GeoVax Announces Issuance of Cancer Vaccine Patent

GeoVax Labs, Inc. recently announced the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued Patent No. 11278607 to GeoVax, pursuant to the company’s patent application No. 16/068,527 titled Compositions and Methods for Generating an Immune Response to a Tumor Associated Antigen.

The claims granted by the patent generally cover GeoVax’s vector platform for expressing tumor associated antigens in virus-like particles (VLPs) from a Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) viral vector and encompass GeoVax’s Mucin 1 (MUC1) tumor-associated antigen immunotherapy candidate. The company uses its GV-MVA-VLP vaccine platform to express abnormal, aberrantly glycosylated forms of the cell surface-associated MUC1 protein that is associated with a wide range of cancers, including breast, colon, ovarian, prostate, pancreatic, and lung.

David Dodd, GeoVax President and CEO, said “The initial results with our MVA-VLP-MUC1 immunotherapy candidates have been encouraging and we recently began an IND-enabling animal study with Dr. Pinku Mukherjee at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to define the optimal course and schedule of vaccination to define a protocol that can be evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial. We believe our MVA vector platform is well-suited for development of therapeutic cancer vaccines based on the expression of tumor-associated antigens such as MUC1 and Cyclin B1, among others. In addition to our work with MUC1, we are also developing Gedeptin, a novel patented product for the treatment of solid tumors currently in a Phase 1/2 trial evaluating its safety and efficacy in patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). We are excited by the potential for GeoVax’s growing immuno-oncology pipeline.”

GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing human vaccines and immunotherapies against infectious diseases and cancer using novel proprietary platforms. GeoVax’s product pipeline includes two ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials of GEO-CM04S1 (formerly COH04S1) for COVID-19 as a universal booster vaccine to mRNA vaccines authorized by the US FDA and as a primary vaccine for use in immunocompromised patients. In addition to GEO-CM04S1 for COVID-19, GeoVax is developing GEO-CM02 as a pan-coronavirus vaccine. The company is also conducting a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of Gedeptin for treatment of head and neck cancer. Gedeptin has been granted orphan drug status by the FDA. Additional research and development programs include preventive vaccines against Zika Virus, hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, and Lassa) and malaria, as well as immunotherapies for multiple solid tumors. The Company’s portfolio of wholly owned, co-owned, and in-licensed intellectual property stands at over 70 granted or pending patent applications spread over 20 patent families. For more information, visit www.geovax.com.