Sepset and ABT announce retention of Dr. Bob Hancock as CEO and Board member.
Vancouver, BC – February 22, 2026 – Asep Medical Holdings Inc. (“Asep” or the “Company”) today announced that Dr. Robert Hancock has stepped down from his roles as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board to focus more directly on advancing Sepset and ABT's scientific initiatives. Dr. Hancock will intensify his role as Chief Executive Officer in both Sepset Biosciences Inc. and ABT Innovations Inc., of which Asep is the major shareholder, where he will focus on bringing products to market, and driving research, development, intellectual property and scientific strategy.
As Founder and CEO of private companies Sepset and ABT, Dr. Hancock took over as CEO and Chairman of Asep Medical Holdings and Board member of its private subsidiary Asep Medical on July 5, 2022, following the departure of former CEO Rudy Mazzocchi, who stepped down for health reasons. He resigned to focus his attentions on bringing products to market with the two private companies that have adopted innovative strategies targeting sepsis diagnostics and anti-biofilm therapies. In the past 4 years he served a dual role in developing these technologies, largely with non-dilutive funding, as well as leading Asep Medical Holdings Inc and the two private companies. Sepset and ABT remain committed to delivering innovative solutions to address significant unmet medical needs and look forward to serving all of their shareholders in this next chapter of focused scientific advancement and corporate growth.
ABOUT SEPSET BIOSCIENCES
Sepset Biosciences Inc. (www.sepset.ca) is a research and development (R&D) company in the final stages of preparation for 510(k) regulatory clinical studies and commercialization of an in vitro diagnostic test that detects a patented blood-based gene expression signature to help in the assessment of the development of severe sepsis, one of the significant diseases leading to antibiotic failure since antibiotics are the primary initial treatment for sepsis. Sepsis was responsible for nearly 20% of all deaths on the planet in 2017 and essentially all deaths due to COVID-19 and other pandemics. The SepsetER test is a blood-based gene expression assay that is straightforward to implement, and results are obtained about an hour after taking a blood sample in the emergency room or intensive care unit. This proprietary diagnostic technology differs from current diagnostic tests, enabling the risk assessment for progression to severe sepsis within ~60 minutes of initiating the test. Bacterial culture, the gold standard, provides results after ~15 hours but can be as long as three. Its excellent performance in more than 3,000 patients was recently published in Malic, et al 2025. A machine learning and centrifugal microfluidics platform for bedside prediction of sepsis. Nature Communications 16(1):4442. Sepset believes based on these results that its test will enable critical early decisions to be made by physicians regarding appropriate therapies and thus reduce overall morbidity and mortality due to sepsis. The test, patented in 18 countries with worldwide copyright for its software, has been out licensed to companies that are performing regulatory trials and will market the test in countries representing one third of the world's population with Sepset benefiting by partial ownership of these companies and royalty agreements.
ABOUT ABT INNOVATIONS
ABT Innovations Inc.'s (www.abtinnovations.ca) proprietary peptide technology covers a broad range of therapeutic applications, including bacterial biofilm infections (dental, wound, sinusitis, skin, medical device infections, chronic infections, lung, bladder, ear-nose and throat, orthopedic, etc.), anti-inflammatories, anti-infective immune-modulators and vaccine adjuvants. The company is in the pre-clinical development phase with promising animal model data for the first three anti-biofilm indications. In the oral healthcare area, the company has developed an effective oral mouth rise for dental use and has licensed this in China to Bondent Inc.
ABOUT ASEP MEDICAL HOLDINGS INC.
Asep is a holding company based in Victoria, BC, Canada that primarily trades on the CSE and is the largest shareholder of Sepset and ABT.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Bob Hancock
CEO Sepset Biosciences and ABT Innovations
assistant@hancocklab.com
