Baylor College of Medicine receives patent for technology exclusively licensed to Bellicum

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 2015-- Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:BLCM) a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel cellular immunotherapies, today announced that a patent has been issued to Baylor College of Medicine for methods of inducing apoptosis in cells that have been infused in patients. Bellicum, which exclusively licensed the worldwide rights to the technology from Baylor, has incorporated the invention into BPX-501, its adjunct T cell therapy designed to improve outcomes in patients undergoing haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplants, now in Phase 1 / 2 clinical studies.

“This important patent extends the proprietary rights of our lead cell therapy product candidate, BPX-501, until at least 2031,” commented Tom Farrell, Bellicum’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We have continued to innovate using this and other technologies to create safer and more effective cell therapies to treat cancers and genetic blood disorders, strongly positioning Bellicum for success in this rapidly growing area of medicine.”

The invention is for a method of cell therapy where cells are first modified to express an inducible caspase 9 protein. The protein, when triggered with the small molecule compound rimiducid (AP1903), induces apoptosis and rapid cell death. The cells can be selectively eliminated when a patient experiences dangerous and life threatening toxicities, such as Graft versus Host Disease. Baylor was issued U.S. patent number 9,089,520.

About Bellicum Pharmaceuticals

Bellicum is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel cellular immunotherapies for various forms of cancer, including hematological cancers and solid tumors, as well as orphan inherited blood disorders. The Company is using its proprietary Chemical Induction of Dimerization, or CID, technology platform to engineer and control components of the immune system in real time. Bellicum is developing next-generation product candidates in some of the most important areas of cellular immunotherapy, including hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, or HSCT, CAR-T and TCR cell therapy, and dendritic cell vaccines. More information can be found at www.bellicum.com.

About Baylor College of Medicine

Baylor College of Medicine (www.bcm.edu) in Houston is recognized as a premier academic health sciences center and is known for excellence in education, research and patient care. It is the only private medical school in the greater southwest and is ranked 21st among medical schools for research and 11th for primary care by U.S. News & World Report. Baylor is listed 19th among all U.S. medical schools for National Institutes of Health funding and number one in Texas. Located in the Texas Medical Center, Baylor has affiliations with seven teaching hospitals and jointly owns and operates CHI St. Luke’s Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. Currently, Baylor trains more than 3,000 medical, graduate, nurse anesthesia, physician assistant and orthotics students, as well as residents and post-doctoral fellows. Follow Baylor College of Medicine on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BaylorCollegeOfMedicine) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/BCMHouston).

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Bellicum may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: the timing of our clinical trials and of our research and development activities and our expectations regarding our other programs. Various factors may cause differences between Bellicum’s expectations and actual results as discussed in greater detail in Bellicum’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. Any forward-looking statements that Bellicum makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Bellicum 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: Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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