DURHAM, N.C., Jan. 22, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Argos Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ARGS ) ("Argos"), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of fully personalized immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases based on the Arcelis® technology platform, today announced the company's director of immunology, Dr. Mark DeBenedette, has been selected as a distinguished speaker for the GTCbio Novel Immunotherapeutics Summit 2015 to be held January 29-30 th in San Diego, Calif. Dr. DeBenedette is scheduled to speak during the 7 th Immunotherapeutics and Immunomonitoring conference on January 29 th at 4:05pm PST at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa in a session moderated by Dr. Christopher Heery, National Cancer Institute.
Since joining Argos in November 2004, Dr. DeBenedette has been working to understand the mechanism of action of dendritic cell immunotherapy for the treatment of both cancer and HIV in pre-clinical and clinical research, employing state-of-the-art multi-color flow cytometry to measure immune correlates with clinical outcomes.
"Multi-color flow cytometry is a powerful tool that can be used to characterize T-cell responses, but challenges exist when interpreting large data sets," said Dr. DeBenedette. "I welcome the opportunity to discuss research related to AGS-003, Argos's investigational fully personalized immunotherapy for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), and plan to review how a novel bioinformatics approach to data analysis helped monitor anti-tumor responses in a Phase 2 study and led to a comprehensive immune monitoring plan for the ongoing Phase 3 ADAPT study."
GTCbio was founded in 2002 and facilitates the exchange of biopharmaceutical and biomedical information between industry leaders, academic and government organizations, and the financial community. The Novel Immunotherapeutics Summit brings together industry and academia for a review of various research projects and the latest breakthroughs in the immunology field.
About the Arcelis® Technology Platform
Arcelis® is a fully personalized immunotherapy technology that captures mutated and variant antigens that are specific to each patient's disease. It is designed to overcome immunosuppression by producing a durable memory T-cell response without adjuvants that may be associated with toxicity. The technology is potentially applicable to a wide range of different cancers and infectious diseases and is designed to overcome many of the manufacturing and commercialization challenges that have impeded other personalized immunotherapies. The Arcelis® process uses only a small tumor or blood sample and the patient's own dendritic cells, which are collected and optimized following a single leukapheresis procedure. The proprietary process uses RNA isolated from the patient's disease sample to program dendritic cells to target disease antigens. The activated, antigen-loaded dendritic cells are then formulated into the patient's plasma and administered via intradermal injection.
About Argos Therapeutics
Argos Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of fully personalized immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases using its Arcelis® technology platform. Argos' most advanced product candidate, AGS-003, is being evaluated in the pivotal ADAPT phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). The Company is also developing a second Arcelis®-based product candidate, AGS-004, for the treatment of HIV, currently being evaluated in a phase 2 clinical trial in combination with a latency reversing drug for HIV eradication in adult patients. For more information about Argos Therapeutics, visit www.argostherapeutics.com .
Forward Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about Argos' future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about Argos and other statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including whether Argos' cash resources will be sufficient to fund our continuing operations for the period anticipated; whether results obtained in clinical trials will be indicative of results obtained in future clinical trials; whether Argos' product candidates will advance through the clinical trial process on a timely basis and receive approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies; whether, if product candidates obtains approval, they will be successfully distributed and marketed; and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Argos' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 which is on file with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Argos' views as of January 22, 2015. Argos anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Argos' views to change. However, while Argos may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Argos specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Argos' views as of any date subsequent to January 22, 2015.
Media contact: Adam Daley Berry & Company Public Relations 212-253-8881 Investor contact: Nancy Yu Burns McClellan 212-213-0006
