Aphios Awarded National Cancer Institute Grant for Developing Natural Cannabinoid Products for Medical Use.

Business/Technology Editors & Health/Medical Writers

WOBURN, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--June 4, 2002

Aphios Corporation was recently awarded a Phase I SBIR grant entitled "Development of a Natural Cannabinoid Product" from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Marijuana (Cannabis sativa) and a number of cannabinoids including its primary psychoactive component, (DELTA)9-THC ((DELTA)9-tetrahydrocannabinol), show promise for treating pain and cachexia in cancer and AIDS patients. The overall goal of this research program is to develop a natural pharmaceutical grade (DELTA)9-THC product for medical use. While (DELTA)9-THC can be synthesized, the process is complex and expensive. Aphios plans to cost-effectively manufacture a natural (DELTA)9-THC product by utilizing supercritical fluids and near-critical fluids w/wo polar cosolvents such as alcohols (SuperFluids(TM)). The Company anticipates that such a process will also produce other bioactive cannabinoids and cannabinoid mixtures for future research and therapeutic use.

Aphios Corporation (www.aphios.com) is a biopharmaceutical company that is developing enhanced natural therapeutics for health maintenance and the treatment of human diseases with a focus on infectious diseases and oncology. The Company has developed several enabling SuperFluids(TM) technology platforms for improving the discovery, manufacturing, delivery and safety of therapeutic drugs, and has several enhanced therapeutic drugs in development. Aphios' product pipeline includes small pharmaceutically active molecules from medicinal plants and marine organisms, and large protein macromolecules that are crucial to the functioning of the human genome.