GeoVax Receives Notice of Allowance For Cancer Vaccine Patent

Adds to Growing Portfolio of Intellectual Property Assets

ATLANTA, Ga., Dec. 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GeoVax Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOVX), a biotechnology company developing immunotherapies and vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for Patent Application No. 17/876,682 to GeoVax, titled “Vaccinia Viral Vectors Encoding Chimeric Virus Like Particles.” The allowed claims add to GeoVax’s intellectual property protection related to its vector platform for expressing a tumor associated antigen (TAA) in virus-like particles (VLPs) from a recombinant Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) viral vector, further demonstrating the GeoVax technical expertise.

The allowed claims encompass GeoVax’s Mucin 1 (MUC1) tumor-associated antigen immunotherapy candidate, MVA-VLP-MUC1. The Company uses its 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. In a therapeutic preclinical evaluation, MVA-VLP-MUC1 in combination with anti-PD-1 resulted in a 57% reduction in tumor growth compared to untreated controls. In a preventive (“tumor recurrence”) model vaccination with MVA-VLP-MUC1 resulted in 100% prevention of tumor growth vs 100% tumor growth in the untreated cohort.

David Dodd, GeoVax President and CEO, commented, “This patent allowance adds to our growing portfolio of wholly owned, co-owned, and in-licensed intellectual property, now standing at over 120 granted or pending patent applications spread over 24 patent families. The initial results with our MVA-VLP-MUC1 immunotherapy candidates have been encouraging. 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.”

Dodd added, “In addition to our work with MUC1, our lead program in oncology is the development of Gedeptin^®, a novel patented product for the treatment of solid tumors which recently completed a multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial for advanced head and neck cancers. A Phase 2 clinical trial in first recurrent head and neck cancer, evaluating Gedeptin^® combined with an immune checkpoint inhibitor is planned to initiate during the first half 2025. We are excited by the potential for GeoVax’s growing immuno-oncology pipeline and the opportunity to provide a broad array of therapies against solid tumors.”

About GeoVax

GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel vaccines for many of the world’s most threatening infectious diseases and therapies for solid tumor cancers. The company’s lead clinical program is GEO-CM04S1, a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine for which GeoVax was recently awarded a BARDA-funded contract to sponsor a 10,000-participant Phase 2b clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of GEO-CM04S1 versus an approved COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, GEO-CM04S1 is currently in three Phase 2 clinical trials, being evaluated as (1) a primary vaccine for immunocompromised patients such as those suffering from hematologic cancers and other patient populations for whom the current authorized COVID-19 vaccines are insufficient, (2) a booster vaccine in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and (3) a more robust, durable COVID-19 booster among healthy patients who previously received the mRNA vaccines. In oncology the lead clinical program is evaluating a novel oncolytic solid tumor gene-directed therapy, Gedeptin®, having recently completed a multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial for advanced head and neck cancers. A Phase 2 clinical trial in first recurrent head and neck cancer, evaluating Gedeptin^® combined with an immune checkpoint inhibitor is planned to initiate during the first half of 2025. GeoVax has a strong IP portfolio in support of its technologies and product candidates, holding worldwide rights for its technologies and products. The Company has a leadership team who have driven significant value creation across multiple life science companies over the past several decades. For more information about the current status of our clinical trials and other updates, visit our website: www.geovax.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements regarding GeoVax’s business plans. The words “believe,” “look forward to,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax is able to obtain acceptable results from ongoing or future clinical trials of its investigational products, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines can provoke the desired responses, and those products or vaccines can be used effectively, GeoVax’s viral vector technology adequately amplifies immune responses to cancer antigens, GeoVax can develop and manufacture its immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax’s vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax’s products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control.

Further information on our risk factors is contained in our periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K that we have filed and will file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.