CBIS Releases Corporate Operational Guidance for 2013 as the Company Reorganizes to better meet the Growing Global Crisis Associated with Anti-Retroviral Drug Resistance among People with AIDS, as well as the Increasing Need for Patient Friendly Skin Cancer Therapies

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Cannabis Science, Inc. (NASD OTC: CBIS) announced today its Corporate Operational Guidance for 2013, highlighting a strategic action plan to "bring to market" innovative, cannabinoid-based, life-saving, anti-cancer drugs.  The Company anticipates releasing a variety of cannabinoid-based treatments that already show great promise in fighting HIV-related illnesses like Kaposi's Sarcoma that is on the rise due to the developing resistance to all current classes of anti-retroviral drugs. The Company has uniquely positioned itself to offer solutions to these worldwide challenges to human health.

To successfully execute this action plan, the Company has invested in preclinical new drug development, corporate appointments on executive, legal, policy, and scientific levels, as well as on internal corporate streamlining and structural enhancements.  In documenting the progress, the Company has launched its retooled website at www.cannabisscience.com outlining this new corporate focus, drug development programs, corporate culture and more.

To better manage this ground-breaking drug development effort, the Company is implementing a diversification of any and all relationships that could hamper progress. Through diversification and reorientation of corporate assets, Cannabis Science can benefit from focusing its resources on our drug development programs. The Company and its experts intend to bring cannabinoid-based drugs through the FDA approval process as well as through equivalent governmental bodies around the world.

Robert J. Melamede, Ph.D., President and CEO, stated, "Sadly, we are at the beginning of the second AIDS epidemic. Long-term HIV-positive individuals are becoming resistant to all existing anti-HIV medications. The resulting collapse of their immune systems allows for opportunistic infections such as Kaposi's Sarcoma to take hold. As we were moving forward with the development of CS-BCC/SC-1 for skin cancers, we observed the value of cannabis-based treatments for Kaposi's.  Consequently, the Company will develop both CS-TATI-1 and CS-BCC/SC-1 to address these diseases. With the combination of our scientific platform, and our world class team of experienced drug developers, Cannabis Science will provide solutions to change the course of human suffering."

The revamped Company will now focus on formal drug development on federal and international levels.  As the cannabis industry has inherently conflicting economies of scale because of state and federal regulatory variances, the Company has initiated its action plan to comprehensively identify all conflicting operations and barriers to the Company's complete focus on fostering formal clinical trials for its cancer and HIV drug development program. Simultaneously, the Company will use corporate transactions (unit spin-offs) to build a healthy equity base for Cannabis Science as it pursues numerous forms of federal facilitation. The Company will proceed to assist in the growth of these equity holdings through advice and counsel by its management team, external resources, expert relationships, and substantial experience in the medical cannabis and hemp industries.

The first quarter of 2013, Dr. Melamede explained, would be characterized by abstract submissions to conferences and, with the expertise of incoming officers, the development of protocols for submission to NIH and European clinical research programs. This will further support the Company's protocol submissions to advance product development, which will translate to proportionate equity performances, based on the projected global market potential of CS-TATI-1 and CS-S/BCC-1. Cannabis Science's recent appointment of Harvard Law School graduate Chad S. Johnson to its executive management team, as well as the recent appointment of Dr. Michael J Goldblatt, the former Director of Defense Sciences at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to its Scientific Advisory Board, benefits the company tremendously in entering these government-funded programs. The Scientific Advisory Board is rich with combined experience by all its members, who have backgrounds in medicine, governmental relations, and clinical trials, and are essential to Cannabis Science's progress with the FDA.

The Company is now completing its first transaction to accomplish its aggressive action plan with X-Change Corp. to separate the first set of conflicting operations in hemp-based nutraceutical and cosmoceutical product development.  With Cannabis Science's selling of this corporate unit, from which the Company has received fair market value and is now a key investor, the Company stays on track to direct its full focus on its drug-development mission while providing external opportunities to foster the growth of X-Change Corp. from a vested-interest, shareholder position.  As announced last week, X-Change Corp. will now take complete responsibility for the development of these promising nutraceutical and cosmoceutical business interests, providing Cannabis Science with an equity position for its shareholder equity growth participation.

"These changes will positively impact the shareholders of CBIS, while allowing the Company to pursue its exclusive focus on the critical research that we are conducting both independently and in conjunction with publically-funded clinical trial networks, which require our foremost attention," stated Roscoe Moore DVM, MPH, Ph.D.

The Company will soon announce the appointment of the Company's Chief Science Officer (CSO) and Chief Medical Officer (CMO), as well as other essential corporate officers and directors, whose focus will be to ensure the advancement of scientific investigations that support the commercial advancement of regulatory reviews for domestic and international market approvals for Kaposi's Sarcoma as well as for squamous and basal cell carcinomas.

About Phytiva

Phytiva is the newly launched brand that is a hybrid of a proven, existing product line that has been well-managed and conservatively-run for over a decade with a hemp-based product line, utilizing the unique and potent benefits of the hemp plant. Phytiva's revolutionary formulations target not just the symptom, but also the cause. Hemp is the ideal basis for healing solutions and has been utilized for centuries, as skin responds extremely well to its properties. Phytiva strives to be one of the quintessential cosmeceuticals and nutraceuticals brands in the world. As cosmetics and nutrition are personal, over-the-counter markets, they continuously evolve with the introduction of new formulations and products, creating a multibillion-dollar global market. The company believes that Phytiva will capture a substantial and highly-profitable portion of that market, as Phytiva becomes a household name. www.phytiva.com.

About CS-TATI-1

Cannabis Science's research of CS-TATI-1 will be targeted to newly-diagnosed patients infected with drug resistant virus, treatment-experienced patients with drug-resistant HIV strains, and those intolerant of currently available therapies. Cannabis Science will be pursuing a wide range of NIH based Federal Research Programs such as RO1's, PO1's and SBIRS which exist to support preclinical development of target validation and proof of concept studies. These studies will be implemented through collaborations with leading scientific institutions. Cannabis Science will also be pursuing other clinical research collaborations including the AIDS Clinical Trials Groups (ACTG), the Canadian AIDS Trial Network (CATN), and the European AIDS Trial Network (EATN).

About CS-S/BCC-1

Cannabis Science is currently working to develop preclinical investigations of CS-S/BCC-1 treatment of basal and squamous cell carcinomas. The Company has begun preclinical investigations, which are being initiated in Europe for squamous and basal cell carcinomas and Kaposi's Sarcoma, based on inhibition of carcinogenicity utilizing cannabinoids that have been demonstrated in recent studies to significantly affect tumor necrosis.

About Kaposi's Sarcoma 

Kaposi's Sarcoma (KS) was one of the first recognized AIDS-defining opportunistic infections and is the most common HIV-associated neoplasm and cancer in equatorial Africa.  AIDS-associated KS is a disseminated, aggressive disease with extremely limited treatment options.  While the incidence of KS significantly decreased in the developed world with the advent of and access to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), increasing drug resistance in treatment-experienced patients has led to a resurgence of KS in people living with HIV.

About Cannabis Science, Inc.

Cannabis Science, Inc. is at the forefront of cannabinoid research and development for unmet medical needs. The Company works with leading experts in HIV drug development, medicinal characterization, and clinical research to develop, produce, and commercialize Phytocannabinoid-based pharmaceutical products.

Cannabis Science is currently working with CBR International to develop a Pre-IND Application to the FDA that focuses on the use of CS-S/BCC-1 topical cannabis-based preparations for the treatment of basal and squamous cell carcinomas.

Forward Looking Statements

This Press Release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. A statement containing works such as "anticipate," "seek," intend," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "project," "plan," or similar phrases may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Some or all of the events or results anticipated by these forward-looking statements may not occur. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include the future U.S. and global economies, the impact of competition, and the Company's reliance on existing regulations regarding the use and development of cannabis-based drugs. Cannabis Science, Inc. does not undertake any duty nor does it intend to update the results of these forward-looking statements.

Contact:

Cannabis Science, Inc.

President and CEO

Dr. Robert J. Melamede, 888-889-0888

[email protected]

or

VP of Investor Relations

Robert Kane, 888-889-0888

[email protected]

www.cannabisscience.com

SOURCE Cannabis Science, Inc.