CPRIT grants RBM $3 million Company Commercialization Award to expand OncologyMAP program

Rules-Based Medicine, Inc. (RBM) today announced the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) has granted it a Company Commercialization Award to expand and enhance the OncologyMAP™ program for discovery and development of novel diagnostic and prognostic cancer tests. The award of approximately $3 million will fund research and development to more than double the number of cancer-associated biomarker assays in RBM's new OncologyMAP™ product.

"Better cancer outcomes begin with more accurate and earlier detection," said Karri Ballard, Ph.D., RBM's director of diagnostic initiatives. "Advanced prognostic and companion diagnostic tests are on the minds of clinicians, patients and administrators, who all desire effective and efficient tools to help save lives. An expanded OncologyMAP™ effort applied to numerous types of malignancies heightens the chances of identifying and validating these important tools."

"The CPRIT was created to invest in the people and projects that will find a cure for cancer," said Jimmy Mansour, the Institute's oversight committee chairman. "The groundbreaking work singled out today brings us one step closer to that ambitious goal."

The award submission entitled "Development of a Multi-Analyte Profile (MAP) Test for Broad Applications in Oncology" outlines a three-year plan to develop and validate multiplexed immunoassays that accurately measure an additional 150 to 180 blood-based biomarkers that are thought by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to be associated with cancer.  The Company believes the resulting product will include the largest number of quantitative immunoassays available for use in discovering and validating new diagnostic, prognostic, and companion diagnostic tests for oncology. The RBM submission was evaluated and awarded through a peer-reviewed, competitive process. Funding is subject to the completion of due diligence and contract finalization between RBM and CPRIT.