Biomerica Announces Notice of Allowance for Patent on Product used to Diagnose and Treat Depression

• Hundreds of millions of people worldwide suffer from depression
  

Biomerica Inc. (NASDAQ: BMRA) announced  that the Japanese Patent Office has issued a notice of allowance for Biomerica’s first patent pertaining to a revolutionary new treatment option for patients suffering from depression. Specifically, this allowed patent contains broad claims that enables physicians to identify patient specific foods (e.g. salmon, milk, shrimp, broccoli, chickpeas, etc.), that when removed from the patient’s diet, may alleviate or improve an individual's depression symptoms.

There is considerable recent clinical research which shows strong correlation between Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and depression. This field of study, linking depression and IBS, has gained momentum with research around the gut-brain axis and alterations in gut microbes that affect mental health.¹ Further, anxiety/depression and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are highly prevalent and burdensome conditions, and their co-occurrence prevalence is an estimated 44% to 84% of patients.² Research performed at Biomerica that formed the basis for claims in this allowed depression-related patent, indicates that certain foods are linked to an elevated adverse immune response in patients with depression. While there is still additional research and development to be done, this technology could potentially improve the lives of the hundreds of million people worldwide that live with depression.

Depression represents the number one cause of disability worldwide and is often fatal. Inflammatory processes have been linked to the pathophysiology of depression. It is now well established that dysregulation of the immune systems occurs in depressed patients. In addition, these changes affect prognosis and response to antidepressant therapy. Studies suggest the immune system regulates mood and is the potential cause of a dysfunctional inflammatory response in depressed patients.ᶾ

Biomerica’s InFoods® technology utilizes a simple blood test to determine if a patient is suffering an elevated adverse immune response to one or more specific foods (e.g. milk, salmon, barley, etc.), that have been identified as potentially problematic for patients with depression. Once identified, eliminating the problematic food(s) may result in an improvement in the patient’s depression symptoms.

Biomerica has now been granted or allowed 8 patents in the US and globally on its IBS related technology, while this Japanese patent is the first to be allowed for a disease other than IBS. Further, the Company has dozens of additional patents filed that are in active prosecution (under review by patent offices) in the US and many other countries for these and other diseases. For example, Biomerica also recently received notice of allowance from the Mexican Patent Office for its initial InFoods® IBS patent filed in that country.

Biomerica is in the process of finalizing its first clinical study utilizing the InFoods® diagnostic guided therapy technology on patients suffering from IBS. The InFoods® diagnostic-guided IBS therapy is in clinical studies at the Mayo Clinic, Beth Israel Medical Center Inc., a Harvard Medical School Hospital, the University of Michigan University Hospital, the Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Houston Methodist (part of Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world). Since the InFoods® IBS product is a diagnostic-guided therapy, and not a drug, it has no drug-type side effects.

Biomerica is working to provide diagnostic guided therapies to alleviate disease symptoms and dramatically improve quality of life and general health. The Company has performed research with findings of an elevated immune response to differing groups of foods in patients suffering from diseases which include: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), functional dyspepsia, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), migraine headaches, depression, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The Company’s longer term strategy is to also move forward with clinical studies for addressing these other diseases with the InFoods technology.

“We are very close to the completion of the first InFoods® diagnostic guided therapy study for IBS patients performed by leading medical institutions in the US. With the growing body of evidence that specific foods can cause inflammation in the body and lead to or intensify physical and mental illnesses, we believe the InFoods® Technology platform has the ability to revolutionize how patients are diagnosed and treated. Our InFoods® Technology has the potential to offer a dramatic reduction in suffering and improve people’s ability to live happy productive lives,” said Zack Irani, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Biomerica.

1.Mudyanadzo, T.A., et al., Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Depression: A  Shared Pathogenesis. Cureus, 2018. 10(8): p. e3178.

2.Simpson, C.A., et al., Feeling down? A systematic review of the gut microbiota in anxiety/depression and irritable bowel syndrome. J Affect Disord, 2020. 266: p. 429-446.

3.Beurel, E., M. Toups, and C.B. Nemeroff, The Bidirectional Relationship of Depression and Inflammation: Double Trouble. Neuron, 2020. 107(2): p. 234-256.

Source：：www.finance.yahoo.com/news

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