Rainbow, Amarantus report joint venture agreement for NuroPro Parkinson's diagnostic platform

Rainbow Coral Corp. (OTCBB: RBCC) biotech subsidiary Rainbow BioSciences and Amarantus Biosciences (OTCBB: AMBS) have moved into the final stages of the terms for a deal. The pending joint venture agreement will see the two entities working together to move the Amarantus NuroPro Parkinson's diagnostic platform towards commercialization.

“Amarantus' focus on Parkinson's disease has allowed it to gain considerable traction with partners who understand the potential value of the technologies we have in-house”

"This is a cutting edge approach to diagnosing a debilitating disease that has afflicted millions of people worldwide," said RBCC CEO Patrick Brown. "The marketplace is crying out for new breakthroughs in the diagnosis of neurological diseases, and we believe NuroPro has the potential to diagnose Parkinson's disease early allowing physicians to initiate treatment regimens earlier, as well as conduct research of clinical-stage disease-modifying treatments on earlier-stage patients."

The deal is being structured to enable completion of the final stages of the NuroPro program, resulting in a commercially viable product to be introduced to the market place. NuroPro is being developed for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. The NuroPro test works by identifying differentiated levels proteins and peptides in the blood of patients who have Parkinson's disease, versus those who do not. NuroPro has completed a Phase 1 human clinical trial. The companies expect to initiate Phase 2 clinical studies in 2013. It is expected that upon completing Phase 2, NuroPro would begin generating revenue through sales under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment (CLIA) certification.

"Amarantus' focus on Parkinson's disease has allowed it to gain considerable traction with partners who understand the potential value of the technologies we have in-house," said Gerald E. Commissiong, President & CEO of Amarantus. "This transaction will allow Amarantus to gain upside from the licensing of the NuroPro asset, while defraying the costs of the project in order to focus our internal resources on the MANF Program for Parkinson's disease and Traumatic Brain Injury. As NuroPro advances towards commercialization, we expect it could become a key differentiating component of our clinical development program of MANF for Parkinson's disease."

The market for Parkinson's could grow to a value of $3.75 billion by 2015, according to a report last year by Visiongain analysts. RBCC expects a deal with Amarantus to help position the company to capitalize on that growth and generate revenue in the near-term. Amarantus expect a deal with RBCC to further enable the development of the MANF Program.

Source Amarantus BioSciences, Inc.