Advaxis, Inc., the live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) immunotherapy company, has been notified by the European Patent Office that patent application WO2001/072329, for the use of Prokaryotic PEST-Like Peptides for Enhancing Immunogenicity of Antigen has been allowed for issuance. This patent will be #1,303,299 when granted, and will be licensed exclusively to Advaxis by the University of Pennsylvania. It extends protection for Advaxis' use of proprietary antigen-adjuvant fusion proteins beyond Listeria to viral and DNA vaccine vectors as well. This will provide patent protection to 2025.

The Listeria protein listeriolysin O (LLO) is the highly immunogenic primary virulence factor for Lm. Advaxis uses this natural immunity to LLO and similar proteins (PEST containing proteins) to enhance the response to tumourrr and infectious disease antigens by fusing a bioengineered form of LLO (or similar protein) that has been designed for this purpose to any selected antigen, thus creating an antigen-adjuvant molecule with greater immuno-reactivity than the antigen alone.

Although Advaxis typically delivers these fusion proteins by engineering live Listeria to make and secrete them from within a patient's cells, the technology has found use in other research laboratories and has been inserted into a number of non-Listeria vaccine vectors. This patent provides Advaxis with proprietary intellectual property protection for the use of LLO and other PEST containing proteins when used in viral and DNA vaccine vectors.

Advaxis technology is based upon the ability of antigen-adjuvant fusion proteins to stimulate a therapeutic immune response against cancer and infectious disease; especially when synthesized and secreted by live Listeriamonocytogenes (Lm). This recently approved patent will be the 28th patent in the Advaxis portfolio, with 44 additional applications pending. This intellectual property protection extends to 3 engineered strains of Lm that have been developed for use as human vaccine vectors. Additional vectors are currently in development. Additionally, the Advaxis portfolio consists of patents which protect compositions, methods of manufacture, and uses of various families of antigen-adjuvant fusion proteins made and secreted by live Listeria, or administered independent of Listeria. These include fusion proteins based upon LLO, ActA, and other PEST containing proteins. The number of proprietary Lmstrains and fusion protein families enables Advaxis to construct a large number of different vaccines based upon the antigen(s) used and the disease to be treated.

Advaxis is a biotechnology company developing proprietary, live, attenuated Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) vaccines that deliver engineered tumour antigens, which stimulate multiple, simultaneous immunological mechanisms to fight cancer.