GeneMax Announces Grant of Patent for the Use of Lead Product, 'TAP-1,' Against All Cancers
BLAINE, Wash., Aug. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- GeneMax Corp. ("the Company") (OTC Bulletin Board: GMXX; Frankfurt: GX1) announced today that it has received in the first quarter of 2002, a U.S. patent for the use of "TAP-1" (transporters associated with antigen processing) as an immunotherapy against all cancers. The patent is titled "Method of Enhancing Expression of MHC Class I Molecules Bearing Endogenous Peptides," and was under application for almost 9 years. GeneMax Pharmaceuticals Inc. holds a license and worldwide rights to the technology from the patent owner, the University of British Columbia. The patent award is significant in that the patent provides comprehensive protection and coverage to both in vivo and ex vivo applications of TAP-1 as a therapeutic against all cancers with a variety of delivery mechanisms. During the lengthy application process, many proofs of the application were required by the U.S. Patent Office for a patent of such relevance and applicability to all cancers to be approved, and included proofs in multiple forms of cancer tumors including small cell lung carcinoma and melanoma cancer. This patent is a major product development milestone for the Company.
Under the direction of the Company's Chief Scientific Officer and principle inventor of the technology, Professor Wilfred A. Jefferies, GeneMax is currently establishing the effectiveness of this treatment and leading edge technology targeted towards a group of cancers deficient in the TAP protein, which includes small cell lung cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer, head and neck cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer, and cervical cancer. The technology is a method of restoring the ability of the body's immune system to recognize the cancer cells as "foreign," thereby boosting the natural process for destroying the cancerous cells. The process involves delivering the TAP gene via a viral vector to the cancer cells to render cancers visible to the host immune system. The therapeutic cancer vaccine has been proven in successful animal trials: mice infected with small cell lung cancer have experienced up to 70% survival rates following treatment with the vaccine. These results were reported in the May 2000 issue of Nature Biotechnology. At the current stage of the product's development, there have been no identified side effects.
The TAP-1 technology provides a general method for the augmentation of immune (cytotoxic T-cell) response against immune-resistant forms of metastatic cancer. The technology has significant advantages because it is not restricted by individual genetics (HLA polymorphism), therefore it can be generalized across the entire population. In addition, the technology causes tumors to express their full complement of tumor-associated antigens, against which powerful anti-tumor (polyclonal, cytotoxic) immune responses are directed. With the intellectual property patent protections in place a clinical trial in now planned to begin to test the efficacy of this technology in treating human cancers.
About GeneMax: GeneMax is a biotechnology company specializing in the discovery and development of immunotherapeutics aimed at the treatment and eradication of cancer, and therapies for infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders and transplant tissue rejection.
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THIS NEWS RELEASE MAY INCLUDE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS WITHIN THE MEANING OF SECTION 27A OF THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, AND SECTION 21E OF THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934, AS AMENDED, WITH RESPECT TO ACHIEVING CORPORATE OBJECTIVES, DEVELOPING ADDITIONAL PROJECT INTERESTS, THE COMPANY'S ANALYSIS OF OPPORTUNITIES IN THE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT OF VARIOUS PROJECT INTERESTS AND CERTAIN OTHER MATTERS. THESE STATEMENTS ARE MADE UNDER THE "SAFE HARBOR" PROVISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES PRIVATE SECURITIES LITIGATION REFORM ACT OF 1995 AND INVOLVE RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES WHICH COULD CAUSE ACTUAL RESULTS TO DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE IN THE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN."
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SOURCE GeneMax Corp.
CO: GeneMax Corp.
ST: Washington
SU:
prnewswire.com
08/22/2002 09:30 EDT |
