News
April 19, 2004
Advaxis, Inc Receives $200,000 SBIR Grant For The Development of a Novel Protein Therapeutic Vaccine for Cervical Cancer
Princeton, NJ � April 19, 2004 -- Advaxis, Inc, a biotechnology company headquartered in Princeton, NJ, announced today that it has received a $200,000 Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant awarded by the National Cancer Institute�s (NCI) program. Advaxis was awarded the grant to develop a novel protein therapeutic vaccine for cervical cancer.
Advaxis, through the efforts of its scientific founder, Dr. Yvonne Paterson, has previously demonstrated that Listeria monocytogenes delivery of a modified version of the cervical carcinoma tumor antigen, E7, permanently cured 50 to 80% of mice with established HPV-16 transformed subcutaneous tumors. This technology resulted in several issued US patents and patent applications, which dominate the field, and is currently under development by Advaxis as bacterial therapeutic vaccine for the treatments of cervical, head and neck and other cancers.
This grant will help Advaxis to further demonstrate the feasibility and evaluate the efficacy of using certain domains fused to tumor antigens as an effective platform for protein based cancer vaccines. To that end, Advaxis will evaluate the efficacy of a vaccine consisting of the E7 tumor antigen fused with certain specific domains of the LLO protein or ActA protein at inducing regression of established HPV-16 transformed subcutaneous tumors in mice.
’Our research in the area of Listeria monocytogenes delivery of tumor antigens has produced what could become safe and effective bacterial therapeutic cancer vaccines. Now, Advaxis will further extend its expertise in protein based cancer vaccines. This technology has the potential to result in a new category of products for Advaxis’, said J. Todd Derbin, CEO and President.
About Advaxis
Advaxis, Inc., based in Princeton, New Jersey is a biotechnology company focused on commercializing the innovative vaccine technology developed by Dr Yvonne Paterson in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Pennsylvania. The company is developing products that enhance the immune system�s cancer-fighting abilities. Advaxis is utilizing two immunological mechanisms (Innate and Classical Immunity) to develop safer and more effective cancer vaccines. The Company is the exclusive licensee of a broadly enabling innate immunity platform technology that, when combined with classical antibody and cellular immune mechanisms, can elicit more effective anti-tumor responses. The innate immunity platform will also have applications in the fields of infectious disease and autoimmune disorders. Advaxis� initial disease focus is in cervical, head and neck, breast, ovarian and lung cancers.
Company Contact:
J. Todd Derbin
CEO & President
Advaxis, Inc.
212 Carnegie Center
Princeton, NJ 08540
derbin@advaxis.com
(609) 895-7150
Jennifer K. Zimmons, Ph.D.
Investor Relations
Strategic Growth International
150 East 52nd St., 22nd Fl.
New York, NY 10021
jzimmons@sgi-ir.com
(212) 838-1444