Los Angeles – The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently granted patent protection to Los Angeles-based ImmunoCellular Therapeutics (IMUC) for its technology in the treatment of cancer for which it holds an exclusive, worldwide license.  The biotechnology company which focuses on the development of immune-based cancer therapies is calling its new patent No. 7,939,090 the “System and method for the treatment of cancer, including cancers of the central nervous system.”

The exciting new technology covers the combination of a dendritic cell-based vaccine combined either before or concurrently with chemotherapy at the recurrence of the cancer.  IMUC insists that a dual therapeutic approach that includes the administration of a dendritic cell-based cancer vaccine combined with chemotherapy could greatly increase the clinical potency of treatment.  This would be especially true for cancers of the central nervous system such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), which is the deadliest form of brain cancer. 

In a recent statement by IMUC president and CEO Manish Singh, Ph.D., he said, “This patent has applicability to multiple types of cancer, including our first clinical target, glioblastoma.  ICT-107, the Company’s dendritic cell-based vaccine candidate for the treatment of GBM, elicits a cyto-toxic tumor reactive response that in combination with chemotherapy might fundamentally alter tumors by priming their death machinery.”

IMUC recently announced the expansion of its Phase II clinical trial of ICT-107 to more than 20 clinical locations.  This trial is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, 2:1 randomized study to determine the safety and effectiveness of ICT-107 in patients with newly diagnosed GBM.  IMUC is accepting patients at medical institutions in collaboration with leading physicians in neuro-oncology at the clinical study sites.

Last year, IMUC was granted patent protection on monoclonal antibody ICT-69 which targets multiple myeloma and ovarian cancers.  The antibody has demonstrated high specificity to these cancers by targeting a novel cell surface antigen.