For more information contact:
Heidi Brown
805-214-6123
hbrown@cynvenio.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CYNVENIO BIOSYSTEMS CO-FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN HONORED BY THE SCHOLARSHIP FOUNDATION OF SANTA BARBARA

Fred Gluck will receive the 2012 Pioneer Award for outstanding contributions in innovation, service and leadership.

Westlake Village, CA — May 14, 2012—Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc., a developer of rare cell isolation systems for biomedical research in circulating tumor cells, personalized medicine and the molecular diagnostics of cancer, announced today that Fred Gluck, its co-Founder and Chairman of the Board, will be the recipient of the 2012 South Coast Pioneer Award.

The Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara will honor Fred Gluck and four other outstanding companies and individuals at the South Coast Business & Technology Awards dinner on June 14, 2012 at Fess Parker’s Doubletree Resort in Santa Barbara, California. Now in its 18th year, the South Coast Business & Technology Awards was designed to honor individuals and organizations who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to helping the South Coast of Santa Barbara County remain economically vital.

Fred Gluck is a Brooklyn boy who has enjoyed a variety of careers including butcher boy, check clearing (nights), magazine sales (Catholic Home Messenger), ballistic missile defense, top management consulting, health care delivery, and engineering and construction. Since moving to Santa Barbara in 1998 with his wife, Linda, Fred has been active in various community service roles (Cottage Hospital System, UCSB Foundation, Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics) and as an entrepreneur in biotech drug development and medical equipment.

He was a Founder of CytomX, LLC in 2006 and led the company as Chairman and CEO during the initial two years of technology development and market definition. In 2008, the company spun off Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc. and Fred continued as Chairman of both companies. Cynvenio recently announced and is now commercializing its successful, first-in-class development of a LiquidBiopsy™ system for early cancer detection and post-operative monitoring. CytomX Therapeutics is developing Probodies™ – a new class of powerful antibody drugs with substantially reduced toxic side effects. The first Probodies™ are expected to be in the clinic in late 2013. Fred is also an investor and Board member of TrueVision Systems, Inc., the market leader in flat panel 3D HDTV systems for computer-aided microsurgery.

Fred was with McKinsey & Co. from 1967 to 1995 and led the Firm as its elected Managing Director (CEO) from 1988 to 1994. During the 6 years he led the Firm, McKinsey doubled in size and greatly expanded its international presence, particularly in Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Fred also led the Firm’s technology and strategic management practices for many years and wrote and spoke extensively on those subjects during that period. Fred’s pioneering contributions to the development of the discipline of corporate strategy are featured in Walter Kiechel’s recently published book The Lords of Strategy.

Fred retired from McKinsey and joined The Bechtel Group in February 1995 serving as Vice-Chairman and Director. Fred retired from Bechtel in July 1998 and rejoined McKinsey and Company as a consultant to the Firm.

Before joining McKinsey, Fred spent 10 years with Bell Telephone Laboratories as a rocket scientist and was the program manager for the Spartan anti-ICBM missile. In 1967, Bell Labs nominated Fred for the Eta Kappa Nu Award as the country’s Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer.

Fred earned a B.S.E.E from Manhattan College in 1957 and an M.S.E.E. from New York University in 1959. In addition, he did graduate studies in Operations Research at Columbia University.

Fred recently retired after 15 years of service as a Director of AMGEN (Thousand Oaks, CA) [NASDAQ] and was the presiding director of HCA (Nashville, TN) [NYSE] prior to its LBO in 2007. He was Vice-Chairman of New York Hospital prior to its merger with Columbia Presbyterian and now enjoys Emeritus status after 36 years of service.

About Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc.

Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc. is a privately held company focused on the development of the LiquidBiopsy™ platform, a high performance rare cell isolation technology for biomedical research and novel cancer diagnostics. As a precursor to next generation sequencing and the mutational profiling of cancer cells retrieved from whole blood, LiquidBiopsy™ is a key enabling technology to realize the promise of personalized medicine – including the early detection of disease, real time monitoring of patients, and the selection of individual therapeutic solutions. Cynvenio is based in Westlake Village, California. Find more information at www.cynvenio.com

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Location: Westlake Village, California

Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc. is an early-stage, California biotech company dedicated to providing game-changing technology to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. Cynvenio’s rare cell detection and DNA mutational profiling applications include the LiquidBiopsy™ blood test that enables the early detection of cancer and the selection of individualized patient therapeutic solutions.

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented Clinical Lab Manager with proven experience in a clinical lab to be a key part of our scientific team. This manager will supervise a team of 3-5 lab technicians in the performance of Cynvenio’s blood-based diagnostic tests. The successful candidate will establish and implement Good Lab Practices and manage all aspects of lab operations.

Four to seven years of prior clinical lab experience and a M.S. in Biology or related subject is a prerequisite. The position is based at our headquarters in Westlake Village, California with occasional travel – (we have great customers). If you see yourself in this position, and you want to change the world, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us.

Location: Westlake Village, California

Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc. is an early-stage, California biotech company dedicated to providing game-changing technology to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. Cynvenio’s rare cell detection and DNA mutational profiling applications include the LiquidBiopsy™ blood test that enables the early detection of cancer and the selection of individualized patient therapeutic solutions.

We are seeking a highly motivated and creative scientist at the PhD level to support a variety of projects. The scientist will be responsible for coordinating, identifying, and designing new biological methods, protocols and reagents to use in the analysis and characterization of preclinical and clinical study samples. Experience with assay validation and reagent development is highly desirable. As the driver for new techniques and reagents, the successful candidate will need to be comfortable in a dynamic, interdependent and innovative development environment and have a broad background in multiple disciplines including cell biology and protein chemistry. Candidates should be comfortable managing multiple projects, coordinating technical activities and targets, and independently prioritizing work loads within a small work group.

Three to five years of prior life science/molecular biological experience and a Ph.D. in Biology or related subject is a prerequisite. The position is based at our headquarters in Westlake Village, California with occasional travel – (we have great customers). If you see yourself in this position, and you want to change the world, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us.

Location: Westlake Village, California

Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc. is an early-stage, California biotech company dedicated to providing game-changing technology to improve the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. Cynvenio’s rare cell detection and DNA mutational profiling applications include the LiquidBiopsy™ blood test that enables the early detection of cancer and the selection of individualized patient therapeutic solutions.

We are seeking a highly motivated and talented Molecular Biologist with proven experience in the laboratory to be a key part of our molecular diagnostics team. At Cynvenio, the molecular biologist provides a crucial link in the research mission by bridging our cell isolation technology into next-gen sequencing and other DNA profiling analysis technologies . This scientist must be well versed in both the theoretical and practical aspects of molecular biological technology and comfortable dealing with the challenges of high volume screening for both research and clinical objectives. The successful candidate will show great attention to detail, be responsible, extremely reliable, self-motivated and very proud of their work product.

Three to five years of prior life science/molecular biological experience and a B.S. in Biology or related subject is a prerequisite. The position is based at our headquarters in Westlake Village, California with occasional travel – (we have great customers). If you see yourself in this position, and you want to change the world, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us.

For more information contact:
Heidi Brown
805-214-6123
hbrown@cynvenio.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cynvenio to Present at the 103rd American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting on its proprietary Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) isolation flow cell and the workflow for the analysis of DNA mutations in CTC

Westlake Village, CA — March 25, 2012—Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc., a developer of rare cell isolation systems for biomedical research in circulating tumor cells, personalized medicine and the molecular diagnostics of cancer, today announced that it will be presenting a poster at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research taking place at the McCormick Center in Chicago, next week. The presentation will describe Cynvenio’s proprietary Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) isolation flow cell and the workflow for the analysis of DNA mutations in circulating tumor cells (CTC).

The Cynvenio presentation entitled “Q-PCR and Sequence Analysis of DNA Template from a Microfluidic CTC Isolation Platform” will take place on April 3rd from 1pm to 5pm in the “Imaging and Molecular Diagnostics” category (Abstract 4554). Cynvenio’s CTC platform provides a technology and workflow to reliably detect and recover limiting numbers of CTCs from a simple blood draw. By enabling sequence analysis and quantitative PCR profiling, the platform for the first time provides a tool to demonstrate the utility of mutation-bearing CTC in patient care. Using model CTC systems, PCR analysis could be used to detect mutations in as few as 3-5 cells recovered from 2 mL of whole blood. Sequence analysis of a panel of more than 200 cancer-related genes could detect multiple somatic mutations from as few as 10 cancer cells. This workflow was tested on patients with locally advanced breast cancer. The CTC flow cell technology yielded CTC from 16 of 17 samples. The specificity of the CTC purification allowed high throughput sequencing analysis of these patients revealing familiar cancer associated mutation in 4/12 patients including mutations in TP53, KRAS, FLT4, JAK3 and MUTYH. These data suggest CTC represent a viable substrate for minimally-invasive tumor sequencing made possible by the purity and specificity of this platform. A robust and reliable platform to functionally access this population of cells is necessary to perform the clinical correlation studies necessary to allow serial tumor sampling by CTC mutation analysis in patients.

About Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc.

Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc. is a privately held company focused on the development of the LiquidBiopsy™ platform, a high performance rare cell isolation technology for biomedical research and novel cancer diagnostics. As a precursor to next generation sequencing and the mutational profiling of cancer cells retrieved from whole blood, LiquidBiopsy™ is a key enabling technology to realize the promise of personalized medicine – including the early detection of disease, real time monitoring of patients, and the selection of individual therapeutic solutions. Cynvenio is based in Westlake Village, California. Find more information at www.cynvenio.com

Click to Download Poster

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Full article at the Los Angeles Business Journal (subscriber content).

For more information contact:
Heidi Brown
805-214-6123
hbrown@cynvenio.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE AWARDS TWO LUNG CANCER CIRCULATING TUMOR CELL (CTC) DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTS TO CYNVENIO BIOSYSTEMS, INC.

Company also announces additional equity investment of $2.0 million

Westlake Village, CA —February 7, 2012—Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc., a developer of rare cell isolation systems for biomedical research, personalized medicine and the molecular diagnostics of cancer, today announced that the National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded two Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contracts to develop novel lung cancer tests based on the isolation of mutation-bearing Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) from whole blood. The NCI awarded Phase I funding of $195,000 for each contract, and Cynvenio will be eligible to apply for Phase II funding of $1.5 million (for each contract) when the Phase I objectives are successfully achieved. Cynvenio’s core technology was independently verified against clinical patient samples in 2011. The company also announced that it has received an additional $1.2 million from existing shareholders as part of a fully committed $2.0 million financing authorized by its board of directors.

For the first contract, Cynvenio will use the funding from the SBIR and its investors to develop a Liquid Biopsy™ blood test, and a companion diagnostic device that isolates CTCs from the peripheral blood of lung cancer patients in order to identify the DNA mutations associated with each individual’s disease. Improvement of treatment outcomes for cancer patients with solid tissue tumors depends on the drugʼs ability to target the genetic mutations responsible for tumor growth. Currently, mutational analysis requires an invasive tissue biopsy, which is clinically impractical to perform repeatedly over time for longitudinal studies. As an alternative, extracting CTCs – cancer cells released into the bloodstream by the primary tumor – for molecular analysis offers an attractive strategy for genotyping patient-specific tumors and mutations.

For the second contract Cynvenio will will use the funding from the SBIR and its investors to develop a CTC-based test to measure resistance to drugs in lung cancer patients. The evolving understanding of cancer indicates that every tumor has distinct characteristics driven by the molecular pathology of the disease. Predicted by this heterogeneity, targeted therapeutic agents are much more successful than a “one size fits all” approach. Currently, there are no tools to analyze resistance in solid tissue tumor cells other than a traditional biopsy. This limitation typically precludes testing for molecular markers that emerge during treatment. Cynvenio’s goal is to develop and characterize a CTC-based molecular drug resistance test and demonstrate application in clinical samples. 15-20% of non-small cell lung cancers are driven by activating mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a mutation that can be very effectively treated with EGFR inhibitors such as gefitinib and erlotinib. Resistance to these drugs arises universally, caused half of the time by a T790M mutation. Currently, resistance is determined medically by demonstrating tumor progression. As an alternative approach, extracting the small number of CTCs released into the bloodstream for detection of the emergence of the T790M mutation offers a strategy for genotyping patient-specific tumor cells in real time. This will produce a fundamentally enabling technology for predictive cancer tests in personalized medicine.

“We are extremely pleased the NCI has awarded this funding which will allow Cynvenio and our clinical collaborators to accelerate our validation programs aimed at harnessing the DNA of mutation-bearing Circulating Tumor Cells in lung cancer patients,” said André de Fusco, Cynvenio’s CEO. “The NCI awards reflect a growing recognition that CTCs are central to the longitudinal testing of cancer patients and the implementation of personalized medicine models. We look forward to addressing all solid tissue tumor disease models in the future as we secure incremental funding for the LiquidBiopsy™ program.”

About Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc.

Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc. is a privately held company focused on the development of the LiquidBiopsy™ platform, a high performance rare cell isolation technology for biomedical research and novel cancer diagnostics. As a precursor to next generation sequencing and the mutational profiling of cancer cells retrieved from whole blood, LiquidBiopsy™ is a key enabling technology to realize the promise of personalized medicine – including the early detection of disease, real time monitoring of patients, and the selection of individual therapeutic solutions. Cynvenio is based in Westlake Village, California. Find more information at www.cynvenio.com

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For more information contact:
Heidi Brown
805-214-6123
hbrown@cynvenio.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CYNVENIO BIOSYSTEMS, INC. ADDS AMIT MUNSHI AND SIMON RAAB, Ph.D. TO ITS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Two Seasoned Medical Technology Executives Join Cynvenio’s Board as Independent Directors

Westlake Village, CA —August 3, 2011—Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc., a developer of high performance cell isolation technology for biomedical research and novel cancer diagnostics, today announced that Amit Munshi and Simon Raab, Ph.D. have joined its board of directors.

Mr. Munshi, a leading Southern California biopharma executive, is president and CEO of Percivia, LLC (www.percivia.com), a venture formed to develop therapeutics using the PER.C6® human cell line.  He is also the co-founder and former Chief Business Officer of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (www.kytherabiopharma.com), a venture-backed company focused on novel prescription products in the field of aesthetic medicine.  Under Mr. Munshi’s leadership, Kythera successfully commercialized technology licensed from academia and large bio-pharmaceutical companies, and recently completed a $373 million licensing transaction with a division of Bayer Healthcare AG. Prior to co-founding Kythera, Mr. Munshi served as the General Manager of Amgen’s [NASDAQ:AMGN] $700 million European Nephrology Business based in Switzerland.  He has also held positions in sales, marketing, managed care, and product licensing during tenures at Astra Merck and IOLAB Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson Company.

Dr. Simon Raab, a pioneer in computer-aided coordinate measurement systems, co-founded FARO Technologies, Inc. [NASDAQ:FARO] in 1981, and served as its president and CEO until 2005, and continues to serve as the company’s chairman. During his tenure, FARO grew from a technology start-up into a publicly traded company with over $200 million in revenue and tens of thousands of customers globally including Boeing, DaimlerChrysler, Airbus, General Motors, Johnson Controls, Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Caterpillar and Honda.

Dr. Raab is the chairman of Novim (www.novim.org), a think tank formed to apply the techniques and methodologies developed at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara to address address major interrelated issues such as climate change, renewable energy, and fresh water. Dr. Raab also serves as Director of TrueVision Systems, Inc., (www.truevisionsys.com), of Santa Barbara, California, a leader in digital 3D visualization and guidance systems for ophthalmic microsurgery.

Dr. Raab holds more than 80 US and foreign patents in the fields of 3D coordinate measuring systems, biomaterials, and medical diagnostics. He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, a Masters of Engineering Physics from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Science in Physics with a minor in Biophysics from the University of Waterloo, Canada.

“We are very pleased to welcome Mr. Munshi and Dr. Raab to the Board of Directors,” said André de Fusco, Cynvenio’s chief executive officer.  “These are exceptional individuals with proven track records of success. Their experience will be invaluable as Cynvenio enters its commercial growth stage.“

“Both gentlemen bring extensive contacts in the biotech and medical device industries and their deep expertise in strategic transactions and technology licensing will be a valuable asset and complement to our current board.” said Fred Gluck, Cynvenio’s co-founder and chairman of the board.

About Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc.

Cynvenio Biosystems, Inc. is a privately held company focused on the development of high performance cell isolation technology for biomedical research and novel cancer diagnostics. The company’s rare cell detection and mutational profiling methodology for personalized medicine applications includes newly-developed blood-based tests for the early detection of disease and the selection of individual therapeutic solutions. Cynvenio is based in Westlake Village, California. Find more information at www.cynvenio.com.

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