SAN DIEGO, July 31, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Biocept, Inc. BIOC, a leading commercial provider of liquid biopsy tests designed to provide physicians with clinically actionable information to improve the outcomes of patients diagnosed with cancer, announces that it has been granted European Patent No. 2,705,162, entitled METHODS FOR DETECTING NUCLEIC ACID SEQUENCE VARIANTS. The patent provides intellectual property protection in seven European countries and is core to Biocept's Target Selector™ assays for ctDNA analysis using real-time PCR, Sanger sequencing and next-generation sequencing (NGS).

"The issuance of this patent further expands a series of worldwide patents protecting our proprietary, highly sensitive ctDNA platform technology into several key European countries, which we believe could be important markets for our liquid biopsy tests," said Lyle Arnold, Ph.D., Biocept's Chief Scientific Officer. "Our patents related to ultra-sensitive mutation detection, ctDNA analysis and CTC capture, combined with those for our blood transport tubes provide significant international coverage protecting all three of our core liquid biopsy technology platforms."

The recently granted European patent encompasses Biocept's proprietary "switch-blocker" technology, which enriches patient specimens for oncogene mutations of interest, resulting in ultra-high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of cancer-associated alterations. The switch-blocker technology is designed to improve detection rates for rare cancer associated biomarkers in patients diagnosed with cancer, allowing physicians to make informed decisions for therapy selection and to monitor treatment response, progression or recurrence over time.

"Obtaining this patent provides additional intellectual property protection for the unique and novel features of our Target Selector™ liquid biopsy platform used for ctDNA analysis," stated Michael Nall, Biocept's President and CEO. "We now have 27 issued patents globally that cover our core technologies and support our initiative to expand our business into key markets around the world."

About Biocept's ctDNA Target Selector™ Technology

The "switch-blocker" technology covered by European Patent No. 2,705,162 further expands on U.S. Patent No. 9,834,817, Chinese Patent No. ZL201280032293.0 and Australian Patent No. 2012250516, that are applicable to a broad range of molecular genomic platforms, including real-time PCR, digital PCR, Sanger sequencing, NGS, arrays, mass-spec, and capillary detection systems. The switch-blocker technology allows normal (wild-type) nucleic acid material such as normal DNA to be significantly blocked from amplification, while allowing genetic alterations associated with cancer to be amplified. This method increases the detection sensitivity of genetic alterations such as cancer mutations in low abundance, as the "noise" associated with normal genetic sequences is significantly reduced. Biocept's switch-blocker technology may also reduce the cost of running assays, such as NGS assays, because the expense of sequencing large amounts of uninformative wild-type nucleic acid is eliminated. In clinical validation studies, Biocept has demonstrated, with a high degree of correlation, the ability to detect the same biomarkers in blood that were identified from tissue biopsy of solid tumors. Using a blood specimen to provide information on biomarkers found on solid tumors offers the benefits of reducing the risks and costs of biopsy relative to tissue, has convenience advantages, and can enable the ability to non-invasively conduct serial monitoring of patient specimens over time.

About Biocept

Biocept, Inc. is a molecular diagnostics company with commercialized assays for lung, breast, gastric, colorectal and prostate cancers, and melanoma. The Company uses its proprietary liquid biopsy technology to provide physicians with clinically actionable information for treating and monitoring patients diagnosed with cancer. The Company's patented Target Selector™ liquid biopsy technology platform captures and analyzes tumor-associated molecular markers in both circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). With thousands of tests performed, the platform has demonstrated the ability to identify cancer mutations and alterations to inform physicians about a patient's disease and therapeutic options. For additional information, please visit www.biocept.com.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of words like "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend," or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. To the extent that statements in this release are not strictly historical, including without limitation statements as to our ability to improve the outcomes of patients diagnosed with cancer, the utility and effectiveness of our intellectual property protections, our ability to expand the adoption of our tests globally, and the cost saving attributes of our switch-blocker technology, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous risk factors as set forth in our Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The effects of such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this release. We do not plan to update any such forward-looking statements and expressly disclaim any duty to update the information contained in this press release except as required by law. Readers are advised to review our filings with the SEC, which can be accessed over the Internet at the SEC's website located at www.sec.gov.

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SOURCE Biocept, Inc.