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.
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