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Merix BIOSCIENCE LICENSED PATENT TO USE RNA LOADED CELLS TO TREAT CANCERS
AND PATHOGEN INFECTIONS
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, November 27, 2001 – Merix Bioscience, Inc.
(Merix) announced today that a core patent has just been issued from
the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. This patent, which had previously
been licensed on an exclusive worldwide basis from DUKE University, provides
the company with substantially more options for treating cancer and infectious
diseases. Using defined RNA antigens Merix can now target certain cancers
and infectious diseases, such as Hepatitis C, with patient specific (autologous)
dendritic cell vaccines.
“With our proprietary technologies we can potentially produce individualized
vaccines to treat virtually any patient with any type of cancer or infectious
disease,” said Mark Weedon, President and Chief Executive Officer. “In
addition we are also exploring how these vaccines can be adapted to treat autoimmune
and transplant related disorders as well.”
While there is general agreement among experts in the field that dendritic cells
offer one of the most efficient means for eliciting an in vivo immune response,
their clinical applications have been limited by the availability of disease
specific antigens. Merix has addressed this issue by developing an RNA based
method for transfecting dendritic cells using the full repertoire of antigens
derived from the patient’s own cancer. In addition Merix can now produce
RNA transcripts of defined antigens to certain cancers and infectious diseases
thereby offering even greater flexibility to induce the most potent immune response
possible.
About Merix
Merix Bioscience, Inc. is a private immunotherapy company poised to assume
leadership in the large emerging market of cancer vaccines. The Company's proprietary
platform technology encompasses methods to optimize the preparation of dendritic
cells, methods for the antigen loading (transfection) of dendritic cells, and
the application of the resulting vaccines in the treatment of cancer, chronic
infectious diseases and immune disorders. Merix offers a unique and proprietary
ability to produce a nearly limitless supply of individualized (autologous)
vaccine for potentially every cancer patient, a vaccine created from the body's
own dendritic cells pulsed with amplified messenger RNA (mRNA) from the patient's
cancer (RNA-loaded DC vaccines).
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