AREV Life Sciences Global Corp. (CSE: AREV) (OTC: AREVF)
AREV Life Sciences Global Corp. (CSE: AREV) (OTC: AREVF) is a fully integrated, publicly traded, early-stage life science enterprise dedicated to delivering therapeutic interventions to public health through discovery, innovation and successful collaborations in the life science industry. The company's leadership drives discovery programs for clinical complexities presented by malnutrition, viral infectious diseases and the inflammatory response system.
AREV's business model leverages the core competency of producing proprietary compounds through its innovative extraction methodologies, scientific advisory board (SAB), experienced staff, and executive leadership to drive its product pipeline. AREV's strategy is to generate revenue from selling its branded products via its online technology platform, Medicine Merchant™, an enterprise marketing platform built to enable consumers to have access to novel therapeutic approaches to human nutrition, endemic diseases, and neglected chronic related co-morbidities. The company also expects to generate revenue from toll processing and government procurement of its products that address malnutrition and related health issues.
AREV is focused on innovations in biomedicine and maintains a significant footprint in clinical human nutrition utilizing proprietary protein blends and terpenes, complimented with vitamins and minerals. The company has utilized its expertise to design and deliver innovation in therapeutic interventions using its exclusive botanical, fungi and marine compounds to address medical conditions driven by presenting global epidemiological characteristics of multiple challenges to international human and animal health. AREV uses its proprietary extractions allowing characterizations from botanical and marine sources in therapeutic foods and medicines that comprise its development pipeline.
Development of AREV's pipeline is fostered by collaborations with academic centers, clinical research organizations and government institutions committed to facilitating discovery of promising new clinical approaches presented in peer reviewed journals. AREV operates under the guidance of its SAB and a growing number of strategic collaborations with CROs and academic research centers, including the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University.
AREV is a member of both BIOTECanada and The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO):
- BIOTECanada is the national industry association with over 200 members located nationwide, reflecting the diverse nature of Canada's health, industrial and agricultural biotechnology sectors.
- BIO is the world's largest advocacy association representing member companies, state biotechnology groups, academic and research institutions, and related organizations across the United States and 30+ countries.
Products
AREV's end-product and target categories include therapeutic interventions, botanical drugs, ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF), enteral nutrition formulas and early-stage small molecule antiviral therapeutics demonstrating novel mechanisms of action.
Wright and Well Branded Line
Wright and Well Branded Line is the company's branded line of therapeutic cannabinoid and terpene-based formulations. The topical line includes solutions for burns, wounds, skin disorders and muscle relief, as well as a lubricant for intimacy. The oral line addresses inflammation, heart health, high blood pressure and viral infections. These products are currently produced at CBD99, a licensed processor in Sandy, Oregon. The company also has a strategic relationship with a Canadian licensed hemp and cannabis processor in Vancouver, British Columbia.
SUS-TAINN™
The company's products in the RUTF category are branded under SUS-TAINN™ (Superior Utility Supplementation Therapeutic Agent for Indicated Nutritional Needs). SUS-TAINN™ is the flagship line of products stemming from AREV's collaboration with Voynich Biosciences.
RUTFs like SUS-TAINN™ are the cornerstone to international famine response and currently represent more than 20 percent of public health commodity procurement spending. SUS-TAINN™ is purchased by agencies ranging from the U.S. Department of State AID for International Development to the World Food Program and is distributed by an increasingly substantial number of non-governmental organizations.
RESTORE™
The company's enteral nutrition product is branded as RESTORE™. For patients experiencing caloric compromise, enteral nutrition, a liquid form of nourishment, is often required. RESTORE™, the initial enteral formulation from AREV, is based on organic plant nutrition for patient populations who have demonstrated overt clinical need for rational enhanced caloric intake and micronutrient supplementation.
RESTORE™ provides a proprietary blend of high-quality proteins, antioxidants, minerals and proven anabolic agents, combined with pre- and probiotics. The company plans to submit for Medicaid formulary inclusion and reimbursement designations in various jurisdictions characterized by the Ryan White CARE Act during the second half of 2022.
REV-I1™
REV-I1™ is the company's small molecule drug discovery model for phytomedicinalization, based on advanced computational characterization and next generation affinity selection that affords new opportunities in HIV antiretroviral research. REV inhibition offers a critical approach to inhibiting HIV replication and addressing viremia in highly conserved sanctuary regions.
Phytomedicinal therapeutic discovery and development offer clinically viable approaches to a wide range of scientific challenges that currently elude successful contemporary interventions. A cornucopia of diverse validated compounds allows AREV to explore a distinguished range of promising approaches that are in stages of pre-clinical validation. Combining AREV's versatile extraction capability with highly sensitive analytical techniques (LC-MS, MS-MS) is expected to allow new medicinal chemistry to be identified and characterized, leading to therapeutic candidates in the company's commercial drug discovery platform.
Market Overview
A report from Verified Market Research valued the global plant protein market at $29.4 billion in 2020 and forecast that it could surpass $162 billion by 2030, which would make up 7.7% of the global protein market, according to a report released in August by Bloomberg Intelligence.
The RUTF market was valued at $363.72 million in 2019 and is projected to reach $807.89 million by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 10.5% for the forecast period. The market is primarily driven by the efforts of governments and non-governmental organizations to reduce the rate of severe acute malnutrition. Moreover, changing trends and growing developments related to diet-related deficiencies, as well as increasing incidences of famine and disasters, are likely to fuel the growth of the RUTF market in the near future, according to the report.
Management Team
Michael Withrow is the founder, chairman and CEO of AREV. He is a successful natural products and technology entrepreneur with more than 25 years of experience. He has started and sold companies and has worked with companies such as CAVA Health Care (formerly Alternative Extracts Inc.), North American BioExtracts Inc., and Canadian Pacific Phytoplankton Ltd. He has also served as president and CEO of a specialty cannabis technology company.
Kevin Phelps, CPA, is a director at AREV. He is CEO and president of Immune Therapeutics Inc., a bio-pharmaceutical company. He began his career with Price Waterhouse before joining Eastman Kodak Company as part of an executive team that successfully spun out the Bio Products Division into Genencor International Inc., an international industrial bio-chemicals company. He later joined Trillium Group, a regional private equity firm, as a partner, where he served on behalf of the firm as CFO of Vaccinex Inc., a vaccine development company, and chairman of AccuMed Inc., a medical device company. He has served as Chairman of Oyagen, a biotech that over the past decade has developed drug discovery methods that have enabled it to explore vulnerabilities in HIV, Ebola and coronaviruses.
Denby Greenslade is corporate secretary and interim CFO at AREV. She has served as corporate secretary and director for several companies in the mining, biotech and IT industries and has more than 15 years of corporate secretarial, corporate governance, and securities regulation experience. She graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.
Allan Echino is a director at AREV. He was a founder and director of Corlac Resources, an oil producer, and Calroc Industries, an oil service company based in Alberta. Mr. Echino arranged funding for a licensed producer in the cannabis sector and quickly learned the business and health benefits of cannabis and mushrooms.
Mel Maxwell is a director at AREV. During his 40-plus year career, he has founded six companies. His degrees in business and computer science initially took his career toward IT ventures that entailed software development, IT consulting, e-commerce solutions, real estate development, pathogen remediation solutions and wholesale vehicle aggregation. He finds continued enjoyment in consulting with other businesses and entrepreneurs.
Scientific Advisory Board
Roscoe M. Moore, Jr., DVM, MPH, PhD, a former United States Assistant Surgeon General, provides strategic planning for AREV's nutritional and drug discovery platforms as chairman of the company's scientific advisory board. Dr. Moore is a member of the board of advisers of the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) and the board of directors of the Global Virus Network associated with IHV, University of Maryland Medical Center. IHV is the first research institute in the U.S. to link basic science, population studies, and clinical trials in an effort to develop new vaccines and treatments; its 80 faculty members contribute to research on pandemic pathogens, ranging from COVID-19 to HIV.
Dr. Moore served with the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and was responsible, for the last 12 years of his career, for global development support within the Office of the Secretary, HHS, with primary emphasis on implementing innovations in essential health care commodity procurement programs for resource-challenged countries. Dr. Moore was a career officer within the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service, entering with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and rising to the rank of Rear Admiral. Dr. Moore worked at the Center for Veterinary Medicine, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), before becoming senior epidemiologist within the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he also served as an epidemic intelligence service officer.
Robert Melamede, PhD, received his doctorate in molecular genetics and biochemistry from the University of the City of New York Graduate Center, focusing on base excision repair of free radical damages in DNA. For decades, he led laboratory efforts in a world-class, federally funded lab, where he discovered endonuclease VIII. Dr. Melamede did a sabbatical at the Scripps Institute and subsequently established an in vitro monoclonal antibody facility at the University of Vermont, developing antibodies to free radical damages in DNA and to DNA repair enzymes. Working with a collaborator, Dr. Melamede worked on metabolism and cancer cells as a professor and chair of the biology department at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He co-founded Cannabis Science Inc., a public company, retiring as the company's chief executive in 2014. Dr. Melamede continues his innovative research in the private sector.
Harold Smith, PhD, is the founder, CEO, and president of Oyagen Inc., a biotechnology company developing therapeutics for various disease states, including HIV and cancer. Dr. Smith is also a tenured professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of Rochester, School of Dentistry and Medicine, with additional appointments as a professor in genetics and pathology and as a member of the Center for RNA Biology.
Richard Van Breemen, PhD, is a Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University. His research interests include cancer prevention by dietary antioxidants and prostate cancer prevention by the carotenoid lycopene, mass spectrometry-based pharmacological screening of natural products and combinatorial libraries for drug discovery, and high throughput screening to assess drug metabolism, toxicity and bioavailability. Dr. Van Breemen made The Analytical Scientist's Power List in 2020 and 2021. His work in biomedical mass spectrometry earned him an initial spot, and he clocked in the Top 100 analytical scientists from around the world on the Power List in 2021.
Dr. Blake Hawley is the founder & CEO of Motega Health Inc. Dr. Hawley has worked in animal health, pharma and food across 23 countries and four continents. He holds an MBA from KU and his doctorate in veterinary medicine and zoology degrees from NC State. He serves on multiple non-profit advisory boards, including the KU MBA Advisory Board. Dr. Hawley is a 2017 graduate of Pipeline Entrepreneurs and a graduate of the Village Capital Agricultural 2016 Entrepreneur Cohort.
Dr. Hawley previously served as the General Manager of Australasia; Regional General Manager of Russia and Central Eastern Europe (consisting of 22 countries); and Managing Director of the United Kingdom and Ireland for Hill's Pet Nutrition, a division of Colgate-Palmolive. His experience includes 10 years of profit and loss responsibilities in these territories, with consistent double-digit annual revenue growth in each of the 10 years. He oversaw products competing in the arthritis, dermatology, obesity, gastrointestinal, urinary, and cancer markets, among others. Dr. Hawley also has background in e-commerce, data analytics, and social media and most recently served as Worldwide Director of Global Digital for Hill's Pet Nutrition.
Uma Dhanabalan, MD, MPH, FAAFP, MRO, CMS, advises AREV on product development and formulation. She is the founder and CEO of Global Health & Hygiene Solutions LLC, whose mission is to promote wellness and prevent illness locally and globally and runs an independent practice at Uplifting Health & Wellness in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Dhanabalan, a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, graduated from UMDNJ, Newark, New Jersey, with her medical degree and trained in family medicine at MUSC in Charleston, South Carolina; she earned her master's degree in public health from Harvard's School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, and continued her training at Harvard in occupational and environmental medicine.
Special IP Advisor
Douglas Sorroco practices in all areas of intellectual property law including patent, trademark, copyright, technology, and e-commerce and assists clients with intellectual property matters requiring litigation, licensing, technology counselling and complex transactions.
Mr. Sorroco is ranked in Band 1 (the top band) for intellectual property law by the highly regarded Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business 2021, and he was selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America® 2022 for Litigation – Intellectual Property, Litigation – Patent, Patent Law and Technology Law. In 2021, Best Lawyers named him the Oklahoma Lawyer of the Year for Technology Law. In 2021, Managing Intellectual Property continued to rank Doug as an IP Star. Mr. Sorroco was selected for inclusion in Oklahoma Super Lawyers 2021 and was also selected by attorney peers for inclusion in Oklahoma Super Lawyers – Rising Stars Edition (2010).