Resverlogix Corp. is a local Calgary biotechnology company dedicated to the research and development of new therapeutics in the fields of cardiovascular disease and cancer research.

Recent medical publications have given extremely positive results for research on technologies that are closely related to the company’s primary cardiovascular therapy, Reverse Cholesterol Transport (RCT). An article titled “The Effect of Recombinant Apo A-1 Milano on Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes” in the November 5 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association (J.A.M.A.) significantly validates RCT as a now proven method of removing atherosclerotic plaques from the body.

The study has since been referred to in many media sources, such as the Time Magazine article “Drano for the Heart”. The new data relating to the actions of RCT further underscore the importance of augmenting this normal physiological process in the pursuit of reversing cardiovascular disease. The article relates to the use of a particular recombinant Apo A1 Milano program to reduce the fatty arterial plaques, which cause heart attacks, by 10 times more than the statins that are currently used in almost all cholesterol drugs currently on the market.

The expression of Apolipoprotein A1 is at the centre of the technology currently being deployed by Resverlogix. It should be noted that the study was in no way supported or funded by Resverlogix and in no way relates to Resverlogix outside of proving the viability of the company’s field of research.

Research associates Megan Patrick, left, and Josee Dufresne at the Resverlogix lab in Calgary.

The management team of Resverlogix is very excited about the article’s positive impact on all companies participating in research and discovery programs relating to the expression of Apo A1 or HDL cholesterol, and in particular how it will further help to distinguish Resverlogix as a unique biotechnology company. Here are some of the highlights that set Resverlogix apart from most other biotech companies:

* Resverlogix is positioned within the two biggest biotech drug markets – cholesterol and cancer – and its cholesterol technology is focused on the hot, rapidly growing market sector known as reverse cholesterol transport.

* Resverlogix has a business model that is designed to minimize shareholder risk. It will not become a fully integrated bio-pharmaceutical company, thus eliminating the expensive upfront development costs that have proven detrimental to other startup companies. Resverlogix plans to decrease risk by adopting a conservative licensing strategy of developing technologies to the beginning of human phase trials, at which point licensing partners will be pursued.

* Resverlogix boasts respected and proven leadership. The company was co-founded by chief executive officer Donald McCaffrey, the past president of the BioFuture Conference, and Dr. Norman Wong from the University of Calgary.

The Resverlogix team includes CFO Hiran Perera, front, and, from left, Dr. William Cochrane, chairman of the board, Dr. Patrick Lee, scientific adviser, Dr. Norman Wong, co-founder, and Donald McCaffrey, president and CEO

The company recently announced the appointment of a new chairman, former University of Calgary president Dr. William Cochrane, lauded by McCaffrey for “unsurpassed knowledge of the Canadian biotechnology industry.”

* Resverlogix’s technologies have been embraced by a team of brilliant medical authorities in endocrinology, oncology and cardiovascular diseases. The company’s scientific advisory board is led by University of Calgary Professor Dr. Wong, one of the inventors of the patent-pending technologies of the company; Dr. Patrick Lee, whose research of the reovirus technology for cancer therapeutics is the basis of successful discoveries in oncology; Dr. Lawrence Chan of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine, recipient of a MERIT Award from the National Institute of Health; Dr. Jacques Genest Jr., director of Cardiology at McGill University; Dr. Victor Ling, vice- president of Research at the B.C. Cancer Agency; and Dr. J. Hans van de Sande, vice-dean of Medicine at the University of Calgary.

The company’s cholesterol technology – being further developed at the Alastair Ross Technology Centre in Calgary – involves the management of cholesterol through the expression of ‘Apo A1,’ an important factor in Reverse Cholesterol Transport.

“Analysts from another large U.S. biotech company have described Apo A1 assay technology as the Holy Grail of the cholesterol market,” explains McCaffrey.

"We’re currently working on signing our first licensing partner. There is huge licensing potential here as we can do multiple licensing of our cholesterol technologies. Most biotech companies try to capture a market from the research and development stage to the end of human clinical trials. By licensing out our technology at an early stage, a new popular trend of biotechnology companies, we eliminate all the risk in the last five to eight years of development.

“It’s also very palatable to investors that we’re not just in your average drug markets, we’re in the top two markets. We believe the shares of this company are grossly undervalued for a company that has a cancer technology that is comparable to other leading Canadian technologies and also has a significant cholesterol technology that is in the path of where the cardiovascular disease market is moving.”

The company has announced plans to raise up to $2 million at a price of $1.10 per common share by way of a Short Form Offering and has engaged First Associates Investments Inc. to act as its agent to conduct an offering in Alberta and B.C. pursuant to the policies of the Alberta Securities Commission, the B.C. Securities Commission and the TSX Venture Exchange.

For additional information, contact Gino DeMichele (403.260.5777) or Steve Cochrane (403.260.8750) at First Associates.

This article shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale or any acceptance of an offer to buy these securities in any province in Canada prior to acceptance of the Short Form Offering document by the TSX Venture Exchange.