Aequus and Ehave Enter Into Collaboration Agreement for Comprehensive Patient Data Management in Clinical Trials of Medical Cannabis
Ehave's Bioinformatics Platform Technology to Be Used to Evaluate Aequus' Products in Multiple Neurological Disorders
VANCOUVER, March 5, 2018 /CNW/ - Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX-V: AQS) (OTCQB: AQSZF) ("Aequus" or the "Company"), a specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on developing, advancing and promoting differentiated products, and Ehave, Inc. (OTCQB: EHVVF) ("Ehave"), a healthcare bioinformatics company whose platform efficiently captures, integrates, and delivers high-quality clinical data and treatment tools, have entered into a collaboration agreement whereby Aequus will incorporate Ehave's bioinformatics platform to enhance and streamline data management processes for Aequus-sponsored clinical trials studying specific Cannabinoid-rich formulations for treating a number of neurological disorders. The Companies had been working together under a previously announced Letter of Intent established in August 2017.
"Our thinking regarding conducting clinical trials of various cannabinoid containing formulations has advanced substantially since we signed the original Letter of Intent with Ehave. We have a number of different trials in late-stage planning and see multiple opportunities for us to leverage our traditional pharmaceutical expertise in designing and implementing clinical programs, but we also see growing opportunities for us to leverage our existing relationships with Canadian clinicians and take advantage of our existing pharmaceutical sales infrastructure to better serve clinicians and Insurers as it relates to medical cannabis. We and Ehave are in a unique position to generate meaningful product safety and efficacy data in a variety of trial settings in a very efficient and cost-effective way," says Doug Janzen, Chairman and CEO of Aequus. "In our most recent comprehensive physician survey regarding factors that prevent them from recommending medical cannabis products, Canadian clinicians identified the lack of robust clinical data in a real-world setting for such products as a significant limiting factor."
"Our robust bioinformatics platform allows us to provide customized, next-generation clinical solutions that empower pharmaceutical developers such as Aequus to be successful," said Prateek Dwivedi, CEO of Ehave. "We are particularly committed to partnering with companies seeking to evaluate medical cannabis products, recognizing the specific need within this emerging industry for 'pharmaceutical-grade' patient and clinical data informatics to help unlock the value of these new therapies for clinicians, patients, and payors. Aequus shares this view based on its strong background, unique capabilities and commercial experience in traditional pharmaceutical development, making them an ideal partner for Ehave. We look forward to helping them advance their clinical programs and potentially improve outcomes for patients with neurological disorders who may benefit from Aequus' products."
The terms of the agreement are similar to that of the original Letter of Intent. Aequus will pay Ehave a per-patient fee for trials conducted using Ehave's platform and Aequus will receive patient assessment, diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes and side-effect profile content from formal and informal studies conducted using the Ehave platform, subject to standard patient consent and clinical research ethics approvals. Aequus will own all clinical results and data generated from trials using the Ehave platform.
About Aequus Pharmaceuticals
Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TSX-V:AQS, OTCQB: AQSZF) is a growing specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing high quality, differentiated products. Aequus' development stage pipeline includes several products in neurology and psychiatry with a goal of addressing the need for improved medication adherence through enhanced delivery systems. With a focus in neurology and other specialty areas, our most recent addition to the development pipeline was a long-acting form of medical cannabis, where there is a high need for a consistent, predictable and pharmaceutical-grade delivery of products for patients. Aequus intends to commercialize its internal programs in Canada alongside its current portfolio of marketed established medicines and will look to form strategic partnerships that would maximize the reach of its product candidates worldwide. Aequus plans to build on its Canadian commercial platform through the launch of additional products that are either created internally or brought in through an acquisition or license; remaining focused on highly specialized therapeutic areas. For further information, please visit www.aequuspharma.ca.
About Ehave, Inc.
Ehave, Inc. (OTCQB: EHVVF) is empowering the mental healthcare community with a next generation of data-rich tools designed to improve patient management, diagnosis and treatment. With Ehave Connect, Ehave's mental health informatics platform, clinicians can make objective, data-driven decisions while keeping patients informed and engaged throughout their mental healthcare journey. Ehave Connect offers a powerful set of core features that integrate with a growing selection of tools and applications developed by Ehave and its leading partners, including Multi-Health Systems ("MHS"), a leading publisher of psychological assessments. Ehave is initially focused on improving the standard of care in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ("ADHD"), through its collaboration with the Hospital for Sick Children ("SickKids"). Ehave Connect is also being utilized to advance the validation and optimization of medical cannabis, through its collaboration with leading medical cannabis licensed producers. For more information, visit www.ehave.com.
Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc. Forward-Looking Statements:
This release may contain forward-looking statements or forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation that may not be based on historical fact, including, without limitation, statements containing the words "believe", "may", "plan", "will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipate", "intend", "expect", "potential" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as the factors we believe are appropriate. Forward-looking statements in this release include but are not limited to statements relating to: identifying barriers to current use and potential product offerings in specific therapeutic areas, and using results from Ehave's bioinformatics platform to monitor and assess patient outcomes. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties and are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Aequus, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In making the forward-looking statements included in this release, the Company has made various material assumptions, including, but not limited to: obtaining positive results of clinical trials, obtaining regulatory approvals, general business and economic conditions, the Company's ability to successfully out-license or sell its current products and in-license and develop new products, the assumption that the Company's current good relationships with its manufacturer and other third parties will be maintained, the availability of financing on reasonable terms, the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled staff, market competition, the products and technology offered by the Company's competitors and the Company's ability to protect patents and proprietary rights. In evaluating forward-looking statements, current and prospective shareholders should specifically consider various factors set out under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated April 29, 2016, a copy of which is available on Aequus' profile on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com, and as otherwise disclosed from time to time on Aequus' SEDAR profile. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties, or a risk that is not currently known to us materialize, or should assumptions underlying those forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and we do not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently uncertain. Accordingly, investors are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Ehave, Inc. Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates,""projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, and cannot be predicted or quantified and consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements: (i) the initiation, timing, progress and results of the Company's research, manufacturing and other development efforts; (ii) the Company's ability to advance its products to successfully complete development and commercialization; (iii) the manufacturing, development, commercialization, and market acceptance of the Company's products; (iv) the lack of sufficient funding to finance the product development and business operations; (v) competitive companies and technologies within the Company's industry and introduction of competing products; (vi) the Company's ability to establish and maintain corporate collaborations; (vii) loss of key management personnel; (viii) the scope of protection the Company is able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering its products and its ability to operate its business without infringing the intellectual property rights of others; (ix) potential failure to comply with applicable health information privacy and security laws and other state and federal privacy and security laws; and * the difficulty of predicting actions of the USA FDA and its regulations. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release. The Company assumes no obligation to update any written or oral forward-looking statement unless required by law. More detailed information about the Company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is contained under the heading "Risk Factors" in Ehave, Inc.'s Registration Statement on Form F-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on September 24, 2015, as amended, which is available on the SEC's website, http://www.sec.gov.
SOURCE Aequus Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Aequus Investor Relations, [email protected], +1-604-336-7906; Ehave, Inc. Investor Relations: Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc., Joshua Drumm, Ph.D. (Investors), [email protected]; Janine McCargo (Media), +1-646-604-5150, [email protected]
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