Biocept's Target Selector Platform Featured in Three Clinical Abstracts at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting Where Company Plans to Launch New Marketing Campaign

SAN DIEGO, May 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Biocept, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIOC), a leading commercial provider of liquid biopsy tests designed to provide physicians with clinically actionable information to improve the outcomes of cancer patients, announces that three scientific and medical abstracts featuring the Company's Target Selector™ liquid biopsy platform have been accepted for publication at the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting being held June 2-6, 2017 in Chicago.  

The Company will also launch its "AND" marketing campaign for its proprietary liquid biopsy service at ASCO. The "AND" campaign focuses on the benefits of using liquid biopsy in addition to tissue biopsy to rapidly identify clinically actionable biomarkers in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. Representatives from Biocept will be available on the ASCO Exhibition Floor at Booth #25160 to discuss the unique benefits of biomarker testing with Target Selector™ liquid biopsy assays.    

"In a large percentage of metastatic NSCLC patients, the patient's mutational status from tissue is not available at the time key treatment decisions need to be made. This means that a significant number of these patients will not get the benefit of being qualified for target therapies," said Giuseppe Giaccone, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Director for Clinical Research, Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown University. "Biocept's liquid biopsy tests offer a non-invasive method that can complement tissue biopsy to help qualify more patients for targeted therapy, which has potential to improve treatment outcomes."

"The body of clinical evidence supporting the utility of our Target Selector™ testing platform continues to grow, and I am looking forward to discussing our published abstracts, as well as other study data with physicians at this year's ASCO meeting," stated Veena Singh, M.D., Senior Vice President and Medical Director at Biocept. "Our aim is to help oncologists identify clinically actionable biomarkers as rapidly as possible with our precision diagnostics, which can enable treatment decisions that are better informed."

Abstracts featuring Biocept's Target Selector™ Testing Platform at ASCO include the following:

• "Clinical experience in ctDNA profiling of 2,000 NSCLC cases using Target Selector™ demonstrates high sensitivity" - Testing of 2,000 patient samples with Biocept's Target Selector™ assays detected EGFR mutations at a very high level of sensitivity, down to 1 mutant copy/ml in advanced NSCLC patients at frequencies consistent with cited U.S. prevalence rates.
• "ctDNA detection of EGFR mutations in NSCLC patients using Target Selector™" - Results from a 53-patient study demonstrate detection of activating EGFR mutations (Exon 19 deletions and L858R) and the resistance EGFR mutation (T790M) before patients were treated with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, during therapy, and at progression. Over time, as patients were treated on targeted therapy, detection rates trended consistently lower indicating therapeutic responses in some patients. Importantly, two patients in the study were found to have T790M mutations only in blood and not in tissue.
• "Biocept's Sample Collection for Tumor Cell Analysis Demonstrates Superior Performance" - Comparisons were made between Biocept's blood collection tubes with its proprietary CEE-Sure^® fixative and Saccomanno's Fixative, one of the most widely used cytology fixatives. Results showed consistently higher cell recovery, better cell membrane maintenance, and higher quality FISH signals when samples were stored using CEE-Sure^® vs. Saccomanno's Fixative.

"AND" campaign to raise awareness on benefits of combining both tissue biopsy and liquid biopsy
During the ASCO meeting, Biocept will unveil its new marketing campaign focused on improving the chances of rapidly identifying clinically actionable biomarkers in cancer patients. Clinical studies have demonstrated that liquid biopsies can detect certain cancer biomarkers when results from a tissue biopsy are negative, therefore, using both methodologies together may be complementary. There are several challenges associated with tissue biopsies including the difficulty of performing a biopsy due to tumor location, limited tumor material due to small biopsy sizes, tumor heterogeneity both within the tumor material and between multiple metastatic sites, and risk of complications. All of these reasons, in addition to the relatively high cost of a tissue biopsy, and the time it takes to receive biomarker results, have increased the interest in obtaining molecular information from a simple blood sample.

"With more than 30,000 oncologists and professionals attending ASCO, this meeting is well-suited to launch our new liquid biopsy awareness campaign," said Michael Terry, Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial Operations at Biocept. "Our medical and commercial teams are eager to educate physicians at ASCO about our Target Selector tests, and the ability to help patients diagnosed with cancer gain access to personalized therapies for their specific disease."

About Biocept
Biocept, Inc. is a molecular diagnostics company with commercialized assays for lung, breast, gastric, colorectal and prostate cancers, and melanoma.  The Company leverages its proprietary liquid biopsy technology to provide physicians with clinically actionable information for treating and monitoring patients diagnosed with cancer.  Biocept's patented Target Selector™ liquid biopsy technology platform captures and analyzes tumor-associated molecular markers in both circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and in circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). With thousands of tests performed, the platform has demonstrated the ability to identify cancer mutations and alterations to inform physicians about a patient's disease and therapeutic options. For additional information, please visit www.biocept.com.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of words like "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend" or "project," or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. To the extent that statements in this news release are not strictly historical, including, without limitation, statements as to our ability to improve the outcomes of cancer patients, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous risk factors as set forth in our Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The effects of such risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. We do not plan to update any such forward-looking statements and expressly disclaim any duty to update the information contained in this press release except as required by law. Readers are advised to review our filings with the SEC at www.sec.gov.

SOURCE Biocept, Inc.

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