PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 12, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Advaxis, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADXS), a biotechnology company developing cancer immunotherapies, announced that its Lm-LLO immunotherapy technology is featured on FOX News Channel in a broadcast segment and article, entitled, "Teaching the immune system to fight back against cancer."
The segment and accompanying article can be accessed via the following URL:
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/12/10/teaching-immune-system-to-fight-back-against-cancer/
The Fox News broadcast segment is reported by Dr. Manny Alvarez, FOX News Channel's Senior Managing Editor for Health News. Dr. Alvarez is the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, and is Adjunct Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at New York University School of Medicine in New York City.
The Fox News article, by Lindsay Carlton, features a Phase 1/2 "window of opportunity" study being conducted by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Patients diagnosed with HPV-associated head and neck cancer will receive ADXS-HPV immunotherapy during the "window" of time between initial diagnosis and surgery to remove their tumors.
Dr. Brett A. Miles, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, and lead investigator of the ongoing Phase 1/2 "window of opportunity" study told Fox News that the early data looks promising and that they have seen some immune response to the tumors.
Dr. Miles continued, "The exciting thing about immunotherapy is that traditional therapies like radiation treat at the point of time, but they don't offer any long-lasting benefits for these types of cancers. Immunotherapy has a long-lasting benefit because the idea is to make sure the patient's immune system is aware of these potentially circulating tumor cells."
The Fox News story also features Advaxis's scientific founder, Yvonne Paterson, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology at the Perelman School of Medicine and Associate Dean for Research and Professor with the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Nursing. In the segment, Dr. Paterson shares how her discovery of the Lm-LLO immunotherapy platform was driven by her own diagnosis with breast cancer, as well the loss of her father and sister-in-law to colon cancer and ovarian cancer, respectively.
The story also interviews Nicola Mason, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania, and the principal investigator of two clinical trials evaluating ADXS-cHER2 in dogs diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer) to determine if the therapy can improve overall survival and prevent metastatic disease.
While discussing the data in pet dogs with Fox News, Dr. Mason stated, "We are actually prolonging survival of these dogs in some cases out to two-and-a-half years plus— and these dogs do not have evidence of clinical disease at this time, so they appear to be tumor free, which is remarkable."
About Advaxis, Inc.
Advaxis is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing multiple cancer immunotherapies based on its proprietary Lm-LLO platform technology. The Lm-LLO technology, using bioengineered live attenuated Listeria monocytogenes bacteria, is the only known cancer immunotherapy agent shown in preclinical studies to both generate cancer fighting T-cells directed against a cancer antigen and neutralize Tregs and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), that protect the tumor microenvironment from immunologic attack and contribute to tumor growth. Advaxis's lead Lm-LLO immunotherapy, ADXS-HPV, targets human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated cancers and is in clinical trials for three indications: Phase 2 in invasive cervical cancer, Phase 1/2 in head and neck cancer, and Phase 1/2 in anal cancer. The FDA has granted Advaxis orphan drug designation for each of these three indications. The Company plans to initiate a registrational clinical program for cervical cancer in 2015 and has established licensing partners in India and Asia for commercialization in those regions. Advaxis entered into a clinical trial collaboration with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, for a Phase 1/2 immunotherapy study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of MedImmune's investigational anti-PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor, MEDI4736, in combination with Advaxis's ADXS-HPV as a treatment for patients with advanced, recurrent or refractory HPV-associated cervical cancer and HPV-associated head and neck cancer.
Advaxis's second Lm-LLO immunotherapy candidate in clinical testing will be ADXS-PSA, which is being developed to address prostate cancer. Advaxis entered into a clinical trial collaboration agreement with Merck & Co., Inc. ("Merck"), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, through its subsidiaries, to evaluate the combination of Advaxis's Lm-LLO cancer immunotherapy, ADXS-PSA, with Merck's PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab). The planned clinical trial will evaluate the safety and efficacy of ADXS-PSA as monotherapy and in combination with pembrolizumab in a Phase 1/2 study of patients with previously treated metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Advaxis is also developing Lm-LLO immunotherapy ADXS-cHER2, to target the Her2 receptor overexpressing cancers. Her2 is overexpressed in certain solid-tumor cancers, including pediatric bone cancer (or osteosarcoma), breast cancer, esophageal, and gastric cancer. ADXS-cHER2 has received orphan drug designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of osteosarcoma. Advaxis is developing ADXS-cHER2 for both human and animal-health, and has seen promising results in canine osteosarcoma, which is considered a model for human osteosarcoma. Advaxis is planning to file an IND for ADXS-cHER2 in Her2 overexpressing cancers and to conduct a clinical program in pediatric osteosarcoma. Advaxis has licensed ADXS-cHER2 and three other immunotherapy constructs to Aratana Therapeutics, Inc. for pet therapeutics.
For more information please visit www.advaxis.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: statements regarding Advaxis's ability to develop the next generation of cancer immunotherapies; the safety and efficacy of Advaxis's proprietary immunotherapy, ADXS HPV; whether Advaxis immunotherapies can redirect the powerful immune response all human beings have to the bacterium to cancers. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, including the risk factors set forth from time to time in Advaxis's SEC filings, including but not limited to its report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2013, which is available at http://www.sec.gov. Advaxis undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements, which may be made to reflect the events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.
KEYTRUDA is a registered trademark of Merck & Co., Inc.