Collaboration for Aspirin Resistance Testing Announced by
Corgenix Medical Corporation, Creative Clinical Concepts, Inc. and McMaster
University
Technology Used to Determine a Patient's Response to Aspirin Therapy Taken to
Prevent Heart Attacks
DENVER, and HAMILTON, Canada, Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Corgenix
Medical Corporation ("Corgenix") (OTC:CONX) (BULLETIN BOARD: CONX) and
AspirinWorks, a division of Creative Clinical Concepts, Inc. ("CCC"), both
headquartered in Denver, Colorado, today announced that together they have
entered into a license agreement with McMaster University ("McMaster"),
Hamilton, Ontario, providing Corgenix and CCC exclusive rights to the propriety
technology owned by McMaster for the development, manufacturing and marketing
of innovative diagnostic tests specific to the pathway by which aspirin acts on
platelets. This technology has demonstrated the ability to assess an
individual's relative risk for heart attack by measuring the person's degree of
aspirin resistance.
The technology involves the measurement of a unique thromboxane metabolite,
which removes the guesswork, allowing physicians to quantify the amount of the
metabolite involved in aspirin resistance. Qualitative platelet function tests
currently available are subject to multiple interferences. Once a physician
measures a patient's response to aspirin, the dosage can be adjusted or
alternative platelet therapy recommended.
Mamdouh Shoukri, Vice-President (Research and International Affairs) at
McMaster University, said, "McMaster has long been committed not only to
develop technology beneficial to the healthcare system, but to collaborate with
outstanding commercial partners like Corgenix and AspirinWorks to ensure that
our technology actually gets to the public. This technology for aspirin
resistance, developed in our Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, is a
ground-breaking discovery in the prevention of cardiovascular disease." "Part of our mission as an academic teaching hospital is to advance health care
through education and research," said Bill MacLeod, Vice-President, Research
and Corporate Development at Hamilton Health Sciences. "This collaboration
with our academic partner, McMaster University, is another example of how we
are working together to move important clinical research out of the lab to make
a difference to people and their health." Jack Hirsh, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine at the Michael G. DeGroote
School of Medicine at McMaster, one of the co-developers of the aspirin
resistance technology, co-authored a 2002 study which demonstrated that
patients taking aspirin with high levels of thromboxane in their urine had a
risk of cardiovascular-related death that was 3.5 times as great as those on
aspirin with the expected low therapeutic levels. "While medications to lower
hypertension and cholesterol are tested through measurement of blood pressure
and blood cholesterol levels, aspirin has not been routinely monitored to see
if it is truly protecting a patient against heart attack or stroke," said Dr. Hirsh. "Patients should be tested for aspirin resistance so we can determine
if the aspirin is working and if it's not, increase the dosage and retest, or
choose another anti-platelet therapy." Gordon Ens, President of CCC stated, "Twenty-three million Americans are taking
an aspirin a day as a preventative measure against a heart attack. However,
recent reports indicate that up to 25% of these individuals may be
non-responsive to aspirin's benefits because they are aspirin resistant or the
aspirin dosage they are taking is not effective. More startling is that
patients who are aspirin resistant are also more than 3 times likely to die
from heart disease, as reported by several recent studies. " Atherothrombosis is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 52% of
all deaths. An estimated 56 million people worldwide died from
atherothrombotic disease in 2000 (manifested as cardiovascular disease,
ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease). Atherothrombosis is also
the leading cause of death in the US, in 1999 responsible for almost 1 million
deaths and a contributing factor in 70% of all deaths. According to the most
recent Centers for Disease Control computations, the probability at birth of
eventually dying from major cardiovascular diseases is 47 percent, whereas the
chance of dying from cancer is 22 percent.
Doug Simpson, President of Corgenix stated, "Corgenix is obviously very pleased
to be collaborating with these two outstanding partners. McMaster University
is acknowledged as a leader in many areas of clinical medicine and is
particularly recognized in the field of hemostasis and coagulation. Their
faculty is first-rate, and as a result, important leading-edge technology has
been developed over the years. We expect that this relationship, in
conjunction with Creative Clinical Concepts, will result in some very exciting
new products which address this very important and growing market." About AspirinWorks AspirinWorks is a division of Creative Clinical Concepts and is focused on
providing a test to determine a patient's response to aspirin. AspirinWorks is
the only test based on an outcomes study using controls to ensure
standardization between laboratories. More information is available at
http://www.aspirinworks.com/.
About Corgenix Corgenix is a leader in the development and manufacture of anti-Phospholipid
test kits and other unique diagnostic products for cardiovascular disease and
thrombotic risk, being the first on the market with an FDA cleared assay for
anti-Cardiolipin (aCL). The company is based in metropolitan Denver and is
focused on the development of specialized diagnostic kits for immunology
disorders, vascular diseases and bone and joint diseases. Corgenix diagnostic
products are commercialized for use in clinical laboratories throughout the
world. More information is available at http://www.corgenix.com/.
Corgenix has previously announced a planned merger with Genesis Bioventures,
Inc., (AMEX:GBI), a biomedical corporation focusing on the development and
marketing of novel diagnostics and therapeutics. More information is available
at http://www.gnsbio.com/.
About McMaster McMaster University, one of Canada's leading research-intensive universities,
has world-renowned faculty and state-of-the-art research facilities.
McMaster's culture of innovation fosters a commitment to discovery and learning
in teaching, research and scholarship. Based in Hamilton, the University has a
student population of more than 20,000 and more than 112,000 alumni in 128
countries. More information is available at http://www.mcmaster.ca/.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical facts are
"forward looking" statements (identified by the words "believe", "estimate",
"project", "expect" or similar expressions) within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements inherently involve
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from the forward-looking statements. Factors that would cause or contribute to
such differences include, but are not limited to, continued acceptance of
Corgenix' products and services in the marketplace, competitive factors,
changes in the regulatory environment, and other risks detailed in Corgenix'
periodic report filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
statements in this press release are made as of today, based upon information
currently known to management, and Corgenix does not undertake any obligation
to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. DATASOURCE: Corgenix Medical Corporation CONTACT: Mary Verity of Creative Clinical Concepts, +1-303-320-9333, ; or William Critchfield, CFO of Corgenix, +1-303-453-8903, Web site: http://www.gnsbio.com/ Web site: http://www.mcmaster.ca/ Web site: http://www.aspirinworks.com/ Web site: http://www.corgenix.com/
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