Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement with the University of Miami (the "University") for the exclusive worldwide license of the University's intellectual property related to photodynamic antimicrobial therapy ("PDAT") for treating bacterial, fungal, and parasitic (acanthamoeba) infections of the eye. This agreement contemplates Provectus forming a majority-owned start-up company in which the University would be a minority equity shareholder, aimed at developing and commercializing the University's PDAT medical device in combination with a formulation of the Company's proprietary pharmaceutical-grade rose bengal sodium ("RBS") active pharmaceutical ingredient. Provectus would contribute the license to the new entity and have an exclusive RBS supply arrangement with it.

Rose bengal PDAT emerged under the leadership of Jean-Marie Parel, IngETS-G, Ph.D., FARVO, Director of the Ophthalmic Biophysics Center ("OBC") at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute ("BPEI") at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. The OBC team and Dr. Parel have spent many years advancing their PDAT technology using rose bengal against different types of treatment-naive and -resistant keratitis. The OBC has established the merits of its innovation through extensive in vitro testing, pilot in vivo safety and clinical studies, and theiny that comes with numerous peer-reviewed publications and medical conference presentations of rose bengal PDAT's methodology, datasets, and results.

BPEI's rose bengal PDAT is also the subject of two international randomized, double masked, clinical trials for acanthamoeba and fungal (NCT05110001) and bacterial (NCT06271772) keratitis. Bascom Palmer Eye Institute serves as the Department of Ophthalmology for the University of Miami Miller Schoolof Medicine. The mission of BPEI is to enhance the quality of life by improving sight, preventing blindness, and advancing ophthalmic knowledge through compassionate patient care and innovative research.

For 2023-2024, U.S. News & World Report ("U.S. News") ranked BPEI as the nation's best in ophthalmology, marking the 22nd time and 20th consecutive year that BPEI has received the No. 1 ranking since U.S. News began surveying American physicians for its annual "Best Hospitals" rankings 34 years ago.