Vivione Biosciences Inc. Chief Executive Officer interviewed by CEOCFO Magazine

CALGARY, March 25, 2014 /CNW/ - Kevin Kuykendall, Chief Executive Officer of Vivione Biosciences Inc. ("Vivione" or the "Company") (TSXV: VBI) was recently interviewed by Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor of CEOCFO Magazine in response to the Company's developmental successes in the commercialization of the RAPID B platform over the past year. For the full article and additional details, please visit www.vivonebiosciences.com.

Delivering on the key theme of Vivione as an early stage company with a tremendous amount of validity, Mr. Kuykendall spoke of the Company's progress in food safety referencing its "seven years in development with the FDA, its patents, licenses, as well as a solid articulated strategy on how they intend to address the marketplace". He further explained the Company's plans of expanding the current hardware technology into other core areas of opportunity.

"We are starting to see in discussions and demonstrations with large food processing companies that we have several things in our favor" continued Mr. Kuykendall. "There is regulatory pressure that is pushing companies to be more proactive earlier in the processing of food products rather than testing the product at the end of the value cycle." Normally the addition of more testing translates to increased costs, however in this case the food industry is "poised to realize significant cost reductions via the real time diagnostic capability" that Vivione offers.  By altering the testing strategy to monitoring all the way back to incoming products through the entire production process, the various stages of processing may be optimized and when bacterial excursions do occur, the line may be stopped before having to destroy inventory. "This approach is a better way of managing Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulatory requirements but also more in keeping with the advanced lean manufacturing precepts" Kuykendall explained.

Speaking of cost savings and better inventory control, "When I talk to a lot of the CEOs and CFOs about us, I never talk about the technology.  The discussions center more about what economic benefits they can achieve from the RAPID B system.  For example, by obtaining near real time results from testing your processing equipment vs. 24-48 hour later, you can reduce your cost of antimicrobials by identifying which machines are problems and which ones aren't. If you are spending $60 million to $70 million dollars a year on antimicrobials and we can potentially shave two to three percent off, that is a big number—particularly when you think of food manufacturers that are working off of single-digit margins."

"Later this year, which is almost a full year in advance of our development plan, we anticipate introducing a new diagnostic capability which will allow the company to expand into clinical and industrial applications. We hope to introduce pharmaceutical sterility tests and testing capabilities in the oil and gas sector; specifically identifying bacteria (known as SRBs or sulfate reducing bacteria) that, if left untreated, can seriously damage the well and its throughput. We already have demonstrated an active tuberculosis test that produces results in less than 30 minutes and have recently signed a cooperative research and development agreement with the FDA to expand on RAPID-B diagnostic capabilities and to develop a test for prion, the causative agent for mad cow disease. We are also moving into the development of new clinical applications which will allow us to quickly identify Staphylococcus and several other key bacteria in a hospital or clinical environment."

One of the most significant advantages about the RAPID-B platform is that enables the performance of various industrial, food safety and clinical tests on the same instrument.  Moreover, the RAPID-B platform allows the user to change over to a different test by merely selecting the new test from a 'pull down' menu and using the appropriate bacteria specific reagent kit for testing.  The Company's growth strategy is to translate the Company's knowledge gained in the food safety industry into other applications, leveraging its existing hardware platform and focusing on the development of new reagents used to test for individual pathogens.

Mr. Kuykendall concluded with "given the recent enactment of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and continuing recall of products, we are relevant to a significant number of food manufacturers needing rapid and accurate test results. We are an early stage company with a tremendous amount of validity - seven years in development with the FDA, patents, licenses and a solid, articulated strategy on how our system saves the end user money and reduces risk. Between food, industrial and clinical, it is a multi-billion dollar diagnostics market. There is an enormous opportunity and we are well positioned to play a major role in it over the coming years."

About Vivione

Vivione is a TSX Venture Exchange listed biosciences company focused on the commercialization of its proprietary RAPID-B system, which is an integrated system of hardware, software and chemical reagents that that tests bacteria in key environments. This technology could have potentially diverse applicability in key food & water safety, clinical, industrial and oil & gas environments, by identifying and quantifying microorganism levels more rapidly and with greater precision than currently employed techniques.

Cautionary Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Although Vivione believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements have been based on factors and assumptions concerning future events that may prove to be inaccurate. These factors and assumptions are based upon currently available information to Vivione. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results or events and cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. This press release contains forward-looking information relating to the commercialization and the development of RAPID-B, Vivione's business and growth strategy, the ability of RAPID-B to generate revenue and the success of RAPID-B in target markets. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release and, except as required by applicable law, Vivione does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Vivione undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third-parties in respect of Vivione, or its financial or operating results or (as applicable), their securities.

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: Vivione Biosciences Inc.

Vivione Biosciences Inc. 
www.VivioneBiosciences.com
Kevin Kuykendall
Chief Executive Officer
Tel: [phone]