NeuroImmunology

biOasis’ Transcend Platform is a group of proprietary technologies designed for the transport of therapeutic agents across the blood brain barrier (“BBB”) and into the brain tissue. The delivery of therapeutics across the BBB represents the single greatest challenge in the treatment of over a thousand common and rare diseases of the brain and central nervous system. The development of an effective method to deliver therapeutics across the BBB has been considered for decades to be the “Holy Grail” of neurological medicine.

Transcend is based on the naturally occurring transport protein, melanotransferrin, also called MTf, CD228 and p97. Found at low concentrations in the blood, MTf is able to cross the BBB through a process called Receptor Mediated Transcytosis (“RMT”) where MTf molecules attach to receptors on the cells of the BBB. MTf is then pulled through the cells and into the brain where the MTf molecules can deliver their payload.

With biOasis’ proprietary Transcend carrier, the MTf protein can be attached to therapeutics of varying sizes or types. When infused or injected as a therapeutic, the resulting structure attaches itself to a BBB receptor and is pulled across the BBB where the therapeutic payload is delivered to brain.

biOasis has shown that Transcend can deliver a wide variety of therapeutics to brain, including antibodies, enzymes, siRNA and small molecule drugs, which together are expected to treat neurological diseases in several areas, including brain cancers, neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases.

Through extensive research, the biOasis team identified the peptide portion within MTf that was responsible for crossing the BBB. The peptide, named MTfp, was shown to transport therapeutic agents across the BBB more readily than the original Transcend. biOasis filed patent protection for the peptide and its related forms, which would result in extending the Company’s intellectual property for another 20 years. The peptide was branded “MTfp” and is now the Company’s main focus.

MTfp is less than 2% the size of the original MTf protein, which is advantageous because:

biOasis is actively engaged in the development and commercialization of its proprietary Transcend Platform and a newly discovered peptide derived from MTf for the transport of therapeutic agents across the BBB to the central nervous system (CNS).