AXIM Biotechnologies Appoints Dry Eye Disease Expert and Accomplished Optometrist Dr. Kelly K. Nichols to its Medical Advisory Board
AXIM Biotechnologies appointed Dr. Kelly K. Nichols, an expert in ocular surface disease and Dean of the School of Optometry at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, to its Medical Advisory Board. This strategic enhancement aims to augment the board's value and facilitate effective communication regarding dry eye disease (DED) diagnostics. Dr. Nichols' extensive experience will aid in marketing communications for upcoming DED diagnostic tests, set for commercial launch in early 2022. With over 26 million affected in the US, addressing DED's underdiagnosis is becoming increasingly critical.
- Appointment of Dr. Kelly K. Nichols to the Medical Advisory Board brings 25 years of optometry expertise.
- Dr. Nichols will enhance marketing strategies for DED diagnostic tests launching in early 2022.
- Strategic expansion of the advisory board aims to improve communication with US optometrists.
- Concerns regarding the potential challenges in conveying the benefits of DED diagnostics to healthcare providers.
- Increasing urgency in addressing rapid growth in DED prevalence may pressure resource allocation.
Dr. Nichols Strengthens Board with 25 Years of Optometry and Academic Experience
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AXIM Biotechnologies, Inc. (OTCQB: AXIM) (“AXIM® Biotech,” or “the Company”), an international healthcare solutions company targeting oncological, COVID-19 and dry eye disease (DED) diagnostics, today announced it has appointed Kelly K. Nichols, O.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. to its Medical Advisory Board. Dr. Nichols joins AXIM’s three other new Advisory Board members, including doctors Henry D. Perry, Laura Periman, and Chairman Joseph Tauber.
A founding member of the Ocular Surface Society of Optometry, Dr. Nichols currently serves as Dean of the School of Optometry at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is an acknowledged expert on DED and Ocular Surface Disease and has been extensively published. She earned her second B.S. and a Doctor of Optometry (O.D.) at UC Berkeley, and an M.P.H in biostatistics and a Ph.D. in Vision Science at Ohio State University.
“We are rapidly increasing the synergistic value of our Medical Advisor Board by constructing it strategically,” said John W. Huemoeller II, AXIM® Biotech Chief Executive Officer. “Optometrists are the US’ primary eye health care providers and the frontline of its eye and vision care. Accordingly, AXIM must communicate the benefit and accuracy of our DED diagnostic tests with the nation’s optometrists in a collaboration to enable increased diagnosis of this often-undiagnosed disease so its millions of sufferers can obtain the care they need.”
“At its essence, this will be an educational process, and Dr. Nichols is a respected optometrist, professor and published researcher with 20 years’ experience in optometry academia who brings acute insight into the culture of the American optometrist community,” continued Huemoeller. “She will be instrumental in helping shape the marketing communications strategy for our two DED diagnostic tests being readied for commercial launch beginning in early 2022. I’m delighted to welcome her to the AXIM medical board.”
Kelly K. Nichols, O.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. Summary Bio
Dr. Nichols currently serves as Dean of the School of Optometry at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has served extensively on the Executive Board and for the Tear Film and Ocular Surface Society and on each of the steering committees (DEWS, DEWS II, Contact Lens Discomfort, and MGD workshops), and is a founding member of Ocular Surface Society of Optometry. She currently serves as president of the Association for Schools and Colleges of Optometry (ASCO) and secretary of the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR)/ Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (AEVR).
Dr. Nichols is a leading expert in dry eye disease who has been on the editorial boards of the journals “Optometry and Vision Science,” and “The Ocular Surface.” Her research encompasses meibomian gland dysfunction, dry eye in menopause, dry eye diagnostics and therapeutics, and tear proteomics and lipidomics. She received her Doctor of Optometry degree from the University of California at Berkeley, completed a residency in ocular disease at Omni Eye Specialists of Colorado, and earned her M.P.H in biostatistics and Ph.D. in vision science at Ohio State University.
Dry Eye Disease Market
Recent estimates of the prevalence of dry eye disease are that over 26 million people in the United States and over 300 million globally suffer with dry eye disease. The prevalence is growing in both young and old adults, making it more urgent that clinicians are better able to diagnose and treat DED. As many as two-thirds of patients with symptoms of dry eye have never been diagnosed by their physician. Diagnosing DED is a challenge because of the multifactorial nature of the disease, with symptoms similar to other ocular surface conditions. It is well known that there is often a discordance between signs and symptoms, highlighting the need for more sensitive and accurate diagnostic tools.
About AXIM® Biotechnologies
Founded in 2014, AXIM® Biotechnologies, Inc. (AXIM) is a vertically integrated research and development company focused on changing the landscape of diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), dry eye disease (DED) and Oncological indications. AXIM’s COVID-19 neutralizing antibody test is the first rapid diagnostic test measuring levels of functional neutralizing antibodies that are believed to prevent SARS-CoV-2 from entering the host cells. Additionally, the Company is developing rapid diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer and ophthalmological conditions such as DED. For more information, please visit www.AXIMBiotech.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
The statements made by Axim Biotechnologies Inc., in this press release may be “forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe Axim’s future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of Axim Biotechnologies, Inc. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to there being no assurance that our diagnostic candidate will be successfully shown to detect SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies, that the diagnostic candidate will be approved for use by the U.S. FDA or any equivalent foreign regulatory agency, that the diagnostic candidate can be manufactured in large quantities or that third parties with an established presence in blood collection clinics, vaccine development, employer or individual use will enter into agreements or purchase from the Company, and even if the Company’s diagnostic candidate is successful, it may generate only limited revenue and profits for the Company, including whether any of Axim’s diagnostic products will receive clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies to sell its products and whether and when, if at all, they will receive final approval from the U.S. FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies, the fact that there has never been a commercial diagnostic test utilizing neutralizing antibodies approved for use and various other factors detailed from time to time in Axim’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on April 15, 2021 and other reports we file with the SEC, which are available at www.sec.gov. Axim Biotechnologies, Inc., undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.
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