HOUSTON, Feb. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Marker
Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRKR), a clinical-stage
immuno-oncology company, today announced that it has formally
relocated its corporate headquarters from Jacksonville, Florida to Houston, Texas. The Company also announced
that it is now a resident company at Johnson & Johnson
Innovation – JLABS (JLABS at TMC), an incubator located in the
heart of the Texas Medical Center, to access a fully equipped
laboratory to conduct research and development.
New Corporate Headquarters
"Our new headquarters will enable us to leverage our strategic
partnership with Baylor College of
Medicine and proximity to one of the largest and most
vibrant communities of cell therapy professionals in the United States," commented Peter L. Hoang, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Marker Therapeutics. Mr. Hoang continued, "The
Houston region is home to many
companies and research institutions in the biotech and
pharmaceutical industry, particularly within the growing field of
cell therapy. The area offers Marker Therapeutics a professional,
well-educated workforce that will allow us to recruit top
scientific, clinical, manufacturing, and commercial talent with
pharmaceutical industry experience. Access to these resources will
be critical as we build our capabilities from research through
clinical, regulatory, and CMC development to advance and accelerate
our product development. We are confident that Houston will offer Marker Therapeutics and our
employees an excellent quality of life and a positive business
climate."
The Company previously entered into a 38-month lease for 5,310
square feet in the Phoenix Tower in Houston, TX. The new headquarters will house
certain members of the Company's corporate and administrative staff
and with the new laboratory facility, allow the Company to conduct
research and development in Houston. Although the Company will be
headquartered in Houston, certain
personnel will continue to operate in proximity to major academic
and clinical partners in the Jacksonville location.
New Laboratory Facility
In addition to its new corporate headquarters, the Company also
entered into an agreement with Johnson & Johnson Innovation -
JLABS for the use of a dedicated portion of an existing laboratory
located at the Texas Medical Center in Houston for the purpose of conducting
laboratory research and other laboratory related activities. JLABS
at TMC, established by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, provides
research and development stage entities with access to a turnkey
infrastructure that includes singular benchtops, modular wet lab
units, office space and specialized laboratory equipment.
"Our new laboratory facility in Houston provide us with the capability to
accelerate and augment the scientific and clinical development of
our therapies in close cooperation with our partners at
Baylor College of Medicine," commented
Dr. Juan F. Vera, Chief Development
Officer of Marker Therapeutics. "JLABS at TMC delivers reduced
infrastructure costs and centralized management of shared
facilities that will allow us to efficiently use our resources
toward building value for our shareholders through innovation."
About Marker Therapeutics, Inc.
Marker Therapeutics,
Inc. is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company specializing in
the development of next-generation T cell-based immunotherapies for
the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumor
indications. Marker's cell therapy technology is based on the
selective expansion of non-engineered, tumor-specific T cells that
recognize tumor associated antigens (i.e. tumor targets) and kill
tumor cells expressing those targets. Once infused into patients,
this population of T cells attacks multiple tumor targets and acts
to activate the patient's immune system to produce broad spectrum
anti-tumor activity. Because Marker does not genetically engineer
its T cells, when compared to current engineered CAR-T and
TCR-based approaches, its products (i) are significantly less
expensive and easier to manufacture, (ii) appear to be markedly
less toxic, and (iii) are associated with meaningful clinical
benefit. As a result, Marker believes its portfolio of T cell
therapies has a compelling therapeutic product profile, as compared
to current gene-modified CAR-T and TCR-based therapies.
Marker is also advancing a number of innovative peptide- and
gene-based immuno-therapeutics for the treatment of metastatic
solid tumors, including the Folate Receptor Alpha program (TPIV200)
for breast and ovarian cancers and the HER2/neu program
(TPIV100/110) for breast cancer, currently in Phase II clinical
trials. In parallel, we are developing a proprietary DNA expression
technology named PolyStart™ that can enhance the ability of the
immune system to recognize and destroy diseased cells.
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Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of
the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. Statements in this news release concerning the
Company's expectations, plans, business outlook or future
performance, and any other statements concerning assumptions made
or expectations as to any future events, conditions, performance or
other matters, are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking
statements include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs,
projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning,
among other things: our research and development activities
relating to our multi-tumor antigen specific T cell therapies; our
TPIV200 and TPIV100/110 programs and our PolyStart™ program; the
effectiveness of these programs or the possible range of
application and potential curative effects and safety in the
treatment of diseases; and, the timing and success of our clinical
trials, as well as multi-tumor antigen specific T cell clinical
trials conducted by Baylor College of
Medicine. Forward-looking statements are by their nature
subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause
actual results to differ materially from those stated in such
statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are
not limited to the risks set forth in the Company's most recent
Form 10-K, 10-Q and other SEC filings which are available through
EDGAR at www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to update
our forward-looking statements whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this
press release.
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SOURCE Marker Therapeutics, Inc.