Sona Announces Commercial Agreement with Siva Therapeutics
This news release constitutes a “designated news release” for the purposes of the Company’s prospectus supplement dated April 9, 2021, to its short form base prospectus dated March 31, 2021.
Halifax, Nova Scotia–(Newsfile Corp. – October 20, 2022) – Sona Nanotech Inc. (CSE: SONA), (OTCQB: SNANF) (the “Company” or “Sona”) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to supply certain gold nanorod material to Siva Therapeutics, Inc. (“Siva”), a developer of advanced, ‘in-vivo’ therapies for treating cancer.
Siva Therapeutics’ Targeted Hyperthermia™ cancer Therapy (“THT”) is being developed to be an elegant, safe and effective cancer treatment that generates therapeutic heat within solid tumors using gold nanorods with an infrared light device. THT has multiple beneficial effects on tumors, and it is more selective than chemotherapy, less destructive than radiation, and without the risks of surgical treatment. The treatment is minimally invasive, reducing harmful side effects, and stimulates the immune system. In addition to being more affordable and more effective, this technology could deliver faster results than current cancer treatments. Siva’s approach is to use gold nanorods and an infrared light device to destroy solid tumors with THT and improve patient health and outcomes. Siva has completed successful small animal studies for THT and is preparing to undertake large animal studies in 2023 before beginning human clinical trials for colorectal and possibly other cancer tumors.
Dr. Len Pagliaro, Ph.D., CEO of Siva, commented, “Sona’s biocompatible gold nanorods are the ideal material for use with Siva’s cancer tumor therapy system. Gold nanorods offer the highest efficiency of energy transfer and Sona’s are the only ones we have found globally that don’t use toxic CTAB in their manufacturing, assuring safety for ‘in-vivo’ medical applications.”
Sona Nanotech CEO, David Regan commented, “This agreement marks Sona’s first commercial arrangement of its gold nanorods for an emerging ‘in-vivo’ medical application. We are honoured to partner with Siva Therapeutics given the important work they are doing towards cancer therapies that are targeted at destroying only cancerous cells, improving both outcomes and reducing side effects.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Sona will benefit from an evaluation and characterization of its biocompatible nanorods by the U.S. Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (“NCL”), a collaborative effort between the National Cancer Institute, the US Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”), of which Siva is qualified as a program participant. Siva, which will have an exclusive right to one specific size of Sona’s gold nanorods for use in their therapies, has committed to place an initial order in early 2023, following the NCL characterization, and Sona has committed to achieving Good Manufacturing Practices (“GMP”) accreditation for the manufacturing of its biocompatible gold nanorods in its laboratory. Also, Sona will be issued US $150,000 worth of stock in Siva which has been granted a first right of refusal for an exclusive license for any patents developed by Sona pursuant to this agreement with any patents or patent applications covering any jointly developed intellectual property to be co-owned by Sona and Siva. The term of the agreement is for ten years, renewable by mutual consent, subject to Siva and Sona achieving certain respective operational milestones.
Contact:
David Regan, CEO
+1-902-536-1932
david@sonanano.com
About Sona Nanotech Inc.
Sona Nanotech is a nanotechnology life sciences firm that has developed multiple proprietary methods for the manufacture of various types of gold nanoparticles. The principal business carried out and intended to be continued by Sona is the development and application of its proprietary technologies for use in multiplex diagnostic testing platforms that will improve performance over existing tests in the market. Sona Nanotech’s gold nanorod particles are CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium) free, eliminating the toxicity risks associated with the use of other gold nanorod technologies in medical applications. It is expected that Sona’s gold nanotechnologies may be adapted for use in applications, as a safe and effective delivery system for multiple medical treatments, subject to the approval of various regulatory boards, including Health Canada and the FDA.
About Siva Therapeutics, Inc.
Siva Therapeutics Inc is developing Targeted Hyperthermia™, a photothermal cancer therapy, which uses therapeutic heat to treat solid cancers. The heat is delivered to tumors by infrared light that is absorbed by SivaRods™ gold nanorods in the tumor and re-emitted as heat. Therapeutic heat (44°C) stimulates the immune system, shrinks tumors, inactivates cancer stem cells, and increases tumor perfusion – thus enabling drugs to reach all tumor compartments more effectively. The size, shape, and surface chemistry of the nanorods target the leaky vasculature of solid tumors, and the selective thermal sensitivity of tumor tissue enables the therapy to deliver clean margins. Targeted Hyperthermia promises to be safe, effective, minimally invasive, competitive in cost, and a valuable adjunct to drug therapy and other cancer treatments. Siva’s initial clinical target is colorectal cancer. Contact us at info@sivatherapeutics.com or visit: www.sivatherapeutics.com
NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS MARKET REGULATOR (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This press release includes certain “forward-looking statements” under applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the benefits to accrue to Sona from the agreement with Siva. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including the risk that the NCL characterization of Sona’s nanorods may not demonstrate that they are suitable for Siva’s purposes, Siva may not be successful in developing its cancer treatments, and Sona may not be successful in achieving GMP accreditation for the manufacturing of its nanorods in its current facilities identifying biomedical applications for its technology with adequate market potential or at all. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Sona disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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