Biocept and Providence Saint John's Health Center Collaborate to Evaluate Cerebrospinal Fluid for Use with Liquid Biopsy Testing in Metastatic Cancer

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 27, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Biocept, Inc. (NASDAQ: 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 will collaborate with Providence St. Joseph Health, Southern California, and its wholly owned affiliates Providence Saint John's Health Center and the John Wayne Cancer Institute, to conduct a study to validate the use of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as a specimen type with Biocept's Target Selector™ liquid biopsy platform.

In patients diagnosed with certain cancers, leptomeningeal metastases (LM) can occur when tumor cells gain access to CSF pathways and regrow in distant sites within the spinal cord and brain. Biocept's liquid biopsy platform will be used to test the CSF of patients diagnosed with certain types of cancer, such as breast, lung and melanoma, as well as other malignancies to determine if LM has occurred. The results from Biocept's liquid biopsy testing will be compared to standard methods for confirming the diagnosis of LM.

"We look forward to using Biocept's Target Selector™ technology to evaluate oncologic biomarkers in the CSF of patients with cancer, with the potential to validate a rapid and accurate solution for confirming LM," stated Santosh Kesari, MD, PhD, Chairman and Professor, Department of Translational Neurosciences and Neurotherapeutics, Director of Neuro-oncology at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute and John Wayne Cancer Institute. "This study is aimed at addressing a major need in the treatment of metastatic disease, given the devastating nature of LM involvement in many cancer types."

"We are very pleased to collaborate with Dr. Kesari and Providence St. Joseph Health in this study designed to further validate the clinical utility of our Target Selector™ platform using the CSF of patients with cancer," said Michael W. Nall, President and CEO of Biocept. "Among the significant advantages of our liquid biopsy technology is its versatility, which enables its application in a variety of clinical situations and for use with multiple types of biofluids. Results of this study could open new market opportunities for Biocept."

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 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 plasma (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, our ability to validate a rapid and accurate solution for confirming LM, our ability to validate the clinical utility of our Target Selector™ platform using the CSF of patients with cancer, and our ability to open new market opportunities for our proprietary technology platform, 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 https://www.sec.gov.

Contact:
LHA Investor Relations
Jody Cain
Jcain@lhai.com
310-691-7100

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SOURCE Biocept, Inc.