ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Receives Notice of Allowance of Cancer Stem Cell Targeting Patent

Published on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 08:19 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

LOS ANGELES-( Business Wire )-

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (“ImmunoCellular” or the “Company”) (OTCBB: IMUC), a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel immune-based cancer therapies, announced the allowance of U.S. patent claims related to the Company’s method of treating glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) in a patient by targeting cancer stem cells (CSC). ImmunoCellular received notice from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that a patent titled “Cancer Stem Cell Antigen Vaccines and Methods,” which covers various methods of using dendritic cells combined with antigens derived from glioblastoma CSCs for the treatment of GBM has been allowed.

“The notice of allowance for this patent provides support for our strong intellectual property protection that we are building in the treatment of cancer by targeting cancer stem cells,” said John Yu, MD, ImmunoCellular’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Scientific Officer and a co-inventor of the technology covered by the patent that has been exclusively licensed to the Company. “We continue to actively develop our CSC platform as we believe it has significant potential in the treatment of cancer.”

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics is currently conducting a Phase-II double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2:1 randomized study designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ICT-107 in patients with newly diagnosed GBM. A separate patent covering a method of treating neural cancers using ICT-107 was recently issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 17, 2012.

About ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd.

IMUC is a Los Angeles-based clinical-stage company that is developing immune-based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers. The Company recently commenced a Phase II trial of its lead product candidate, ICT-107, a dendritic cell-based vaccine targeting multiple tumor associated antigens including those associated with cancer stem cells for glioblastoma treatment. To learn more about IMUC, please visit www.imuc.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the risk that any patents issued covering IMUC’s vaccine technology will not provide significant commercial protection for IMUC’s technology or products; the risk that the safety and efficacy results obtained in the Phase I trial for the dendritic cell- based vaccine will not be confirmed in subsequent trials; the risk that the correlation between immunological response and progression-free and overall survival in the Phase I trial for ICT-107 will not be reflected in statistically significant larger patient populations; the risk that IMUC will not be able to secure a partner company for development or commercialization of ICT-107. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in IMUC's most recently filed SEC documents, such as its most recent annual report on Form 10-K, all quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and any current reports on Form 8-K. IMUC undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

CEOcast, Inc. for ImmunoCellular TherapeuticsJames Young, 212-732-4300