Intrexon Signs Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) With The NCI For RheoSwitch Controlled IL-12 Cancer Therapies Using T Cell Receptors (TCR) Derived From Peripheral Blood

GERMANTOWN, Md., April 1, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON), a leader in synthetic biology, today announced that Intrexon has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, for the development of adoptive T cell therapies utilizing the RheoSwitch Therapeutic System^® (RTS^®) platform for the treatment of solid tumor malignancies.  The principal goal of the CRADA is to develop and evaluate improved adoptive cell transfer-based immunotherapies (ACT) using NCI proprietary methods for the identification of autologous peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) possessing naturally occurring anti-tumor activity combined with Intrexon's RTS^® gene switch for introducing spatially and temporally controlled interleukin-12 (IL-12) expression.  

RTS^® technology enables transcriptional regulation of a wide variety of therapeutic genes upon dosing of an oral activator ligand veledimex, including in vivo modulation of IL-12 gene expression with a broad dynamic range.  As the first gene switch employed in the clinic to enable dose-dependent cytokine expression and offer the ability to administer or withdraw veledimex for continued treatment cycles, the RheoSwitch^® platform provides the opportunity to tailor solutions for patient-specific therapeutic effects.  Intrexon will genetically modify PBL using vectors that encode IL-12 under RTS^® inducible control.  Lead anti-tumor ACT/PBL/IL-12 cell therapy candidates will then be clinically evaluated by NCI in patients with metastatic cancer.

Under the CRADA, Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Surgery Branch in the Center for Cancer Research at the NCI, will be the Principal Investigator for the study, and Gregory Frost, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Head of Intrexon's Health Sector, will serve as co-investigator. 

"Dr. Rosenberg and his colleagues at the NCI Surgery Branch have extensive experience in the clinical translation of tumor-targeting peripheral blood products for cancer treatment," said Dr. Frost.  "Together with our molecular and cell engineering capabilities, we believe the research programs under this CRADA have the potential to accelerate development of targeted and controllable adoptive therapies for patients suffering with advanced stage malignancies."

About Intrexon Corporation
Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON) is a leader in synthetic biology focused on collaborating with companies in Health, Food, Energy, Environment, and Consumer sectors to create biologically-based products that improve the quality of life and the health of the planet.  Through the Company's proprietary UltraVector^® platform and integrated technology suite, Intrexon provides its partners with industrial-scale design and development of complex biological systems delivering unprecedented control, quality, function, and performance of living cells.  We call our synthetic biology approach Better DNA®, and we invite you to discover more at www.dna.com.

Trademarks
Intrexon, UltraVector, RheoSwitch, RheoSwitch Therapeutic System, RTS, and Better DNA are trademarks of Intrexon and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor Statement
Some of the statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations and projections about future events and generally relate to our plans, objectives and expectations for the development of our business.  Although management believes that the plans and objectives reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual future results may be materially different from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed in this press release.

For more information contact:
Intrexon Corporation contacts:
Corporate Contact:
Marie Rossi, Ph.D.
Senior Manager, Technical Communications
Tel: +1 (301) 556-9850
publicrelations@intrexon.com

Investor Contact:
Christopher Basta
Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel: +1 (561) 410-7052
Investors@intrexon.com

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SOURCE Intrexon Corporation