• 12/20/2004
  • Austin, TX
  • press release
  • PRNewswire.com

Introgen Therapeutics, and the Board of Regents of The University of Texas System announced today that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued to The Board of Regents U.S. patent number 6,830,749 entitled “Recombinant p53 adenovirus methods and compositions.” Introgen Therapeutics is the exclusive
licensee of this patent.

David L. Parker, Ph.D., J.D., Introgen’s vice president of Intellectual Property said, “This patent now brings to 18 the total number of U.S. patents that cover aspects of our Advexin product candidate. Furthermore, this patent is of particular importance in that it is our broadest adenoviral p53 patent to date, covering any adenovirus carrying the p53 gene under the control of any promoter.”

About Advexin:
There are two Phase 3 trials of Advexin therapy currently underway in
recurrent squamous cell cancer of the head and neck. Introgen has received FDA Fast Track designation for Advexin therapy and Advexin has been designated as an Orphan Drug for the treatment of head and neck cancer under the Orphan Drug Act.

Advexin supplies the tumor suppressor p53 protein in very high
concentrations in cancer tissue to selectively kill cancer cells. p53 is a normal constituent of cells and is known as a tumor suppressor because it inhibits the growth of tumor cells. One of the major roles of this protein is to eliminate cancerous cells by recognizing when the cell has been damaged by mutations and stopping cell growth to initiate repair. If the cell is damaged beyond repair, p53 initiates the cell death pathway to prevent the cell from
growing out of control.

About Introgen
Introgen is a leading developer of biopharmaceutical products designed to induce therapeutic protein expression using non-integrating gene agents for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Introgen maintains integrated research, development, manufacturing, clinical and regulatory departments and
operates a commercial-scale, CGMP manufacturing facility.