Health & Fitness
Health and FitnessHealth and Fitness 
Tue, February 22, 2011
Opexa CEO Invited as Keynote Speaker at Cell Therapy Conference in Beijing, China
THE WOODLANDS, Texas--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPXA), a company developing Tovaxin®, a personalized T-cell immunotherapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), today announced that Neil K. Warma, Opexaa™s President and Chief Executive Officer, is the invited Keynote speaker at the 6th annual Cell Therapy Conference to be held in Beijing, China February 25-26, 2011.
"I am honored to be the guest of such cell therapy leaders in China and look forward to strengthening our relationship with these key individuals and institutions"
The conference is being organized under the auspices of the Development Center for Medical Science and Technology, Ministry of Health of Peoplea™s Republic of China, Science and Technology Bureau of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of Peoplea™s Republic of China, and is co-sponsored by Beijing Jing-Meng Hi-Tech Stem Cell Technology Company, Ltd., and Beijing Zhong Guan Cun Jing Meng Gao Ke Incubator Company. This yeara™s conference is intended to showcase recent scientific progress in cell therapy, including basic research, product development, clinical application, safety testing standardization and a case study in cell therapy.
aIt is our pleasure to welcome Mr. Warma as our Keynote speaker at this conference,a commented Professor Jin Gao, Organizer of the 6th annual Cell Therapy Conference, and Founder and President of Beijing Jing-Meng Hi-Tech Stem Cell Technology Company, Ltd. aWe recognize the groundbreaking work that Opexa is doing in the important area of cell therapy and look forward to learning more about their progress in Multiple Sclerosis. That gives us a great opportunity for a better understanding of our mutual interests and enables our further dialogue in the development of cell therapy areas.a
aI am honored to be the guest of such cell therapy leaders in China and look forward to strengthening our relationship with these key individuals and institutions,a commented Mr. Warma. aThe advances taking place in China in the area of cell therapy are substantive and I am pleased that Opexa is recognized in international circles as a leader in this field. I look forward to learning more about their experience in cell therapy while providing an update on Opexaa™s progress in the development of Tovaxin for the treatment of MS. Autoimmune diseases, including MS, are gaining more attention and importance in Asia with improved diagnostic criteria and the market opportunity remains substantial.a
About Opexa
Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. is dedicated to the development of patient-specific cellular therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The Companya™s leading therapy, Tovaxin®, is a personalized cellular immunotherapy treatment that is in clinical development for MS. Tovaxin is derived from T-cells isolated from peripheral blood, expanded ex vivo, and reintroduced into the patients via subcutaneous injections. This process triggers a potent immune response against specific subsets of autoreactive T-cells known to attack myelin and, thereby, reduces the risk of relapse over time.
Opexa has completed a Phase IIb clinical study with Tovaxin in 150 patients with MS. Data from this clinical study show evidence that relapsing remitting MS patients treated with Tovaxin saw overall clinical and disability benefits over the placebo group, including a clinically relevant decrease in the Annualized Relapse Rate (ARR), and improvement in disability score (EDSS), as well as an excellent safety profile with no serious adverse events related to Tovaxin treatment.
For more information visit the Opexa Therapeutics website at [ www.opexatherapeutics.com ].
Cautionary Statement Relating to Forward-Looking Information for the Purpose of "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release which are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the development of the Companya™s product candidate, Tovaxin, constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, including, without limitation, risks associated with the Companya™s capital position, the ability of the Company to enter into and benefit from a partnering arrangement for the Companya™s product candidate, Tovaxin, on reasonably satisfactory terms (if at all), our dependence (if partnered) on the resources and abilities of any partner for the further development of Tovaxin, our ability to compete with larger, better financed pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, new approaches to the treatment of our targeted diseases, our expectation of incurring continued losses, our uncertainty of developing a marketable product, our ability to raise additional capital to continue our treatment development program, the success of our clinical trials, our ability to develop and commercialize products, our ability to obtain required regulatory approvals, our compliance with all Food and Drug Administration regulations, our ability to obtain, maintain and protect intellectual property rights (including for Tovaxin), the risk of litigation regarding our intellectual property rights, the success of third party development and commercialization efforts with respect to products covered by intellectual property rights transferred by the Company, our limited manufacturing capabilities, our dependence on third-party manufacturers, our ability to hire and retain skilled personnel, our volatile stock price, and other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release. We assume no obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any changes in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based. You should, however, review additional disclosures we make in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the SEC.