News
May 17, 2004
Advaxis, Inc Receives a $600,000 SBIR Grant For The Development of a Novel Bacterial Therapeutic Vaccine for Cervical Cancer
Princeton, NJ � May 17, 2004 -- Advaxis, Inc, a biotechnology company headquartered in Princeton, NJ, announced today that it has received a $600,000 Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant awarded by the National Cancer Institute�s (NCI) Flexible System to Advance Innovative Research for Cancer Drug Discovery by Small Businesses (FLAIR) � SBIR/STTR initiative. Advaxis was awarded the grant to continue the development of a novel bacterial therapeutic vaccine for cervical cancer.
Cervical cancer is the second most common malignancy in women worldwide and the fourth most common malignant cancer of women in the United States. Each year, approximately 12,800 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer and more than 50,000 women will be diagnosed with cervical carcinoma in situ. Of the 12,800 patients with invasive cancer, 4800 (37.5%) die from their disease, representing 2% of all cancer deaths.
Bacterial based therapeutic vaccines represent an entirely new class of therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and the scientific team at Advaxis has done much of the pioneering work in the development of the Listeria based therapeutic vaccines. 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 several other cancers.
Advaxis 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 grant will assist Advaxis to further improve on the technology it has already established by generating a novel strain of Listeria monocytogenes that elicits a strong cell mediated immune response against a cervical cancer antigen and eliminates the need for antibiotic selection, a serious concern for bacterial and viral based vaccines.
J. Todd Derbin, CEO and President said: ’This grant will help Advaxis to further develop a novel Listeria monocytogenes based vaccine that will be a safe and effective therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of HPV-16 induced cervical carcinomas. This will not only be a highly innovative and novel therapeutic for the treatment for cervical carcinoma, but will provide the technology for developing other antigen based therapeutic vaccines at the company.’
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