NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - October 06, 2012) -
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Immunovative, Inc. (“IMUN” or the “Company”) (OTCQB: IMUN) announces today that Immunovative Therapies, Ltd. (“ITL”) and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University (“Lurie Cancer Center”) have agreed to collaborate on the clinical development of its two lead immunotherapy drugs, AlloStim™ and AlloVax™ (“Study Drugs”).
Under this collaboration, Immunovative agrees to provide the Lurie Cancer Center with Study Drugs, transfer technology for immunological monitoring of patient blood and tumor samples and methods for producing mouse versions of the Study Drugs. The collaboration is aimed to learn more about the clinical activity and side-effect profile of the Study Drugs. In addition, the Lurie Cancer Center plans to add its expertise to the Study Drug development by conducting additional research on patients receiving these experimental drugs in order to understand more about the mechanism of action and to determine the profiles of patients that may be the best candidates for these immunotherapy drugs.
The Lurie Cancer Center plans to conduct several investigator-initiated clinical trials using the Study Drugs and to tests new ideas for improving these drugs or combining them with other drugs in both animal and human trials. The first target clinical indications under consideration for study are pancreatic cancer and breast cancer. The pancreatic cancer efforts will be led by Mary Mulcahy, MD and the breast cancer efforts will be led by Sarika Jain, MD and William Gradishar, MD, Director of the Maggie Daly Center for Women’s Cancer Care. Khashayarsha Khazaie, PhD, DSc. will lead the immunological monitoring and animal study efforts.
Dr. Michael Har-Noy, CEO and founder of Immunovative presented the immunological science behind development of the AlloStim™ and AlloVax™ products and also introduced the Phase I/II clinical trial results of AlloStim™ at Grand Rounds at the Lurie Cancer Center on June 8, 2012. Dr. Har-Noy stated: “Northwestern has a world-class team of physicians and scientists dedicated to bringing patients the newest technologies and exploring the newest methods to provide effective and low toxic therapies aimed to help improve the quality of life of cancer patients. Our missions align and it is certainly an honor that they have chosen to dedicated resources toward further development of our technology. We look forward to working closely with these dedicated professionals as we attempt to advance our immunotherapy product candidates through clinical trials.”
Steven Rosen, MD, Director of the Lurie Cancer Center stated: “We have always believed that immunotherapy holds potential to someday provide cancer patients with low toxic, effective treatment options that have curative potential. Unfortunately, the promise of immunotherapy has not yet been consistently demonstrated in the clinic. The immunological concepts developed by Immunovative represent a novel approach to immunotherapy and the initial clinical data suggests that these new concepts may be the break-through we are looking for to advance immunotherapy to clinical practice. We are excited to have the opportunity to collaborate with Immunovative to further test and document these new concepts in patient trials and to provide our clinical and scientific expertise to best determine if, and how, these experimental drugs might find a place someday in clinical practice.”
The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University is committed to being a national leader in the battle to overcome cancer. To this end, Chicago’s Lurie Cancer Center is dedicated to scientific discovery, advancing medical knowledge, providing compassionate, state-of-the-art cancer care, and training the next generation of clinicians and scientists.
About Immunovative, Inc.:
On December 12th, 2011, Immunovative, Inc. (“IMUN”) signed an exclusive License Agreement (the “License Agreement”) with Immunovative Therapies, Ltd. (“ITL”). Under the terms of the License Agreement, IMUN has been granted an exclusive, worldwide license to commercialize any products covered under ITL’s current issued and pending patent application portfolio, as well as the rights to any future patent applications, including improvements or modifications to the existing applications and any corresponding improvements or new versions of the existing products. Please visit IMUN’s website at www.imun.com.
About Immunovative Therapies, Ltd.:
Immunovative Therapies, Ltd. is an Israeli biopharmaceutical company that was founded in May 2004 with financial support from the Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist. ITL is a graduate of the Misgav Venture Accelerator, a member of the world-renowned Israeli technological incubator program. The company was the Misgav Venture Accelerator’s candidate for the prize for the outstanding incubator project of 2006, awarded by the Office of the Chief Scientist. ITL specializes in the development of novel immunotherapy drug products that incorporate living immune cells as the active ingredients for treatment of cancer and infectious disease. Please visit ITL’s website at: www.immunovative.co.il
About Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Cancer Center was first established at Northwestern University in 1974, and since 1989 has been led with distinction by Steven T. Rosen, MD, FACP, director and Genevieve E. Teuton Professor of Medicine. In 1991 the center was dedicated as the Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center of Northwestern University through a gift of endowment from Ann and Robert H. Lurie. The center’s title was modified in 1998, when the National Cancer Institute (NCI) awarded the Lurie Cancer Center the highly competitive “comprehensive” designation -- reflecting the center’s dedication to the highest standards of cancer research, patient care, education, and community outreach. Today, the Lurie Cancer Center is one of only 40 NCI-designated “Comprehensive” cancer centers in the nation. In addition, the Lurie Cancer Center is a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of 21 of the world’s leading cancer centers dedicated to improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. The Lurie Cancer Center is affiliated with four teaching hospitals in Chicago -- Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and the Jesse Brown Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, treating more than 10,000 new cancer cases each year.
DISCLAIMER:
Forward-Looking Statements: Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain “forward-looking statements” as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, without limitation expectations, beliefs, plans and objectives regarding the development, use and marketability of products. Such forward-looking statements are based on present circumstances and on IMUN’s predictions with respect to events that have not occurred, that may not occur, or that may occur with different consequences and timing than those now assumed or anticipated. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and are not guarantees of future performance or results and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include general economic and business conditions, the ability to successfully develop and market products, consumer and business consumption habits, the ability to fund operations and other factors over which IMUN has little or no control. Such forward-looking statements are made only as of the date of this release, and IMUN assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Readers should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and other factors are discussed in documents filed from time to time by IMUN with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
For more information please contact:
Mr. Seth Shaw
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Immunovative, Inc.
New York: +1-917-796-9926
Montreal: +1-514-840-3697
Email: Email Contact
Dr. Michael Har-Noy
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Immunovative Therapies, Ltd.
Israel Tel: +972-2-6506288
US Tel: +1-760-444-9040
Email: Email Contact