TORONTO, ONTARIO and REHOVOT, ISRAEL–(Marketwired – May 19, 2016) – VAXIL BIO LTD. (TSX VENTURE:VXL), an Israeli biotechnology company specializing in cancer immuno-oncology (I/O), reports that one of its board members, Isaac Maresky, is currently in Israel, having been invited to join as a delegate on Ontario’s Business Mission to Israel led by Premier Kathleen Wynne.
In an official government statement, the province noted that the Mission “Will generate business agreements and partnerships in the innovation, life sciences, education and information communications technology (ICT) sectors.
“The Premier will lead a business delegation to Israel to pursue trade and investment opportunities, seek opportunities to collaborate on research and development (R&D) projects, and sign agreements to work together on cutting-edge technological projects.”
The Premier identified 6 successfully listed TSX companies based out of Israel. Vaxil was noted as the most recent Israeli company to list.
Other delegates include representatives from Teva Pharmaceuticals, MaRS Innovation, BlackBerry, University of Toronto, McMaster University, York University, Roots Canada, IBM Canada, Scotiabank, Thomson Reuters and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Ontario delegates are meeting with top Israeli life science companies and organizations, including venture capital firms and major hospitals such as Hebrew University, Weizmann Institute, Tel Aviv University, and the Israeli Office of the Chief Scientist, the Ministry for Innovation.
As part of this mission, Premier Wynne met yesterday with Israel’s Prime Minster, and said, “During our meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu and I discussed ways that we can foster new Ontario-Israel partnerships that will allow us to combine the talents, skills and technology from two world leaders in innovation to work on some of the most pressing and important issues of our time, from cancer to climate change.”
Premier Wynne is accompanied by Minister Reza Moridi, Health Minister Eric Hoskins and MPP Monte Kwinter. Also attending is Consul General DJ Schneeweiss, as well as Canadian Ambassador to Israel Vivian Bercovici.
About Vaxil
Vaxil is an Israeli biotech based in the Israeli Weizmann Science Park, and listed on the TSX-Venture as VXL. Vaxil was founded in late 2006 by Dr. Lior Carmon, an expert in cancer immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel’s top scientific institution. Dr. Carmon was initially supported by another top Weizmann scientist, Dr. Marian Gorecki, a professor at Weizmann and an MIT graduate, who remains on Vaxil’s Board. Recently, North American scientists Dr. Saeid Babaei (PhD in regenerative medicine, Univ. of Toronto) and Dr. Benjamin Chen (PhD, Univ. of Wisconsin, Stanford Cancer Research Fellow) have joined the team of scientists to complement their Weizmann colleagues in Israel. Vaxil has a highly specialized expertise in signal peptide domains . To that end, Vaxil has developed a proprietary platform called VaxHit, for the identification and production of signal peptide domains as cancer vaccines, target for superior T-cell based cell therapy and proprietary antibodies. The Company’s lead product stemming from the VaxHit platform, is the ImMucin™ cancer vaccine, which has shown highly promising results in a published Phase-I/II clinical trial which included 15 cancer patients.
About VaxHit™ Platform
Effectively, VaxHit™ enables the identification of sequences (antigens) in a unique domain of the proteins called the signal peptide domain that is capable of triggering a unique and specific reaction, among T -cells and antibodies (B-cells) in the immune system of most patients. Recently, Vaxil has reported that by using the VaxHit™ technology, one can identify epitopes within the same specific signal peptide domain in proteins/targets, and thus produce improved recombinant antibodies that can serve to diagnose and potentially treat cancer and infectious diseases. The Company believes there is significant potential to develop additional technologies utilizing VaxHit™. The Company is therefore working to protect its ability to develop and produce such immunotherapies, which includes its lead product, ImMucin™.
About ImMucin™
Vaxil’s lead product, ImMucin™, trains the patient’s immune system to identify and destroy cells which display a short specific 21-mer portion (signal peptide domain) of the cancer-associated (marker) expression of MUC1, which appears on 90% of all cancer cells but not in normal cells or patient blood, a factor which can enhance its potency. Vaxil completed a Phase I/II clinical study with ImMucin™ in multiple myeloma (MM) patients, which showed a high safety profile, strong diversified T/B-cell immunity in all 15 patients across MHC repertoires and initial indications of clinical efficacy; 11 out of the 15 treated patients demonstrated stable disease or clinical improvement which did not require any further treatment. An ongoing follow-up study in patients who responded clinically to ImMucin™ has shown that some patients haven’t required any further treatment for their disease up to five years since ImMucin™ treatment. ImMucin™ was recently granted an Orphan drug designation for MM by both the USA FDA and the European EMA.
About Multiple Myeloma
Multiple Myeloma (MM) is the second-most common blood cancer, in which plasma cells accumulate in bone marrow leading to bone destruction and marrow failure. MM accounts for 1% of all cancers and treatments for it are being pursued by many of the big-pharma companies.
Link to film about Vaxil’s Cancer Immunotherapy Platform: Vaxil Video Link
Website : www.VXLBIO.com
Forward-looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking information, which involves known and unknown risks relevant to the Company in particular and to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in general that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company’s current expectations. These risks and uncertainties, including the availability of future financing, the results of future clinical trials, the strength and sufficiency of existing patents and the risk of IP litigation, and the need for further FDA and other regulatory approvals, are more particularly described in the Company’s public filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only to management’s good faith beliefs as of the date of this press release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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Isaac Maresky
Executive Director of the Board
416-227-9667
PR@vaxilbio.com
www.VXLBIO.com