VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 1, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- TapImmune Inc. (OTCBB:TPIM), a biotechnology company specializing in the development of immunotherapeutics for cancer and vaccines for infectious diseases, opens new laboratory facilities and provides this update to shareholders.
The opening of the new laboratory facility in Vancouver facilitates the transfer of its technology from The University of British Columbia and signifies the start of the pre-clinical process to commercialize its core TAP technologies.
The past year has seen some excellent progress in the validation of the company's technology, supported by no less than nine peer-reviewed scientific journal publications. One of those studies, published in Cancer Research, showed that a wide variety of human carcinomas have low expression of tumor-associated antigen presentation (TAP) and concluded that the company's method of reintroducing TAP should be considered as a part of the immunotherapy for various cancers. This study, titled "Restoration of the Expression of Transporters Associated with Antigen Processing in Lung Carcinoma Increases Tumor-Specific Immune Responses and Survival," showed that the company's technology is likely to provide a general method for increasing immune responses against tumors regardless of the antigenic composition of the tumor.
In a separate study titled "Anti-Tumor Immunity and T Cell Memory are Induced by Low Dose Inoculation with Nonreplicating Recombinant Adenovirus Encoding TAP1," published in Science Direct: Vaccine: 25 (2331-2339) 2007, the manuscript makes several exciting and novel observations. The results suggest that the inclusion of TAP in vaccines for cancer may promote and maintain long-term anti-tumor responses even when the vector used to deliver TAP only infects a small fraction of the metastatic tumor cells. This novel approach uses a small amount of vaccine relative to the tumor size, and thus achieves an efficacious outcome that has so far eluded other vaccine, immunotherapeutic or gene therapeutic strategies. The experiments are well controlled and clearly described, and the conclusions are supported by the experimental data presented.
A similar study using the Vaccinia virus and TAP showed equally promising results in melanoma.
"All of the data generated from our collaborative research with the UBC and subsequently published by the worlds leading journals has given us confidence that we are on the right track to bring a novel and effective treatment for many types of cancer to the market," said Denis Corin, CEO of TapImmune Inc. "With this kind of data behind us we are excited to now be at a stage where we can move this proof of concept into the clinical arena. We expect to announce the initiation of that process very shortly."
Abstracts of all the studies are available on the company website and are linked to their respective journals.
About TapImmune Inc.
TapImmune Inc. is a biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative therapeutics and vaccines in the areas of oncology and infectious disease. The companies' lead product, the AdhTAP vaccine enhancer restores and augments antigen presentation and subsequent recognition and killing of cancer cells by the immune system. The company is currently developing AdhTAP for the commencement of toxicology studies leading to the initiation of a Phase I clinical trial. The company is also developing a TAP-based vaccine adjuvant already proven to increase the efficacy of targeted prophylactic vaccines by up to 1,000 times.
The TapImmune Inc. logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=3877
Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this news release concerning the Company's expectations, plans, business outlook or future performance, and any other statements concerning assumptions made or expectations as to any future events, conditions, performance or other matters, are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are by their nature subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those stored in such statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to the risks set forth in the Company's most recent Form 10-KSB and other SEC filings which are available through EDGAR at www.sec.gov. These are among the primary risks we foresee at the present time. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements.