Cytokines and Growth Factors to be first Laboratory Reagents Marketed and Sold by Compass Biotechnologies Inc

Making prescription drugs affordable

EDMONTON, Sept. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Compass Biotechnologies, Inc. (COBI: OB) prepares to market, sell and distribute recombinant human cytokines and growth factors for research purposes. Further to the recent announcement of the expanding Compass's agreement with Pangen Biotech of South Korea, Compass branded cytokine and growth factors research reagents will be the first products to be offered through this growing relationship.

Cytokines and growth factor related revenues account for 20% of the total world biopharma revenues or $80-100 billion, which has been growing steadily in the 15% range over the last 5 years^.. Approximately 50% of growth factor related revenues are derived from the development of recombinant protein therapies, $15 billion from vaccines, $10 billion for plasma derived proteins and another $5 billion for other modifications or development of biosimilar drug of existing recombinant products. According to several marketing reports the biggest single market for growth factors may be anaemia, where recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) drugs have sales which surpassed $10 billion in 2005.

"Cytokines and growth factors are directly or indirectly related to almost all of our therapeutic protein drug programs from EPO to vaccines and make a logical place for us to start in our marketing of laboratory reagents" commented Garth Likes CEO of Compass. He went on to state "Cytokine and growth factor related products, include antibodies, proteins and nucleic acid probes and are used in a wide variety of applications from the basic research laboratory through the drug discovery process, to in vivo therapeutic use.  Our strategy will be to offer high quality products at more than competitive price points.  We are entering this market place to be able to generate nearer term multiple million dollar revenues so as to further support our going therapeutic drug development programs".

In summary, there are several key drivers for cytokine and growth factors which will contribute to commercial expansion. These include:

• An evolving In-depth understanding of cytokines growth factors and their activities in biological areas of current focus such as neurobiology, cell signalling, angiogenesis and stem cell biology
• Continuous profiling of these cytokines and growth factors will lead to their validation as disease biomarkers for clinical diagnostic monitoring.
• Continued expansion and adoption of cell therapies that will drive greater use of cytokines and growth factors as therapeutic products.

ABOUT COMPASS BIOTECHNOLOGIES INC.    www.compassbio.net

Compass Biotechnologies is a publically-traded specialty biopharmaceutical company (COBI: OB) with approximately 25 million shares issued with approximately 40% of these in the public float. The mission of Compass is to develop new and exciting recombinant biosimiliar and bio-better protein drug products that can bring revenue generation to the company in a near term fashion with a significant longer-term upside potential. Furthermore, Compass owns an exclusive worldwide license from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has opportunities to develop products from the vaccine and immunotherapy platform technology or sub-licensees and other interested partners.

Compass's vaccine technology encompasses the use of recombinant DNA technology to manufacture virus-like particles (VLPs).  These VLPs can be engineered to incorporate various viral and non-viral antigens for use as vaccines against many different types of targets such as hepatitis C.  The recombinant antigens presented in the context of a VLP carrier system are much more immunogenic than the antigen alone, and this carrier is so powerful that the subsequent vaccine may not require the use of an immune adjuvant. C-Pharma is using the technology to develop a hepatitis C vaccine to prevent hepatitis C viral infection. The Company is also pursuing a revenue generation strategy by commercializing laboratory reagents for medical research along with generic ribavirin and pegylated alpha interferon, the standard-of-care therapeutic drugs for use in the hepatitis C and hepatitis B markets.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements", as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.  Statements in this current report which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors.  Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainty of financial estimates and projections, the competitive and regulatory environments, stock market conditions, unforeseen technical difficulties and our ongoing ability to operate a business and obtain financing.  These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this current report are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate.  Investors should consult all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to the Securities Exchange Act.

SOURCE Compass Biotechnologies Inc.