Baylor College of Medicine receives patent exclusively licensed to Bellicum

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 20, 2016-- Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLCM) a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel cellular immunotherapies for cancers and orphan inherited blood disorders, today announced that U.S. patent 9,393,292 has issued to Baylor College of Medicine for a method of cell therapy that enables the selective elimination of administered cells that have been modified to express an inducible caspase-9 protein (iCasp9). Bellicum, which exclusively licensed the worldwide rights to the invention from BCM, has incorporated this method into its CaspaCIDe® platform.

“These additional patent claims broaden and strengthen the intellectual property around our clinically validated CaspaCIDe cell therapy safety system,” commented Tom Farrell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. “They are relevant to any product incorporating CaspaCIDe, including BPX-501, our adjunct T-cell therapy for patients undergoing an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, and select CAR T and TCR cell therapy product candidates.”

The patent relates to the on-demand in vivo elimination of therapeutic cells, (such as CAR T, TCR and stem cells) that have been modified to express the iCasp9 protein. When the small molecule rimiducid is administered to a patient, the induced dimerization of iCasp9 results in the rapid death of these modified cells. Bellicum has worldwide exclusive rights to the clinical use of rimiducid and other dimerizers from ARIAD Pharmaceuticals. The newly issued patent is scheduled to expire in 2031.

About Bellicum Pharmaceuticals

Bellicum is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing cellular immunotherapies for cancers and orphan inherited blood disorders. Bellicum is using its proprietary Chemical Induction of Dimerization (CID) technology platform to engineer and control components of the immune system. Bellicum is developing next-generation product candidates in some of the most important areas of cellular immunotherapy, including hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and CAR T and TCR cell therapies. More information can be found at www.bellicum.com.

About Baylor College of Medicine

Baylor College of Medicine 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. Learn more about Baylor College of Medicine at www.bcm.edu and follow Baylor 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," “designed,” "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: our research and development activities relating to CAR Ts, TCRs and to CaspaCIDe; the effectiveness of BPX-501, its possible range of application and potential curative effects and safety in the treatment of diseases, and risks related to our reliance on our license agreements with ARIAD and BCM. Various factors may cause differences between Bellicum’s expectations and actual results as discussed in greater detail under the heading “Risk Factors” 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, 2015. 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.

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals
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