UPDATE: Advaxis Reports Japanese Patent Officer Has Granted Notice of Allowance for Two Patent Apps Covering Cancer Immunotherapy Platform Technology

Advaxis, Inc.

, a biotechnology company developing the next generation of cancer immunotherapies, announced that the Japan Patent Office issued to Advaxis two notices of allowance for two patent applications (P-72863-JP, P-7924) with claims for each patent application related to the Company's proprietary cancer immunotherapy platform technology. These patents will provide protection in Japan until 2030. Including these patents, Advaxis now has well over 40 patents issued and over 40 patents pending worldwide, all covering both core methodology and other aspects of our proprietary immunotherapy technology platform. One of the patent applications allowed by the Japan Patent Office covers Advaxis's immunotherapy treatments targeting factors that are essential for tumors or metastases to form new blood vessels (angiogenesis) or that are expressed by tumor blood vessels. Inhibiting a tumor's blood supply is necessary to prevent tumor growth. The claims allowed under this patent application cover multiple targets associated with angiogenesis that can be targeted at the same time in humans as well as animals. These targets include, but are not limited to, HER2 and VEGFr2. In addition, the claims also cover endoglin fragments (CD105A and CD105B) used to target formation of new tumor blood vessels. The second patent application that has now been allowed by the Japan Patent Office covers the form of a recombinant attenuated auxotrophic Listeria having specific mutations conferring attenuation along with plasmid that complements the genomic mutation and also expresses a protein antigen fused to highly immunogenic Listeria peptides or other strongly immunogenic pathogen-associated peptide sequences. The claims allowed under this patent application protect key elements of Advaxis's proprietary immunotherapy platform technology in Japan. "As we continue to expand our intellectual property portfolio of our proprietary cancer immunotherapies, patents such as these are important to protect the core elements of our technology and extend our protection in key markets like Japan," commented Dr. Robert Petit, Chief Scientific Officer of Advaxis. "It has already been established that attacking a tumor's blood supply is an important strategy in preventing the tumor from growing and spreading. The addition of these two patents in Japan further allows Advaxis to protect key elements of its proprietary cancer immunotherapies."