• Board of leading experts in breast cancer to support development of clinical plans

SAN JOSE, Calif., Feb. 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Anixa Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology company focused on the treatment and prevention of cancer and infectious diseases, today announced the formation of its Breast Cancer Clinical Advisory Board comprising preeminent experts across the breast cancer research and clinical development fields. This represents another milestone as the Company prepares for the next steps in advancing its breast cancer vaccine.

"We are privileged to have the opportunity to work with leading experts in the breast cancer field who have extensive experience in and understanding of the clinical development of treatments and preventions for breast cancer," stated Amit Kumar, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Anixa.  "Working with these individuals will better equip Anixa to plan and prepare for future clinical trials of our breast cancer vaccine."

The Anixa Biosciences Breast Cancer Clinical Advisory Board is comprised of the following members:

Arnold Baskies, MD, FACS, is a specialist in surgical oncology and general surgery, affiliated with Virtua Health Systems.  He is former Chairman of the National Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society and current Chair of the society's Global Cancer Control Advisory Council.  He is a member of the Global Breast Cancer Initiative, World Health Organization (WHO), and Director and Scientific Advisory Board Member of Anixa Biosciences.

G. Thomas Budd, MD, FACP, is a specialist in breast cancer and the principal investigator of the Cleveland Clinic and Anixa partnered Phase 1 trial of the Breast Cancer Vaccine.  He is Professor of Medicine in the Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Taussig Cancer Center, Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center, and Professor in the Department of Medicine, School of Medicine and member of the Immune Oncology Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.  He is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

Lisa H. Butterfield, Ph.D., is a tenured academician (UCLA and University of Pittsburgh) and former President of the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).  She is an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF, a member of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cancer Immunotherapy, and core faculty at the Herbert Perkins Cellular Therapy and Transfusion Medicine Fellowship.  She is a member of the AACR Cancer Immunology Working Group Steering Committee, and a member and Chair of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Cellular, Tissues and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee.

Brian Czerniecki, MD, Ph.D., is the Chair and Senior Member in the Moffitt Cancer Center Department of Breast Oncology and a renowned surgeon and physician scientist investigating the development of vaccines for the prevention of breast cancer and other solid tumors.  He is recognized nationally for his contribution to the development of sentinel lymph node mapping.  He has published over 100 scientific articles and is the recipient of numerous grants for his research.

Brian Leyland-Jones, MBBS, MD, Ph.D., FACP, FRCPC, is a pre-eminent clinical trialist in oncology and the recipient of numerous awards.  He is the Chief Medical Officer of AIM-HI Accelerator Fund, OTraces, and the N OF 1 Mission.  In addition, he is a Scientific Advisory Board Member of the National Foundation for Cancer Research and NED Biosystems, Inc.  He is the CSO of The Darwin Foundation, collectively devoted to the implementation of prevention and cure of malignancy globally, and Director Emeritus for the WIN (Worldwide Innovative Networking in personalized cancer medicine) Consortium.

Hope Rugo, MD, FASCO, is a leader and specialist in breast cancer research and recipient of numerous awards.  She is Professor, Department of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology), and Director, Breast Oncology and Clinical Trials Education, at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.  She is Co-chair of the Triple Negative Working Group, a member of the Translational Breast Cancer Research Consortium (TBCRC), Alliance Breast Committee of the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (formerly CALGB), and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Pamela D. Garzone, Ph.D., Anixa's Chief Development Officer, who recruited and will chair the Clinical Advisory Board stated, "We are looking forward to advice and guidance from the world's foremost breast cancer thought leaders as we design and advance the clinical trials for our breast cancer vaccine."

About Anixa Bioscience's Breast Cancer Vaccine

Anixa's breast cancer vaccine, currently in Phase 1 trials, takes advantage of endogenously produced proteins that have a function at certain times in life, but then become "retired" and disappear from the body.  One such protein is a breast-specific lactation protein, α-lactalbumin, which is no longer found post-lactation in normal, aging tissues, but is present in the majority of triple-negative breast cancers.  Activating the immune system against this "retired" protein provides preemptive immune protection against emerging breast tumors that express α-lactalbumin.  The vaccine also contains an adjuvant that activates an innate immune response, which allows the immune system to mount a response against emerging tumors to prevent them from growing.  This vaccine technology was invented by the late Dr. Vincent Tuohy, who was the Mort and Iris November Distinguished Chair in Innovative Breast Cancer Research in the Department of Inflammation and Immunity at Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute.  Dr. Tuohy is named as inventor on the technology, which Cleveland Clinic exclusively licensed to Anixa Biosciences. 

About Anixa Biosciences, Inc.

Anixa is a clinical-stage biotechnology company with programs addressing cancer and infectious disease.  Anixa's portfolio of therapeutics includes a cancer immunotherapy program being developed in collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center, which uses a novel type of CAR-T, known as chimeric endocrine receptor T-cell (CER-T) technology, and, with partner MolGenie GmbH, a COVID-19 program focused on compounds targeting the Mpro enzyme of SARS-CoV-2, which is largely conserved across all recently identified variants.  The company's vaccine portfolio includes a novel vaccine being developed in collaboration with Cleveland Clinic to prevent breast cancer – specifically triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most lethal form of the disease – as well as a vaccine to prevent ovarian cancer.  These vaccine technologies focus on immunizing against "retired" proteins that have been found to be expressed in certain forms of cancer.  Anixa's unique business model of partnering with world-renowned research institutions on clinical development allows the company to continually examine emerging technologies in complementary fields for further development and commercialization.  To learn more, visit www.anixa.com or follow Anixa on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements that are not historical fact may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical facts, but rather reflect Anixa's current expectations concerning future events and results.  We generally use the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "likely," "will" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements.  Such forward-looking statements, including those concerning our expectations, involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  These risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to, those factors set forth in "Item 1A - Risk Factors" and other sections of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.  You are cautioned not to unduly rely on such forward-looking statements when evaluating the information presented in this press release.

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