Halifax, Nova Scotia – (December 13, 2021) – Building on its revolutionary approach to detecting the virus that causes Covid-19, Sixth Wave Innovations Inc. (CSE:SIXW) (OTCQB:SIXWF) (FSE:AHUH) (“Sixth Wave” or the “Company”) is working to commercialize its technology, advancing the prospect of widely available Covid tests that can rapidly, accurately, and inexpensively detect the presence of the virus and its mutations.
Sixth Wave has used the fully owned intellectual property of its molecular imprinted polymer technology to develop its patent-pending Accelerated Molecular Imprinted Polymer (“AMIPs™”) platform that provides virus detection that can be deployed in a host of devices and new environments not serviced by current technologies.
Sixth Wave has been approached by commercial partners seeking to use the AMIPs™ technology in both personal and environmental devices. For personal testing, AMIPs™ could be deployed in simple kits that provide a fast, accurate diagnosis from saliva instead of a nasal swab, or from handheld breathalyzers that could be used multiple times by the same user for easier, less expensive, less wasteful testing.
Other potential partners have expressed interest in the quicker-to-market opportunity to use Sixth Wave technology to monitor indoor air and water for the virus. Deploying AMIPs™ in sensors or other devices would provide real-time alerts to the presence of the Covid-causing virus in enclosed spaces, from homes, offices and school classrooms to entertainment venues, airplanes, and aboard cruise ships.
With Covid infections continuing to rise around the world, finding ways to test people and environments affordably, easily, and reliably has become an essential tool for mitigating the economic and social consequences of the disease.
Vastly Improved Personal Testing
Sixth Wave’s technology overcomes problems that riddle current methods to test for Covid-19 that require using biological materials (antibodies) to detect the virus. PCR tests are expensive, generally require unpleasant nasal swabs, and rely on laboratory analysis to return results. Rapid antigen tests are faster but significantly less accurate, diminishing in effectiveness as the virus mutates.
Sixth Wave brings a synthetic solution to those shortcomings. Working on live SARS-CoV-2 viruses alongside researchers at the University of Alberta’s world-renowned Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, the Company has demonstrated that AMIPs™ captures the presence of the Covid-causing virus with similar sensitivity to conventional antigen tests.
Notably, AMIPs™ has continually proven its ability to detect variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19. Similar testing will begin on the highly transmissible Omicron variant as soon as virus samples become available.
The AMIPs™ laboratory findings have been validated by the Li Ka Shing Institute of Virology, and the Company has filed three patents related to the AMIPs™ technology.
Testing Enclosed Environments for Covid
Working with researchers from York University, Sixth Wave has undertaken the development of environmental applications for AMIPs™ that, unlike diagnostic tests, do not require regulatory approval to be deployed. The York researchers have validated the electrochemical and fluorescent detection methods of the technology.
This development stream offers a quick-to-market path to generate revenue. Sixth Wave has already been approached by potential commercial partners seeking to deploy AMIPs™ in sensors to monitor enclosed environments for the presence of the virus. From sports stadiums to theatres, office buildings to schools, and hospitals, there is a massive need for real-time testing to alert people to a heightened risk of disease.
Working with a device manufacturing partner, the Company could have an AMIPs™-based product ready for field testing in six months under the right conditions.
Next Steps
Sixth Wave has taken a methodical approach to demonstrate the clinical progress of AMIPs™ with the goal of creating marketable products with applications in personal health care and environmental monitoring.
Following that strategic path, the Company will continue to work with the Li Ka Shing Institute researchers using saliva samples and live viruses to validate its findings that detection matches or exceeds antigen tests. It expects to complete that work in Q2 of 2022 and submit results and AMIPS to a third party for validation.
The Company is now engaged with four potential partners to commercialize the AMIPs™ platform. Several test kit designs will be pursued either under the SIXW AMIPs™ brand or under license. They include:
- Incorporating AMIPs™ into test kits that are like current antigen tests but have significant cost savings, and greater ease-of-use (the Company has already engaged with a potential manufacturing partner on this approach).
- Continuing work in electronic detection for a simple, handheld, breathalyzer with a replaceable cartridge containing the AMIPs™ sensor or for testing that could incorporate wireless or Bluetooth capability to share data. The breathalyzer could be used multiple times by the same user to further reduce costs.
- Continuing development of a SmartMask™ concept using AMIPs™ that has potential for almost ubiquitous applications.
- Sixth Wave will accelerate work with potential manufacturing partners to advance the environmental monitoring applications of the AMIPs™ technology. The Company is ready to produce sensors for pathogen testing and integration into air and water handling systems to monitor for viral pathogens. The Company and York University have filed additional grant applications to continue supplementing this work.
The Company will also begin more comprehensive selectivity testing against other respiratory viruses and bacteria. That testing will start in January 2022.
“We are very pleased with our progress to date.” Notes Dr. Jonathan Gluckman, President and CEO of Sixth Wave. “The accelerated timeline for this accomplishment is a testament to the underlying technology platform we have developed over a number of years. We are confident that our advances toward commercialization are foundational and will benefit the use the AMIPS platform in delivering a diversity of future virus detection products.”
The Company is not making any express or implied claims that its current AMIPs™ product can eliminate, cure, contain, or detect, at a commercial level, COVID-19 (or SARS-2 coronavirus) at this time. No agreements have been executed with potential commercial partners at this time.
About Sixth Wave
Sixth Wave is a nanotechnology company with patented technologies that focus on extraction and detection of target substances at the molecular level using highly specialized Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs). The Company is in the process of a commercial rollout of its Affinity™ cannabinoid purification system, as well as, IXOS®, a line of extraction polymers for the gold mining industry. The Company is in the development stages of a rapid diagnostic test for viruses under the Accelerated MIPs (AMIPs™) label.
Sixth Wave can design, develop and commercialize MIP solutions across a broad spectrum of industries. The company is focused on nanotechnology architectures that are highly relevant for the detection and separation of viruses, biogenic amines, and other pathogens, for which the Company has products at various stages of development.
For more information about Sixth Wave, please visit our website at: www.sixthwave.com
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
“Jonathan Gluckman”
Jonathan Gluckman, Ph.D., President & CEO
For information, please contact the Company:
Phone: (801) 582-0559
E-mail: info@sixthwave.com
Cautionary Notes
This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements” including statements regarding the planned use of proceeds and performance of the AMIPs™ technologies. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future events or developments that the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual events or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company’s actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In particular, successful development and commercialization of the AMIPs™ technology are subject to the risk that the AMIPs™ technology may not prove to be successful in detecting virus targets effectively or at all, the uncertainty of medical product development, the uncertainty of timing or availability of required regulatory approvals, lack of track record of developing products for medical applications and the need for additional capital to carry out product development activities. The value of any products ultimately developed could be negatively impacted if the patent is not granted. The Company has not yet completed the development of a prototype for the product that is subject of its patent application and has not yet applied for regulatory approval for the use of this product from any regulatory agency. While the Company has had engagement with potential partners for the deployment of the AMIPs, no agreements have been signed at this date and there is no certainty that agreements with be executed in the future.
