screening test for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and an ultrasensitive method for detecting the hallmark of AD, aggregated beta-Amyloid, in brain tissue, CSF and blood from animal models of AD. For more information about Amorfix, visit www.amorfix.com

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This information release may contain certain forward-looking information. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by statements herein, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to it as well as other factors.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by the Company in its public securities filings, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law.

ProMIS™, Epitope Protection™ and AMFIA™ are trademarks of Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd. 

SOURCE: Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd.

Dr. Robert Gundel
President and Chief Executive Officer
Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd.
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[email protected] 

Warren Whitehead
Chief Financial Officer
Amorfix Life Sciences Ltd.
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[email protected]