Convergen LifeSciences Announces Patent Award for Cancer Suppressors

AUSTIN, Texas, June 28, 2011 -

> - Patent Covers CNVN202
Nanomolecular name="_GoBack">Cancer Therapy

href="www.convergenlifesciences.com/">Convergen
LifeSciences, Inc. announced today that a United States Patent
has been awarded by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office jointly to
The University of Texas
System Board of Regents and The Secretary, U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. The href="tinyurl.com/6cskx6p">patent is one of 23 patents,
pending or issued worldwide, licensed exclusively to Convergen
LifeSciences, Inc. The patent covers CNVN202, a targeted
molecular cancer therapy undergoing clinical testing in lung cancer
patients.

The patent is based upon important
discoveries made by a team of researchers from href="www.mdanderson.org/">The University of Texas MD
Anderson Cancer Center (”UTMDACC”), href="www.utsouthwestern.edu/">The University of Texas
Southwestern Medical Center and the href="www.cancer.gov/">National Cancer Institute. More
than 20 peer-reviewed scientific publications have demonstrated
3p21.3 genes ability to control key anti-cancer mechanisms.
CNVN202 harnesses TUSC2, the most potent inducer of
apoptosis among the family of cancer suppressor genes.

“The patent validates our
first-in-class technology platform,” stated Greg Heinlein,
Chief Operating and Financial Officer, Convergen
LifeSciences. “By taking the novel tumor suppressors and
assembling technologies from the fields of genomics,
nanotechnology, molecular medicine and advanced materials sciences,
we have built the foundation for a number of potential new
therapies offering new options for cancer patients.”

The phase I clinical trial showed for
the first time that a tumor suppressor gene can be delivered
intravenously and selectively to human cancer cells using a
nanoparticle vector, express high levels of mRNA and protein in
cancer cells in the primary tumor and distant metastatic sites,
alter relevant pathways in the cancer cell and mediate clinically
beneficial anti-cancer activity.

A phase II clinical trial is planned to
evaluate CNVN202 in combination with Tarceva®
(erlotinib) in lung cancer patients, who would not be expected to
benefit from erlotinib alone. CNVN202 has shown synergy when
combined with erlotinib in both EGFR mutation positive and negative
cancers.

Tarceva® is a registered
trademark of the Roche
Group including href="www.gene.com/gene/index.jsp">Genentech and href="www.chugai-pharm.co.jp/hc/ss/english/index.html">Chugai
and Astellas Pharma.
 

href="www.convergenlifesciences.com/newsevents.html">For
Full Story Link

    Contact: Greg Heinlein
             Convergen LifeSciences, Inc.
             +1-512-372-4422
             Email: gheinlein@convergenlifesciences.com
             www.convergenlifesciences.com

.