BOSTON and GERMANTOWN, Md., Jan. 10,
2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ZIOP), a biopharmaceutical company focused on new
immunotherapies, and Intrexon Corporation (NYSE:XON), a leader in the engineering and industrialization of biology to improve the
quality of life and health of the planet, today announced the signing of a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA)
with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for the development of adoptive cell transfer (ACT)-based immunotherapies genetically
modified using the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon/transposase system to express T-cell receptors (TCRs) for the
treatment of solid tumors.
The principal goal of the CRADA is to develop and evaluate ACT for patients with advanced cancers using autologous peripheral
blood lymphocytes (PBL) genetically modified using the non-viral SB system to express TCRs that recognize specific immunogenic
mutations, or neoantigens, expressed within a patient's cancer. Clinical evaluations of the ability of these SB-engineered
PBL to express TCRs reactive against cancer mutations to mediate cancer regression in patients with metastatic disease will be
performed.
Research conducted under the CRADA will be at the direction of Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., Chief of the Surgery
Branch at the NCI's Center for Cancer Research, in collaboration with researchers at ZIOPHARM and Intrexon.
"Treating liquid tumors with chimeric antigen receptors has yielded extraordinary results with genetically engineered T cells
and the next stage in the evolution of this immunotherapy is the expression of T-cell receptors to target solid tumors," said
Laurence Cooper, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of ZIOPHARM. "Through use of the scalable
non-viral Sleeping Beauty platform to express an array of TCRs that recognize neoantigens within each patient's tumor, we
can customize T-cell therapies and enhance their function through cytokines and switches."
The SB transposon-transposase is a unique system for introducing genes encoding chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and TCRs
into lymphocytes. This non-viral platform may play an important role in immunotherapy and has several potential advantages over
viral-based delivery systems including lowering the cost of genetic modification and the generation of T cells with minimal ex
vivo processing supporting the personalization of T-cell therapy.
Dr. Cooper added, "The Sleeping Beauty system is the most advanced non-viral cell engineering platform in clinical
development and we look forward to working with Dr. Rosenberg and the NCI to explore its potential to express neoantigen-specific
TCRs to develop individualized immunotherapies for patients with cancer."
About Intrexon Corporation:
Intrexon Corporation (NYSE: XON) is Powering the Bioindustrial Revolution with Better DNA™ to create
biologically-based products that improve the quality of life and the health of the planet. Intrexon's integrated technology
suite provides its partners across diverse markets with industrial-scale design and development of complex biological systems
delivering unprecedented control, quality, function, and performance of living cells. We call our synthetic biology approach
Better DNA®, and we invite you to discover more at www.dna.com or
follow us on Twitter at @Intrexon, on Facebook, and LinkedIn.
About ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.:
ZIOPHARM Oncology is a Boston, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company employing
novel gene expression, control and cell technologies to deliver safe, effective and scalable cell- and viral-based therapies for
the treatment of cancer and graft-versus-host-disease. The Company's immuno-oncology programs, in collaboration with Intrexon
Corporation (NYSE:XON) and the MD Anderson Cancer Center, include chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) and other adoptive
cell-based approaches that use non-viral gene transfer methods for broad scalability. The Company is advancing programs in
multiple stages of development together with Intrexon Corporation's RheoSwitch Therapeutic System® technology, a switch to turn
on and off, and precisely modulate, gene expression in order to improve therapeutic index. The Company's pipeline includes a
number of cell-based therapeutics in both clinical and preclinical testing which are focused on hematologic and solid tumor
malignancies.
Trademarks
RheoSwitch Therapeutic System® (RTS®) technology is a registered trademark of Intrexon
Corporation.
Safe Harbor Statement
Some of the statements made in this press release are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking
statements are based upon our current expectations and projections about future events and generally relate to our plans,
objectives and expectations for the development of our business. Although management believes that the plans and objectives
reflected in or suggested by these forward-looking statements are reasonable, all forward-looking statements involve risks and
uncertainties and actual future results may be materially different from the plans, objectives and expectations expressed in this
press release.
For more information, contact:
Intrexon Corporation
Investor Contact:
Christopher Basta
Vice President, Investor Relations
Tel: 561-410-7052
investors@intrexon.com
Corporate Contact:
Marie Rossi, Ph.D.
Senior Manager, Technical Communications
Tel: 301-556-9850
publicrelations@intrexon.com
ZIOPHARM:
Corporate Contact:
Lori Ann Occhiogrosso
ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.
617-259-1987
locchiogrosso@ziopharm.com
Investor Contact:
David Pitts
Argot Partners
212-600-1902
david@argotpartners.com
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SOURCE Intrexon Corporation; ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc.