South Easton, MA, May 14, 2020 – Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) (“PBI” or the “Company”), a leader in the development and sale of broadly enabling, pressure-based instruments, consumables, and platform technology solutions to the worldwide biotechnology, biotherapeutics, cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, and food & beverage industries, today announced that following its previously announced pending merger (Click Here) and name change to Availa Bio, that the newly branded, publicly-traded company will be entering the hand sanitizer market through the founders of Cannaworx. The custom-designed, next generation, premium hand sanitizer will be the first product released under the new holding company Availa Bio.
The owners of privately held Cannaworx, Inc. have obtained FDA registration for the newly developed hand sanitizer, as well as an NDC (National Drug Code) number. The product is being manufactured in a fully compliant, GMP-certified facility. Initial packaging will be in 250/500 ml. bottles, with 125 ml., 1 liter, and 1gallon sizes available by Fall 2020. The product contains 75% alcohol in a proprietary blend of other reagents.
Hand sanitizers are liquid, gel, or foam anti-microbial products that have been shown to be effective in killing human disease-causing pathogens (e.g., viruses, bacteria, fungi) on the hands. Most hand sanitizers use alcohol as their active and most prominent ingredient. Hand sanitizers are believed to be faster, more efficient, and easier on the skin than repeated handwashing. They are often used when hand washing with soap and water is not convenient or possible. According to a 2019 report by Radiant Insights, the global hand sanitizer market is expected to reach $5.5 billion by 2024 (Click Here).
Availa Bio will be led by Jim Morrison (Click Here), the former President of L’Oreal, Sexy Hair, StarShop, and Graham Webb. In addition to his remarkable career at the helm of several prominent beauty and cosmeceutical companies, Mr. Morrison also has had a long and distinguished history of collaborating with celebrities to design and launch beauty and personal care lines, including Kylie Jenner, Britney Spears, Christie Brinkley, and Rob Lowe. Mr. Morrison is universally regarded as one of the top brand strategists in the personal care space worldwide.
Mr. Morrison explained the new developments: “Over the past few months, growing shortages of hand sanitizers have been reported in stores across the USA. In addition, the opportunity to bring leading scientists in skin care and in formulations technology together into an FDA-registered premium grade dermatological hand sanitizer has been largely unanswered. In discussing these issues with the scientific and business teams of the three companies that are merging into Availa Bio, we saw the opportunity to fill a strong demand in the market with our proprietary dermatological formulation, to develop a high-quality registered hand sanitizer.”
The Letter of Intent between Cannaworx and SkinScience Labs, and the Letter of Intent between PBI and Cannaworx, Inc. are subject to certain closing conditions, including completion of all due diligence and acquisition financing.
About Pressure BioSciences, Inc.
Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (OTCQB: PBIO) is a leader in the development and sale of innovative, broadly enabling, pressure-based solutions for the worldwide life sciences and other industries. Our products are based on the unique properties of both constant (i.e., static) and alternating (i.e., pressure cycling technology, or PCT) hydrostatic pressure. PCT is a patented enabling technology platform that uses alternating cycles of hydrostatic pressure between ambient and ultra-high levels to safely and reproducibly control bio-molecular interactions (e.g., cell lysis, biomolecule extraction). Our primary focus is in the development of PCT-based products for biomarker and target discovery, drug design and development, biotherapeutics characterization and quality control, soil & plant biology, forensics, and counter-bioterror applications. Additionally, major new market opportunities have emerged in the use of our pressure-based technologies in the following areas: (1) the use of our recently acquired, patented technology from BaroFold, Inc. (the “BaroFold” technology) to allow entry into the bio-pharma contract services sector, and (2) the use of our recently-patented, scalable, high-efficiency, pressure-based Ultra Shear Technology (“UST”) platform to (i) create stable nanoemulsions of otherwise immiscible fluids (e.g., oils and water) and to (ii) prepare higher quality, homogenized, extended shelf-life or room temperature stable low-acid liquid foods that cannot be effectively preserved using existing non-thermal technologies.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed, implied or inferred by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends,” “anticipates,” “believes,” estimates,” “predicts,” “projects,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. In evaluating these statements, you should specifically consider various factors. Actual events or results may differ materially. These and other factors may cause our actual results to differ materially from any forward-looking statement. These risks, uncertainties, and other factors include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, and other reports filed by the Company from time to time with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the information included in this release, except as otherwise required by law.
For more information about PBI and this press release, please click on the following website link: http://www.pressurebiosciences.com
