Griffin Securities' report features stem cell hypothesis of cancer

Sep 18 2009

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB: IMUC), a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing immune based therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers, announced today that it has been featured in an in-depth report by Griffin Securities, a New York-based brokerage firm, highlighting the importance of the role that cancer stem cell (CSCs) targeting technology such as that employed by its lead product candidate, ICT-121, may play in developing future cancer treatments. The report highlights the stem cell hypothesis of cancer, a theory that states that all tumor types have a common cell group –CSCs- which are typically resistant to common therapeutic intervention that give rise to differentiated tumor tissues.

The report further summarizes how understanding these cells may be a crucial component of preventing, diagnosing and treating the diseases, highlighting two of the Company’s therapeutic programs as potential approaches to harnessing the immune system in the fight against cancer.

The Report states that “Its drug ICT-121 is an example of active immunization, which involves administering an off-the-shelf antigen to stimulate the immune system to recognize the antigen as foreign. In this case, the antigen is a nine amino acid epitope of CD133, which is found on many different types of CSCs… ImmunoCellular has a patent on this molecule and on its use as a vaccine. The company is also pursuing a passive immunization approach to combating cancer. This involves administering a monoclonal antibody preparation to identify the CSCs for subsequent destruction by the immune system.”

“We are pleased that Griffin Securities has chosen to include our immunotherapy platform in its report on cancer research,” commented Manish Singh, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of IMUC. ”This is yet another validation of our decision to investigate the potential therapeutic availability of a CSC vaccine, and should greatly enhance the investment community’s understanding of the pivotally innovative nature of the research in which we are engaged. Targeting CSCs will allow us to directly target malignant growths that are typically resistant to traditional radiation and chemotherapies without harming healthy tissues, which we expect will lead to development of therapies that are not only more effective, but better tolerated by patients afflicted with these terrible and deadly diseases.”