Item 1: Business

 

History of the Company

 

We were originally incorporated in the State of Colorado on June 5, 1987 under the name Great Expectations, Inc. We were administratively dissolved on January 1, 1997 and reinstated June 18, 1998 under the name Great Expectations and Associates, Inc. In 1999, we became a reporting company under the Securities Exchange of 1934 (the “Exchange Act’). Until November 2004, we were a publicly-traded “shell” company without any business until November 12, 2004 when we acquired Advaxis, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Advaxis”), through a Share Exchange and Reorganization Agreement, dated as of August 25, 2004 (the “Share Exchange”), by and among Advaxis, the stockholders of Advaxis and us. As a result of such acquisition, Advaxis become our wholly-owned subsidiary and our sole operating company. On December 23, 2004, we amended and restated our articles of incorporation and changed our name to Advaxis, Inc. On June 6, 2006 our shareholders approved the reincorporation of the company from the state of Colorado to the state of Delaware by merging the Company into its wholly-owned subsidiary. As used herein, the words “Company” and "Advaxis" refer to the current Delaware corporation only unless the context references such entity prior to the June 20, 2006 reincorporation into Delaware. Our principal executive offices are located at Technology Centre of NJ, 675 US Highway One, North Brunswick, NJ 08902 and our telephone number is (732) 545-1590.

On July 28, 2005 we began trading on the Over-The-Counter Bulletin Board (OTC:BB) under the ticker symbol ADXS.

Recent Developments

Pursuant to a Securities Purchase Agreement dated February 2, 2006, we sold to Cornell Capital Partners, LP (“Cornell”) $3,000,000 principal amount of our 6% Secured Convertible Debentures (the “Debentures”) due February 1, 2009 ($1,500,000 on February 2, 2006 and $1,500,000 on March 8, 2006) and five year Warrants to purchase 4,200,000 shares of Common Stock at the price of $0.287 per share and five year B Warrants to purchase 300,000 shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.3444 per share. The Debentures are convertible at a price equal to the lesser of (i) $0.287 per share (“Fixed Conversion Price”), or (ii) 95% of the lowest volume weighted average price of the Common Stock on the market on which the shares are listed or traded during the 30 trading days immediately preceding the date of conversion (“Market Conversion Price”). Interest is payable at maturity at the rate of 6% per annum in cash or shares of Common Stock valued at the conversion price then in effect.

In March 2006 we began our first phase I clinical study and June 6, 2006 our shareholders approved the reincorporation of the company from the state of Colorado to the state of Delaware by merging the company into its wholly-owned subsidiary.

Our Website

We maintain a website at www.advaxis.com which contains descriptions of our technology, our drugs and the trial status of each drug.

 

General

We are a development stage biotechnology company with the intent to develop safe and effective cancer vaccines that utilize multiple mechanisms of immunity. We use the Listeria System licensed from the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) to secrete a protein sequence containing a tumor-specific antigen. Using the Listeria System, we believe we will force the body’s immune system to process and recognize the antigen as if it were foreign, creating the immune response needed to attack the cancer. We believe that the Listeria System is a broadly enabling platform technology that can be applied to many types of cancers. In addition, we believe there may be useful applications in infectious diseases and auto-immune disorders.

The therapeutic approach that comprises the Listeria System is based upon the innovative work of Yvonne Paterson, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology at Penn, involving the creation of genetically engineered Listeria that stimulate the innate immune system and induce an antigen-specific immune response involving humoral and cellular components.

We have focused our initial development efforts upon cancer vaccines targeting cervical, breast, prostate, ovarian, lung and other cancers. Our lead products in development are as follows:

 

See “Item 1. Business - Research and Development Programs”.

Since our formation, we have had a history of losses that as of October 31, 2006 have aggregated $9,662,173, and because of the long development period for new drugs, we expect to continue to incur losses for an extended period of time. Our business plan to date has been realized by substantial outsourcing of virtually all-major functions of drug development including scaling up for manufacturing, research and development, grant applications, clinical studies, and others. The expenses of these outsourced services account for most of our accumulated loss. We cannot predict when, if ever, any of our product candidates will become commercially viable or FDA approved. Even if one or more of our products receives FDA approval or becomes commercially viable we are not certain that we will ever become a profitable business.

Strategy

During the next 12 to 24 months our strategic focus will be to achieve several objectives. The foremost of these objectives are as follows:

 

Complete the Ongoing Phase I Clinical Study of Lovaxin C . We have had several meetings with the FDA and the Recombinant Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health (the “NIH”) and have designed and fielded a Phase I/II clinical study, to assess the safety of Lovaxin C. We plan to complete this clinical study in the fiscal second/third fiscal quarter 2007. The study includes 20 patients with advanced cervical cancer the sites are located in Serbia, Mexico and Israel, of which 10 patients have successfully completed the trial.

 

 

The Gynecologic Oncology Group, (GOG) a collaborative treatment group associated with the NCI has agreed to conduct the field work for the Phase II study at their expense (an estimated value of about $1,500,000 to $2,000,000). We estimate that we will conduct lab work valued at $250,000 to support of this study.

Following the completion of the Phase I study and assuming that the results of this study are favorable, we intend to prepare Phase II clinical studies to demonstrate therapeutic efficacy, as well as to optimize the dosage and dosing regimen, the tests and assessments to be performed in phase III, to characterize the responding patient population, and to understand all factors possible for the purpose of defining and conducting a definitive test of the safety and efficacy of Lovaxin C for regulatory approval. Thereafter, and assuming that the results of this Phase II study are favorable, we intend to conduct Phase III clinical studies to demonstrate safety, efficacy and the potency of the investigational vaccine. Such studies are expected to occur in the next five to ten years. Throughout this process, we will be meeting with the FDA prior to and at the conclusion of each phase to reach a consensus before initiating any studies, in order to minimize regulatory risks during this clinical development process.

At the conclusion of the Phase III studies, we intend to prepare and file a Biologics License Application (BLA) with the FDA. Prior to submission of the BLA, depending upon the data, we intend to possibly seek a Special Protocol Assessment and/or a Fast Track designation from the FDA, which shortens the internal FDA review process. As we accrue clinical data demonstrating the safety, efficacy and potency of Lovaxin C in Phase I and II clinical studies we will also explore other regulatory approval options with the FDA that could expedite the licensure of the final vaccine.

We intend to continue to devote a portion of our resources to the continued pre-clinical development of our product candidates as well as the continued research to expand our technology platform. Specifically, we intend to focus upon research relating to combining our Listeria System with new and additional tumor antigens which, if successful, may lead to additional cancer vaccines and other therapeutic products. These activities may require significant financial resources, as well as areas of expertise beyond those readily available. In order to provide additional resources and capital, we may enter into research, collaborative, or commercial partnerships, joint ventures, or other arrangements with competitive or complementary companies, including major international pharmaceutical companies, or with universities, such as Penn and UCLA. See “Item 1. Business - Partnerships and Agreements - Penn”.

 

 

 

Research and Development Program

Overview

We use genetically engineered Listeria monocytogenes as a therapeutic agent. We start with an attenuated strain of Listeria, and then add to this bacterium a plasmid that encodes a protein sequence that includes a portion of the LLO molecule (including the PEST ¹ sequence) and the tumor antigen of interest. This protein is secreted by the Listeria inside the antigen processing cells, which then results in the immune response as discussed above.

We can use different tumor antigens (or other antigens: e.g. allergy or infectious disease) in this system. By varying the antigen, we create different therapeutic agents. Our lead agent, Lovaxin C, uses a human papillomavirus derived antigen that is present in cervical cancers. Lovaxin B uses her2/neu, an antigen found in many breast cancer and melanoma cells, to induce an immune response that should be useful in treating these conditions. The table below shows a list of potential products and their current status:

 

Partnerships and Agreements

University of Pennsylvania

 

Dr. Yvonne Paterson

Dr. Paterson is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Penn and the inventor of our licensed technology. She has been an invited speaker at national and international health field conferences and leading academic institutions. She has served on many federal advisory boards, such as the NIH expert panel to review primate centers, the Office of AIDS Research Planning Fiscal Workshop, and the Allergy and Immunology NIH Study Section. She has written over 140 publications in immunology (including a recently published book) with emphasis during the last several years on the areas of HIV, AIDS and cancer research. Her instruction and mentorship has trained over 30 post-doctoral and doctoral students in the fields of Biochemistry and Immunology, many of whom are research leaders in academia and industry.

Dr. Paterson is currently the principal investigator on grants from the federal government and charitable trusts totaling approximately $500,000 dollars per year and training grants totaling approximately $800,000 per year. Her research interests are broad, but her laboratory has been focused for the past ten years on developing novel approaches for prophylactic vaccines against infectious disease and immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer. The approach of the laboratory is based on a long-standing interest in the properties of proteins that render them immunogenic and how such immunogenicity may be modulated within the body.

Consulting Agreement . We entered into a renewed consulting agreement with Dr. Paterson on January 28, 2005 with an initial term expiring on January 31, 2006 with automatic renewals for up to six additional periods of six months each pursuant to which we have had access to Dr. Paterson’s consulting services for one full day per week. We are currently in our fourth renewal period. Dr. Paterson has advised us on an exclusive basis on various issues related to our technology, manufacturing issues, establishing our lab, knowledge transfer, and our long-term research and development program. Pursuant to the agreement, Dr. Paterson currently receives $5,000 per month of which $3,000 is paid in cash and $2,000 is accrued until the conversion of the Cornell convertible debenture provided, that upon the closing of an additional $3 million in equity capital, Dr. Paterson’s rates will increase to $5,000 per month; provided, further, that upon the closing of an additional $6 million in equity capital, Dr. Paterson’s rates shall increase to $7,000 per month; and provided, further, that upon the closing of an additional of $9 million in equity capital, Dr. Paterson’s rates shall increase to $9,000 per month. In addition, on February 1, 2005, Dr. Paterson received options to purchase 400,000 shares of our common stock at an exercise price of $0.287 per share with 40,000 fully vested when granted and the remaining 360,000 options vesting equally over 48 months; provided that Dr. Paterson remains a consultant over the four year period. Since February 1, 2005, Dr. Paterson is being paid $3,000 per month, and since March 2006 we’ve accrued an additional $2,000 per month pending the next round of financing of $3,000,000 and she holds options to purchase a total of 569,048 shares of Common Stock of which 360,714 are vested as of October 31, 2006.

 

 

Sponsored Research Agreement .

We entered into a sponsored research agreement on December 6, 2006 with Penn and Dr. Paterson under which we are obligated to pay $159,598 per year for a total period of 2 years covering the development of potential vaccine candidate based on our Listeria technology as well as other basic research projects.

We intend to enter into additional sponsored research agreements with Penn in the future with respect to research and development on our product candidates.

We believe that Dr. Paterson’s continuing research will serve as a source of ongoing findings and data that both supports and strengthen the existing patents. Her work will expand the claims of the patent portfolio (potentially including adding claims for new tumor specific antigens, the utilization of new vectors to deliver antigens, and applying the technology to new disease conditions) and create the infrastructure for the future filing of new patents.

Dr. Paterson is also the chairman of our Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr. David Filer

We have entered a consulting agreement with Dr. David Filer, a biotech consultant. The Agreement commenced on January 7, 2005 and has a six month term, which was extended upon the agreement of both parties. Dr. Filer shall continue to provide to us for three days per month during the term of the agreement assistance on our development efforts, reviewing our scientific technical and business data and materials and introducing us to industry analysts, institutional investors collaborators and strategic partners. In consideration for the consulting services we pay Dr. Filer $2,000 per month. In addition, Dr. Filer received options to purchase 40,000 shares of common stock which are currently vested.

Freemind Group LLC (“Freemind”)

We have entered into an agreement with Freemind to develop and manage our grant writing strategy and application program. Advaxis will pay Freemind according to a fee structure based on achievement of grants awarded to us at the rate of 6-7% of the grant amount. Advaxis will also pay Freemind fixed consulting fees based on the type of grants submitted, ranging from $5,000-7,000 depending on the type of application submitted. Freemind has extensive experience in accessing public financing opportunities, the national SBIR and related NIH/NCI programs. Freemind has assisted us in the past to file grant applications with NIH covering the use of Lovaxin C for cervical dysplasia.

University of  California

 

On March 14, 2004 we entered into a nonexclusive license and bailment agreement with the Regents of the University of California (“UCLA”) to commercially develop products using the XFL7 strain of Listeria monoctyogenes in humans and animals. The agreement is effective for a period of 15 years and renewable by mutual consent of the parties. Advaxis paid UCLA an initial licensee fee and annual maintenance fees for use of the Listeria. We may not sell products using the XFL7 strain Listeria other than agreed upon products or sublicense the rights granted under the license agreement without the prior written consent of UCLA.  

Cobra Biomanufacturing PLC

In July 2003, we entered into an agreement with Cobra Biomanufacturing PLC for the purpose of manufacturing our cervical cancer vaccine Lovaxin C. Cobra has extensive experience in manufacturing gene therapy products for investigational studies. Cobra is a full service manufacturing organization that manufactures and supplies DNA-based therapeutics for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. These services include the GMP manufacturing of DNA, recombinant protein, viruses, mammalian cell products and cell banking. Cobra’s manufacturing plan for us involves several manufacturing stages, including process development, manufacturing of non-GMP material for toxicology studies and manufacturing of GMP material for the Phase I trial. The agreement to manufacture expired in December 2005 upon the delivery and completion of stability testing of the GMP material for the Phase I trial. Cobra has agreed to convert $300,000 of its existing fees for manufacturing into future royalties from the sales of Lovaxin C at the rate of 1.5% of net sales, with payments not to exceed $1,950,000.

 

In November 2005, in order to secure production of Lovaxin C on a long-term basis as well as other drug candidates which we are developing, we entered into a Strategic Collaboration and Long-Term Vaccine Supply Agreement for Listeria Cancer Vaccines, under which Cobra will manufacture experimental and commercial supplies of our Listeria cancer vaccines, beginning with Lovaxin C, our therapeutic vaccine for the treatment of cervical and head and neck cancers that currently in a phase I/II study in cervical cancer patients. The new agreement leaves the existing agreement in place with respect to the studies contemplated therein, and supersedes a prior agreement and provides for mutual exclusivity, priority of supply, collaboration on regulatory issues, research and development of manufacturing processes that have already resulted in new intellectual property owned by Advaxis, and the long-term supply of live Listeria based vaccines on a discounted basis.

LVEP Management, LLC

The Company entered into a consulting agreement with LVEP Management LLC (LVEP) dated as of January 19, 2005, and amended on April 15, 2005, and October 31, 2005, pursuant to which Mr. Roni Appel served as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of the Company and was compensated by consulting fees paid to LVEP. LVEP is owned by the estate of Scott Flamm (deceased January 2006) previously, one of our directors and a principal shareholder. Pursuant to an amendment dated December 15, 2006 ("effective date") Mr. Appel resigned as President and Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of the Company on the effective date, but remains as a board member and consultant to the company. The term of the agreement as amended is 24 months from effective date. Mr. Appel will devote 50% of his time over the first 12 months of the consulting period. Also as a consultant, he will be paid at a rate of $22,500 per month in addition to benefits as provided to other company officers. He will receive severance payments over an additional 12 months at a rate of $10,416.67 per month and shall be reimbursed for family health care. All his stock options vested fully on the effective date and are exercisable over the option contract life. Also, Mr. Appel was issued 1,000,000 shares of our common stock. He will receive a $250,000 bonus $100,000 paid on January 2, 2007 and the remainder to be paid on June 1, 2007.

David Carpi

 

On December 15, 2006 we entered into a consulting agreement with David Carpi, whereby Mr. Carpi will assist us in the preparation and refinement of our marketing summary and presentation materials and introduce us to pre defined pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies which may be interested in strategic partnerships. Mr. Carpi will receive a monthly cash fee of $1,500 and approved expenses, and in addition success based compensation payable in cash and stock ranging from 5% to 4% of transaction proceeds, upon completion of a transaction with a strategic partner introduced by Mr. Carpi. The agreement will be effective until July 12, 2007. Thereafter it will automatically renew on a month-to-month basis unless extended by Company on the same terms or terminated.

 

  Pharm-Olam International Ltd. (“POI”)

In April 2005, we entered into a consulting agreement with POI, based on which POI is to execute and manage our Phase 1 clinical trial in Lovaxin C with POI to receive in consideration therefore $430,000 (50% of which is contingent on the closing by us of a $5 million equity financing) and reimbursement of certain expenses of $181,060. On December 13, 2006 we approved a change order reflecting the changes to the protocol the cost of which is estimated at $92,000 for a total contractual obligation of $522,000.

Cato Research Israel Ltd (“CATO”)

We have entered into a master service agreement with Cato Research Israel Ltd, on December 27, 2005 a contract research organization (CRO) that provides clinical trial management services in the state of Israel in connection with our Phase I/II clinical trial in Lovaxin C. Under the agreement we will pay CATO an estimated amount of $40,000.

Apothecaries Limited

We have entered into a master service agreement with Apothecaries Limited on September 20, 2006, a contract research organization (CRO) for the purpose of providing us with clinical trial management services in the state of India in connection with our Phase I/II clinical trial in Lovaxin C. Under the agreement we will pay Apothecaries amounts based on certain criteria detailed in the agreement such as clinical sites qualified ($1,500 per site), submitting and obtaining regulatory approval ($17,000), and numbers of patients enrolled to the clinical trial ($7,500 for each treated patient). If regulatory approval shall be obtained and 10 patients shall be recruited and treated in 6 clinical sites, we shall pay Apothecaries a total of $101,000.

 

The Investor Relations Group, Inc (“IRG”)

We entered into an agreement with IRG whereby IRG is to serve as an investor relations and public relations consultant. The term of this agreement is on a month to month basis. In consideration for performing its services, IRG is to be paid $10,000 per month plus out of pocket expenses, and 200,000 common shares over a period of 18 months commencing October 1, 2005, provided the agreement has not terminated. Through October 31, 2006 we issued 99,999 shares out of the 133,332 vested shares as per the agreement.

Biologics Consulting Group, Inc. (“BCG”)

On June 1, 2006 we entered into an agreement with BCG to provide biologics regulatory consulting services to the Company in support of the IND submission to the FDA. The tasks to be performed under this Agreement will be agreed to in advance by the Company and BCG. The term of the agreement is from June 1, 2006 to June 1, 2007. This is a time and material agreement.

PATENTS AND LICENSES

Dr. Paterson and Penn have invested significant resources and time in developing a broad base of intellectual property around the cancer vaccine platform technology to which on July 1, 2002 (effective date) we entered into a 20-year exclusive worldwide license and a right to grant sublicenses pursuant to our license agreement with Penn. Penn currently has 11 issued and 15 pending patents in the United States and other countries including Japan, Canada, Israel, Australia, and the European Union, through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) system pursuant to which we have an exclusive license to exploit the patents. We believe that these patents will allow us to take a strong lead in the field of Listeria-based therapy.

The Penn patent portfolio is currently comprised of the following:

 

United States

 

	Patents
	U.S. Patent No. 6,051,237, issued April 18, 2000. Patent Application No. 08/336,372, filed November 8, 1994 for “Specific Immunotherapy of Cancer Using a Live Recombinant Bacterial Vaccine Vector.” Filed November 8, 1994. Expires April 18, 2017.
	U.S. Patent No. 6,565,852, issued May 20, 2003, Paterson, et al., CIP Patent Application No. 09/535,212, filed March 27, 2000 for “Specific Immunotherapy of Cancer Using a Live Recombinant Bacterial Vaccine Vector.” Filed March 27, 2000. Expires November 8, 2014.
	U.S. Patent No. 6,099,848, issued August 8, 2000, Frankel et al., Patent Application No. 08/972,902 “Immunogenic Compositions Comprising DAL/DAT Double-Mutant, Auxotrophic, Attenuated Strains of Listeria and Their Methods of Use.” Filed November 18, 1997. Expires November 18, 2017.
	U.S. Patent No. 6,504,020, issued January 7, 2003, Frankel et al. Divisional Application No. 09/520,207 “Isolated Nucleic Acids Comprising Listeria DAL And DAT Genes”. Filed March 7, 2000, Expires November 18, 2017.
	U.S. Patent No. 6,635,749, issued October 21, 2003, Frankel, et al. Divisional U.S. Patent Application No. 10/136,253 for “Isolated Nucleic Acids Comprising Listeria DAL and DAT Genes.” Filed May 1, 2002, Filed May 1, 2022. Expires November 18, 2017.
	U.S. Patent No. 5,830,702, issued November 3, 1998, Portnoy, et al. Patent Application No. 08/366,477, filed December 30, 1994 for “Live, Recombinant Listeria SSP Vaccines and Productions of Cytotoxic T Cell Response” Filed December 30, 1997. Expires November 3, 2015.
	US Patent No. 6,767,542 issued July 27, 2004, Paterson, et al. Patent Application No. 09/735,450 for “Compositions and Methods for Enhancing Immunogenicity of Antigens.” Filed December 13, 2000. Expires March 29, 2020.
	US Patent No. 6,855,320 issued February 15, 2005, Paterson. Patent Application No. 09/537,642 for “Fusion of Non-Hemolytic, Truncated Form of Listeriolysin o to Antigens to Enhance Immunogenicity.” Filed March 29, 2000. Expires March 29, 2020.
	US Patent No. 7,135,188 issued November 14, 2006, Paterson, Patent Application No. 10/441,851 for “Methods and compositions for immunotherapy of cancer.” Filed May 20, 2003. Expires November 8, 2014.

 

 

Patent Applications

	U.S. Patent Application No. 10/239,703 for “Compositions and Methods for Enhancing Immunogenicity of Antigens.” Filed September 24, 2002, Paterson, et al.
	U.S. Patent Application No. 10/660,194, “Immunogenic Compositions Comprising DAL/DAT Double Mutant, Auxotrophic Attenuated Strains Of Listeria And Their Methods Of Use,” Filed September 11, 2003, Frankel et al.
	U.S. Patent Application No. 10/835,662, “Compositions and methods for enhancing the immunogenicity of antigens,” Filed April 30, 2004, Paterson et al.
	U.S. Patent Application No. 10/949,667, “Methods and compositions for immunotherapy of cancer,” Filed September 24, 2004, Paterson et al.
	U.S. Patent Application No. 11/223,945, “Listeria-based and LLO-based vaccines,” Filed September 13, 2005, Paterson et al.
	U.S. Patent Application No. 11/376,564, “Compositions and methods for enhancing the immunogenicity of antigens,” Filed March 16, 2006, Paterson et al.
	U.S. Patent Application No. 11/376,572, “Compositions and methods for enhancing the immunogenicity of antigens,” Filed March 16, 2006, Paterson et al.

 

	Patents
	Australian Patent No. 730296, Patent Application No. 14108/99 for “Bacterial Vaccines Comprising Auxotrophic, Attenuated Strains of Listeria Expressing Heterologous Antigens.” Filed May 18, 2000. Frankel, et al. Expires November 13, 2018.
	Canadian Patent Application No. 2,309,790 for “Bacterial Vaccines Comprising Auxotrophic, Attenuated Strains of Listeria Expressing Heterologous Antigens.” Filed May 18, 2000, Frankel, et al.
	Patent Applications
	Canadian Patent Application No. 2,204,666, for “Specific Immunotherapy of Cancer Using a Live Recombinant Bacterial Vaccine Vector”. Filed November 3, 1995, Paterson et al.
	Canadian Patent Application No. 2,404,164 for “Compositions and Methods for Enhancing Immunogenicity of Antigens.” Filed March 26, 2001. Paterson, et al.

 

 

	European Patent Application No. 01928324.1 for “Compositions and Methods for Enhancing Immunogenicity of Antigens.” Filed March 26, 2001. Paterson, et al.
	European Patent Application No. 98957980.0 for “Bacterial Vaccines Comprising Auxotrophic, Attenuated Strains of Listeria Expressing Heterologous Antigens.” Filed May 18, 2000, Frankel, et al.
	Israel Patent Application No. 151942 for “Compositions and Methods for Enhancing Immunogenicity of Antigens.” Filed March 26, 2001, Paterson, et al.
	Japanese Patent Application No. 515534/96, filed November 3, 1995 for “Specific Immunotherapy of Cancer Using a Live Recombinant Bacterial Vaccine Vector”, Paterson, et al.
	Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-570290 for “Compositions and Methods for Enhancing Immunogenicity of Antigens.” Filed March 26, 2001, Paterson, et al.
	PCT International Patent Application No. PCT/US06/44681 for “Methods For Producing, Growing, And Preserving Listeria Vaccine Vectors.” Filed November 16, 2006, Rothman, et al.

In 2001, an issue arose regarding the inventorship of U.S. Patent 6,565,852 and U.S. Patent Application No. 09/537,642. These patent rights are included in the patent rights licensed by Advaxis from Penn. It is contemplated by GSK, Penn and us that the issue will be resolved through:  (1) a correction of inventorship to add certain GSK inventors, (2) where necessary and appropriate, an assignment of GSK’s possible rights under these patent rights to Penn, and (3) a sublicense from us to GSK of certain subject matter, which is not central to our business plan. To date, this arrangement has not been finalized and we cannot assure that this issue will ultimately be resolved in the manner described above.

Pursuant to our license with Penn, we have an option to license from Penn any new future invention conceived by either Dr. Yvonne Paterson or by Dr. Fred Frankel in the vaccine area until June 17, 2009. We intend to expand our intellectual property base by exercising this option and gaining access to future inventions. Further, our consulting agreement with Dr. Paterson provides, among other things, that, to the extent that Dr. Paterson’s consulting work results in new inventions, such inventions will be assigned to Penn, and we will have access to those inventions under license agreements to be negotiated. See “ Item 1. Business - Partnerships and agreements - Penn. ”

Our approach to the intellectual property portfolio is to aggressively create significant offensive and defensive patent protection for every product and technology platform that we develop. We work closely with our patent counsel to maintain a coherent and aggressive strategic approach to building our patent portfolio with an emphasis in the field of cancer vaccines.

We have become aware of a public company, Cerus Corporation, which has issued a press release claiming to have a proprietary Listeria-based approach to a cancer vaccine. We believe that through our exclusive license with Penn of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,830,702, 6,051,237 and 6,565,852, we have earliest known and dominant patent position in the United States for the use of recombinant Listeria monocytogenes expressing proteins or tumor antigens as a vaccine for the treatment of infectious diseases and tumors. Based on searches of publicly available databases, we do not believe that Cerus or The University of California Berkeley (which is where Cerus’ consulting scientist works) or any other third party owns any published Listeria patents or has any issued patent claims that might materially negatively affect our freedom to operate our business as currently contemplated in the field of recombinant Listeria monocytogenes.

Cerus has filed an opposition against European Patent Application Number 0790835 (EP 835 Patent) which was granted by the European Patent Office and which is assigned to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and exclusively licensed to us. Cerus’ allegations in the Opposition are that the EP 835 Patent, which claims a vaccine for inducing a tumor specific antigen with a recombinant live Listeria, is deficient because of (i) insufficient disclosure in the specifications of the granted claims, (ii) the inclusion of additional subject matter in the granted claims, and (iii) a lack of inventive steps of the granted claims of the EP 835 Patent.

 

     

On November 29, 2006, following oral proceedings, the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office determined that the claims of the patent as granted should be revoked due to lack of inventive step under European Patent Office rules based on certain prior art publications. This decision has no material effect upon our ability to conduct business as currently contemplated.

 

We will review the formal written decision in order to evaluate whether to file an appeal. In the event of an appeal there is no assurance that it will be successful. If such ruling is upheld on appeal, our patent position in Europe may be eroded. The likely result of this decision will be increased competition for us in the European market for recombinant live Listeria based vaccines for tumor specific antigens. Regardless of the outcome, we believe that our freedom to operate in Europe, or any other territory, for recombinant live Listeria based vaccine for tumor specific antigen products will not be diminished.

 

For more information about Cerus Corporation and its claims with respect to Listeria-based technology, you should visit their web site at www.cerus.com or to view its publicly filed documents

Lovaxin has been registered as a trademark in Israel, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

 

The U.S. trademark application for Lovaxin has been allowed by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and is pending. Trademark applications in China and in the European Union for Lovaxin are also pending. The Chinese application was recently published for opposition, and the European Union application has passed through the opposition stage.

 

The Canadian trademark application for Lovaxin has been opposed by Aventis Pharma S.A.  That opposition proceeding is pending.

 

In 2006, Nycomed Pharma, of Sweden, claimed owner of the mark Levaxin, filed an opposition to our CTM (European Union) application to register Lovaxin. The opposition was refused solely on procedural grounds.  If our CTM application is ultimately granted, Nycomed Pharma may file to cancel such registration of Lovaxin. Nycomed Pharma has also demanded that we cease to use Lovaxin in Sweden.

The U.S. trademark applications for Advaxis and for Advaxis and design, Serial Nos. 78/252527 and 78/252586, have been withdrawn. Oppositions to those applications have been terminated in favor of Aventis, Inc.

·    who must be recruited as qualified participants;

·     how often to administer the drug;

·     what tests to perform on the participants; and

 

 

Institutional Review Board (Ethics Committee) . An institutional review board is an independent committee of professionals and lay persons which reviews clinical research studies involving human beings and is required to adhere to guidelines issued by the FDA. The institutional review board does not report to the FDA, but its records are audited by the FDA. Its members are not appointed by the FDA. All clinical studies must be approved by an institutional review board. The institutional review board is convened by the institution where the protocol will be conducted and its role is to protect the rights of the participants in the clinical studies. It must approve the protocols to be used, and then oversees the conduct of the study, including: the communications which the company or contract research organization conducting the study at that specific site proposes to use to recruit participants, and the form of consent which the participants will be required to sign prior to their participation in the clinical studies.

Clinical Trials . Human clinical studies or testing of a potential product prior to Federal approval are generally done in three stages known as Phase I through Phase III testing. The names of the phases are derived from the CFR 21 that regulates the FDA. Generally, there are multiple studies conducted in each phase.

Phase I . Phase I studies involve testing a drug or product on a limited number of healthy participants, typically 24 to 100 people at a time. Phase I studies determine a drug’s basic safety and how the drug is absorbed by, and eliminated from, the body. This phase lasts an average of six months to a year. Cancer drugs, however, are a special case, as they are not given to normal healthy people. Typically, cancer therapeutics are initially tested on very late stage cancer patients.

 

Phase II . Phase II trials involve testing up to 200 participants at a time who may suffer from the targeted disease or condition. Phase II testing typically lasts an average of one to three years. In Phase II, the drug is tested to determine its safety and effectiveness for treating a specific illness or condition. Phase II testing also involves determining acceptable dosage levels of the drug. If Phase II studies show that a new drug has an acceptable range of safety risks and probable effectiveness, a company will continue to review the substance in Phase III studies. It is during phase II that everything that goes into a phase III test is determined.

Phase III . Phase III studies involve testing large numbers of participants, typically several hundred to several thousand persons. The purpose is to verify effectiveness and long-term safety on a large scale. These studies generally last two to six years. Phase III studies are conducted at multiple locations or sites. Like the other phases, Phase III requires the site to keep detailed records of data collected and procedures performed.

New Drug Approval. The results of the clinical trials are submitted to the FDA as part of a new drug application (“NDA”) or Biologics License Application (BLA).   Following the completion of Phase III studies, assuming the sponsor of a potential product in the United States believes it has sufficient information to support the safety and effectiveness of its product, it submits an NDA or BLA to the FDA requesting that the product be approved for marketing. The application is a comprehensive, multi-volume filing that includes the results of all preclinical and clinical studies, information about the drug’s composition, and the sponsor’s plans for producing, packaging, labeling and testing the product. The FDA’s review of an application can take a few months to many years, with the average review lasting 18 months. Once approved, drugs and other products may be marketed in the United States, subject to any conditions imposed by the FDA.

Phase IV . The FDA may require that the sponsor conduct additional clinical trials following new drug approval. The purpose of these trials, known as Phase IV studies, is to monitor long-term risks and benefits, study different dosage levels or evaluate safety and effectiveness. In recent years, the FDA has increased its reliance on these trials. Phase IV studies usually involve thousands of participants. Phase IV studies also may be initiated by the company sponsoring the new drug to gain broader market value for an approved drug. For example, large-scale trials may also be used to prove effectiveness and safety of new forms of drug delivery for approved drugs. Examples may be using an inhalation spray versus taking tablets or a sustained-release form of medication versus capsules taken multiple times per day.

The drug approval process is time-consuming, involves substantial expenditures of resources, and depends upon a number of factors, including the severity of the illness in question, the availability of alternative treatments, and the risks and benefits demonstrated in the clinical trials.

 

 

On November 21, 1997, former President Clinton signed into law the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act. That act codified the FDA’s policy of granting "Fast Track" approval for cancer therapies and other therapies intended to treat serious or life threatening diseases and that demonstrate the potential to address unmet medical needs. The Fast Track program emphasizes close, early communications between FDA and the sponsor to improve the efficiency of preclinical and clinical development, and to reach agreement on the design of the major clinical efficacy studies that will be needed to support approval. Under the Fast Track program, a sponsor also has the option to submit and receive review of parts of the NDA or BLA on a rolling schedule approved by FDA, which expedites the review process.

The FDA’s Guidelines for Industry Fast Track Development Programs require that a clinical development program must continue to meet the criteria for Fast Track designation for an application to be reviewed under the Fast Track Program. Previously, the FDA approved cancer therapies primarily based on patient survival rates or data on improved quality of life. While the FDA could consider evidence of partial tumor shrinkage, which is often part of the data relied on for approval, such information alone was usually insufficient to warrant approval of a cancer therapy, except in limited situations. Under the FDA’s new policy, which became effective on February 19, 1998, Fast Track designation ordinarily allows a product to be considered for accelerated approval through the use of surrogate endpoints to demonstrate effectiveness. As a result of these provisions, the FDA has broadened authority to consider evidence of partial tumor shrinkage or other surrogate endpoints of clinical benefit for approval. This new policy is intended to facilitate the study of cancer therapies and shorten the total time for marketing approvals. Under accelerated approval, the manufacturer must continue with the clinical testing of the product after marketing approval to validate that the surrogate endpoint did predict meaningful clinical benefit. To the extent applicable we intend to take advantage of the Fast Track programs to obtain accelerated approval on our future products; however, it is too early to tell what effect, if any, these provisions may have on the approval of our product candidates.

The Orphan Drug Act provides incentives to develop and market drugs (“Orphan Drugs”) for rare disease conditions in the United States. A drug that receives Orphan Drug designation and is the first product to receive FDA marketing approval for its product claim is entitled to a seven-year exclusive marketing period in the United States for that product claim. A drug which is considered by the FDA to be different than such FDA-approved Orphan Drug is not barred from sale in the United States during such exclusive marketing period even if it receives approval for the same claim. We can provide no assurance that the Orphan Drug Act’s provisions will be the same at the time of the approval, if any, of our products.

Other Regulations

Various Federal and state laws, regulations, and recommendations relating to safe working conditions, laboratory practices, the experimental use of animals, and the purchase, storage, movements, import, export, use, and disposal of hazardous or potentially hazardous substances, including radioactive compounds and infectious disease agents, are used in connection with our research or applicable to our activities. They include, among others, the United States Atomic Energy Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and Resources Conservation and Recovery Act, national restrictions on technology transfer, import, export, and customs regulations, and other present and possible future local, state, or federal regulation. The extent of governmental regulation which might result from future legislation or administrative action cannot be accurately predicted.

Manufacturing

The FDA requires that any drug or formulation to be tested in humans be manufactured in accordance with its Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) regulations. This has been extended to include any drug which will be tested for safety in animals in support of human testing. The GMPs set certain minimum requirements for procedures, record-keeping, and the physical characteristics of the laboratories used in the production of these drugs.

We have entered into a Long Term Vaccine Supply Agreement with Cobra Biomanufacturing PLC for the purpose of manufacturing our vaccines. Cobra has extensive experience in manufacturing gene therapy products for investigational studies. Cobra is a full service manufacturing organization that manufactures and supplies DNA-based therapeutics for the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. These services include the GMP manufacturing of DNA, recombinant protein, viruses, mammalian cells products and cell banking. Cobra’s manufacturing plan for us calls for several manufacturing stages, including process development, manufacturing of non-GMP material for toxicology studies and manufacturing of GMP material for the Phase I trial.

 

Competition

The biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapid technological developments and a high degree of competition.   As a result, our actual or proposed products could become obsolete before we recoup any portion of our related research and development and commercialization expenses. The biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries are highly competitive, and this competition comes from both from biotechnology firms and from major pharmaceutical and chemical companies, including Antigenics, Inc., Avi BioPharma, Inc., Biomira, Inc., Cerus Corporation, Dendreon Corporation, Epimmune, Inc., Genzyme Corp., Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Vical Incorporated each of which is pursuing cancer vaccines. Many of these companies have substantially greater financial, marketing, and human resources than we do (including, in some cases, substantially greater experience in clinical testing, manufacturing, and marketing of pharmaceutical products). We also experience competition in the development of our products from universities and other research institutions and compete with others in acquiring technology from such universities and institutions. In addition, certain of our products may be subject to competition from products developed using other technologies, some of which have completed numerous clinical trials.

We expect that our products under development and in clinical trials will address major markets within the cancer sector. Our competition will be determined in part by the potential indications for which drugs are developed and ultimately approved by regulatory authorities. Additionally, the timing of market introduction of some of our potential products or of competitors’ products may be an important competitive factor. Accordingly, the relative speed with which we can develop products, complete preclinical testing, clinical trials and approval processes and supply commercial quantities to market are expected to be important competitive factors. We expect that competition among products approved for sale will be based on various factors, including product efficacy, safety, reliability, availability, price and patent position. See “Business - Research and Development Programs” and “Business - Competition”.

We have become aware of a public company, Cerus Corporation, which has issued a press release claiming to have a proprietary Listeria-based approach to a cancer vaccine. We believe that through our exclusive license with Penn, we have earlier priority filing dates of certain applications and a dominant patent position for the use of recombinant Listeria monocytogenes expressing proteins or tumor antigens as a vaccine for the treatment of infectious diseases and tumors. Based on searches of publicly available databases, we do not believe that Cerus or The University of California Berkeley (which is where Cerus’ consulting scientist works) or any other third party owns any published Listeria patents or has any issued patent claims that might materially negatively affect our freedom to operate our business as currently contemplated in the field of recombinant Listeria monocytogenes.

Cerus has filed an opposition against European Patent Application Number 0790835 (EP 835 Patent) which was granted by the European Patent Office and which is assigned to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and exclusively licensed to us. Cerus’ allegations in the Opposition are that the EP 835 Patent, which claims a vaccine for inducing a tumor specific antigen with a recombinant live Listeria, is deficient because of (i) insufficient disclosure in the specifications of the granted claims, (ii) the inclusion of additional subject matter in the granted claims, and (iii) a lack of inventive steps of the granted claims of the EP 835 Patent.

 

        On November 29, 2006, following oral proceedings, the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office determined that the claims of the patent as granted should be revoked due to lack of inventive step under European Patent Office rules based on certain prior art publications. This decision has no material effect upon our ability to conduct business as currently contemplated.

 

 

        We will review the formal written decision in order to evaluate whether to file an appeal. In the event of an appeal there is no assurance that it will be successful. If such ruling is upheld on appeal, our patent position in Europe may be eroded. The likely result of this decision will be increased competition for us in the European market for recombinant live Listeria based vaccines for tumor specific antigens. Regardless of the outcome, we believe that our freedom to operate in Europe, or any other territory, for recombinant live Listeria based vaccine for tumor specific antigen products will not be diminished.

 

For more information about Cerus Corporation and its claims with respect to Listeria-based technology, you should visit their web site at www.cerus.com or to view its publicly filed documents.

 

Scientific Advisory Board

We maintain a scientific advisory board consisting of internationally recognized scientists who advise us on scientific and technical aspects of our business. The scientific advisory board meets periodically to review specific projects and to assess the value of new technologies and developments to us. In addition, individual members of the scientific advisory board meet with us periodically to provide advice in particular areas of expertise. The scientific advisory board consists of the following members, information with respect to whom is set forth below: Yvonne Paterson, Ph.D.; Carl June, M.D.; Pramod Srivastava, Ph.D.; Bennett Lorber, M.D. and David Weiner, Ph.D.

Dr. Yvonne Paterson. For a description of our relationship with Dr. Paterson, please see “Item 1. Business - Partnerships and Agreements”.

Carl June, M.D.  Dr. June is currently Director of Translational Research at the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn, and is an Investigator of the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute. He is a graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He had graduate training in immunology and malaria with Dr. Paul-Henri Lambert at the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland from 1978 to 1979, and post-doctoral training in transplantation biology with Dr. E. Donnell Thomas at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle from 1983 to 1986. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology. Dr. June founded the Immune Cell Biology Program and was head of the Department of Immunology at the Naval Medical Research Institute from 1990 to 1995. Dr. June rose to Professor in the Departments of Medicine and Cell and Molecular Biology at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland before assuming his current positions as of February 1, 1999. Dr. June maintains a research laboratory that studies various mechanisms of lymphocyte activation that relate to immune tolerance and adoptive immunotherapy.

Pramod Srivastava, Ph.D. Dr. Srivastava is Professor of Immunology at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, where he is also Director of the Center for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Infectious Diseases. He holds the Physicians Health Services Chair in Cancer Immunology at the University. Professor Srivastava is the Scientific Founder of Antigenics, Inc. He serves on the Scientific Advisory Council of the Cancer Research Institute, New York, and was a member of the Experimental Immunology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Government (1994 to 1999). He serves presently on the Board of Directors of two privately held companies: Ikonisys (New Haven, Connecticut) and CambriaTech (Lugano, Switzerland). In 1997, he was inducted into the Roll of Honor of the International Union Against Cancer and was listed in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering. He is among the 20 founding members of the Academy of Cancer Immunology, New York. Dr. Srivastava obtained his bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry and a master’s degree in botany (paleontology) from the University of Allahabad, India. He then studied yeast genetics at Osaka University, Japan. He completed his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India, where he began his work on tumor immunity, including identification of the first proteins that can mediate tumor rejection. He trained at Yale University and Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research. Dr. Srivastava has held faculty positions at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Fordham University in New York City.

Bennett Lorber, M.D. Dr. Lorber attended Swarthmore College where he studied zoology and art history. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and did his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in infectious diseases at Temple University, following which he joined the Temple faculty. At Temple he rose through the ranks to become Professor of Medicine and, in 1988, was named the first recipient of the Thomas Durant Chair in Medicine. He is also a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and serves as the Chief of the Section of Infectious Diseases. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a Fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia where he serves as College Secretary and as a member of the Board of Trustees. Dr. Lorber’s major interest in infectious diseases is in human listeriosis, an area in which he is regarded as an international authority. He has also been interested in the impact of societal changes on infectious disease patterns as well the relationship between infectious agents and chronic illness, and he has authored papers exploring these associations. He has been repeatedly honored for his teaching; among his honors are 10 golden apples, the Temple University Great Teacher Award, the Clinical Practice Award from the Pennsylvania College of Internal Medicine, and the Bristol Award from the Infectious Diseases Society of America. On two occasions the graduating medical school class dedicated their yearbook to Dr. Lorber. In 1996 he was the recipient of an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Swarthmore College.

David B. Weiner, Ph.D.   Dr. David Weiner received his B.S in Biology from the State University of New York and performed undergraduate research in the Department of Microbiology, Chaired by Dr. Arnie Levine, at Stony Brook University. He completed his MS. and Ph.D. in Developmental Biology/Immunology from the Children’s Hospital Research Foundation at the University of Cincinnati in 1986. He completed his Post Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1989, under the direction of Dr. Mark Greene. At that time he joined the Faculty at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia. He was recruited back to the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. He is currently an Associate Professor with Tenure in the Department of Pathology, and he is the Associate Chair of the Gene Therapy and Vaccines Graduate Program at the University of Pennsylvania. Of relevance during his career he has worked extensively in the areas of molecular immunology, the development of vaccines and vaccine technology for infectious diseases and in the area of molecular oncology and immune therapy. His laboratory is considered one of the founders of the field of DNA vaccines as his group not only was the first to report on the use of this technology for vaccines against HIV, but was also the first group to advance DNA vaccine technology to clinical evaluation. In addition he has worked on the identification of novel approaches to inhibit HIV infection by targeting the accessory gene functions of the virus. Dr. Weiner has authored over 260 articles in peer reviewed journals and is the author of 28+ awarded US patents as well as their international counterparts. He has served and still serves on many national and international review boards and panels including NIH Study section, WHO advisory panels, the NIBSC, Department of Veterans Affairs Scientific Review Panel, as well as the FDA Advisory panel - CEBR, and AACTG among others. He also serves or has served in an advisory capacity to several Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Companies. Dr. Weiner has, through training of young people in his laboratory, advanced over 35 undergraduate scientists to Medical School or Doctoral Programs and has trained 28 Post Doctoral Fellows and 7 Doctoral Candidates as well as served on 14 Doctoral Student Committees.

 

EMPLOYEES :

As of January 6, 2007, we employ nine employees, all of whom are on a full-time basis. Of these nine employees six employees hold the following degrees: (1 MD, PhD, 4 PhD’s & 1 BS) five serve in the research and one serves in the clinical development areas and three serve in the general and administration area.

Our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Tom Moore joined our company on December 15, 2006. Mr. Roni Appel previously served as our President and Chief Executive Officer during the fiscal year 2006 resigned from this position on December 15, 2006. Mr. Appel still serves as a board of director member and remains as consultant to the company.

Dr. John Rothman serves as our Vice President of Clinical and Officer and joined the company on March 7, 2005. Fred Cobb who serves as our Vice President, Finance and Principal Financial Officer and joined the company on February 20, 2006. Doctor Vafa Shahabi serves as our Director of Research and Development and joined the company on March 1, 2005. Two of our Senior Scientists joined the company from Doctor Paterson’s lab at Penn.

We anticipate increasing the number of employees in the: clinical area and the research and development area to support clinical requirements, and in the general and administrative and business development areas over the next two years.

Compensation of Officers and Directors

The aggregate compensation paid to our directors and executive officers, including stock based compensation but excluding option value, for the ten months ended October 31, 2004 and for the twelve months ended October 31, 2005 and 2006 was approximately $235,000, $669,250 and $1,169,620, respectively. This amount includes $0 set aside or accrued to provide pension, severance, retirement, or similar benefits or expenses, but does not include business travel, relocation, professional and business association dues and expenses reimbursed to office holders and other benefits commonly reimbursed or paid by similarly situated companies. With the exception of Mr. Berman who receives $2,000 a month in company stock at a set price of $0.50 per share, none of our directors so far has received any compensation for his services as a director other than stock options and reimbursement of expenses.

Compensation Committee Interlocks And Insider Participation

There were no interlocking relationships between us and other entities that might affect the determination of the compensation of its directors and executive officers.

 

RISK FACTORS

Risks Specific to Us

We are a development stage company.

We are an early stage development stage company with a history of losses and can provide no assurance as to future operating results. As a result of losses which will continue throughout our development stage, we may exhaust our financial resources and be unable to complete the development of our production. Our deficit will continue to grow during our drug development period.

We have sustained losses from operations in each fiscal year since our inception and losses are expected to continue, due to the substantial investment in research and development, for the next five to ten or more years. At October 31, 2006, we had an accumulated deficit of $9,663,173 and stockholders’ equity deficit of $3,707,141. We expect to spend substantial additional sums on the continued research and development of proprietary products and technologies with no certainty that our products will become commercially viable or profitable as a result of these expenditures.

We will require substantial additional financing in order to meet our business objectives.

Although we believe that the net proceeds received from private placements (i) in November 2004 of the Units of shares of our common stock and of our warrants, and (ii) in February 2006 of our $3,000,000 Debenture will be sufficient to finance our currently planned operations for the near-term (approximately 12 months), such amounts will not be sufficient to meet our longer-term cash requirements or cash requirements for the commercialization of certain products currently in development. We will be required to find additional equity or debt securities or enter into other financial arrangements, including relationships with corporate and other partners, in order to raise substantial additional capital during the five to ten year period of product development and the United States Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) testing through Phase III testing. Depending upon market conditions, we may not be successful in raising sufficient additional capital for our long-term requirements. If we fail to raise sufficient additional financing we will not be able to develop our product candidates, we will be required to reduce staff, reduce or eliminate research and development, slow the development of our product candidates and outsource or eliminate several business functions. Even if we are successful in raising such additional financing, we may not be able to successfully complete planned clinical trials, development, and marketing of all, or of any, of our product candidates. In such event, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. We may be required to reduce our staff, discontinue certain research or development programs of our future products, and cease to operate. We may not be able to conduct clinical trial in Lovaxin C. See Item 6. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Plan of Operations”.

Our limited operating history does not afford investors a sufficient history on which to base an investment decision.

We commenced our Listeria System vaccine development business in February 2002 and have existed as a development stage company since such time. Prior thereto we conducted no business. Accordingly, we have a limited operating history. Investors must consider the risks and difficulties we have encountered in the rapidly evolving vaccine and therapeutic biopharmaceutical industry. Such risks include the following:

 

·	competition from companies that have substantially greater assets and financial resources than we have;

·	need for acceptance of products;

·	ability to anticipate and adapt to a competitive market and rapid technological developments;

·	amount and timing of operating costs and capital expenditures relating to expansion of our business, operations and infrastructure;

·	need to rely on multiple levels of outside funding due to the length of the product development cycles and governmental approved protocols associated with the pharmaceutical industry; and

·	dependence upon key personnel including key independent consultants and advisors.

 

         We cannot be certain that our strategy will be successful or that we will successfully address these risks. In the event that we do not successfully address these risks, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. We may be required to reduce our staff, discontinue certain research or development programs of our future products, and cease to operate. We may not be able to conduct our next Lovaxin C clinical trial.

We can provide no assurance of the successful and timely development of new products.

Our products are at various stages of research and development. Further development and extensive testing will be required to determine their technical feasibility and commercial viability. Our success will depend on our ability to achieve scientific and technological advances and to translate such advances into reliable, commercially competitive products on a timely basis. Vaccine products that we may develop are not likely to be commercially available until five to ten or more years. The proposed development schedules for our products may be affected by a variety of factors, including technological difficulties, proprietary technology of others, and changes in governmental regulation, many of which will not be within our control. Any delay in the development, introduction or marketing of our products could result either in such products being marketed at a time when their cost and performance characteristics would not be competitive in the marketplace or in the shortening of their commercial lives. In light of the long-term nature of our projects, the unproven technology involved and the other factors described elsewhere in “Risk Factors”, there can be no assurance that we will be able to complete successfully the development or marketing of any new products. See Item 1. “Business - Research and Development Program”.

Our research and development expenses are subject to uncertainty.

 

Factors affecting our research and development (or R&D) expenses include, but are not limited to:

 

·	The number of and the outcome of clinical studies we are planning to conduct. For example, our R&D expenses will significantly increase based on the number of late-stage clinical studies which we may be required to conduct;

·

The number of products entering into development from late-stage research. For example, there is no guarantee that internal research efforts will succeed in generating sufficient data for us to make a positive development decision or that an external candidate will be available on terms acceptable to us. Some promising candidates may not yield sufficiently positive preclinical results to meet our stringent development criteria;

·	In-licensing activities, including the timing and amount of related development funding or milestone payments. For example, we may enter into agreements requiring us to pay a significant up-front fee for the purchase of in-process research and development which we may record as an R&D expense;

·	Market conditions. For example when we raise our next round of financing the market conditions may not provide adequate funding.

·	As part of our strategy, we invest in R&D. R&D as a percent of future potential revenues can fluctuate with the changes in future levels of revenue. Lower revenues can lead to more limited spending on R&D efforts; and

·	Future levels of revenue.

 

We are subject to numerous risks inherent in conducting clinical trials.

We must outsource our clinical trials and are in the process of negotiating with third parties to accelerate the completion of our current trial. We are not certain that we will successfully conclude our recruitment for the completion of our clinical trials. Delay in concluding recruitment and such agreements would delay the conclusion of the Phase 1 Trial of Lovaxin C.

 

Agreements with clinical investigators and medical institutions for clinical testing and with other third parties for data management services place substantial responsibilities on these parties, which could result in delays in, or termination of, our clinical trials if these parties fail to perform as expected. For example, if any of our clinical trial sites fail to comply with FDA-approved good clinical practices, we may be unable to use the data gathered at those sites. If these clinical investigators, medical institutions or other third parties do not carry out their contractual duties or obligations or fail to meet expected deadlines, or if the quality or accuracy of the clinical data they obtain is compromised due to their failure to adhere to our clinical protocols or for other reasons, our clinical trials may be extended, delayed or terminated, and we may be unable to obtain regulatory approval for or successfully commercialize Lovaxin C.

 

We, or our regulators may suspend or terminate our clinical trials for a number of reasons. We may voluntarily suspend or terminate our clinical trials if at any time we believe that they present an unacceptable risk to the patients enrolled in our clinical trials. In addition, regulatory agencies may order the temporary or permanent discontinuation of our clinical trials at any time if they believe that the clinical trials are not being conducted in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements or that they present an unacceptable safety risk to the patients enrolled in our clinical trials .

 

Our clinical trial operations are subject to regulatory inspections at any time. If regulatory inspectors conclude that we or our clinical trial sites are not in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements for conducting clinical trials, we may receive reports of observations or warning letters detailing deficiencies, and we will be required to implement corrective actions. If regulatory agencies deem our responses to be inadequate, or are dissatisfied with the corrective actions we or our clinical trial sites have implemented, our clinical trials may be temporarily or permanently discontinued, we may be fined, we or our investigators may be precluded from conducting any ongoing or any future clinical trials, the government may refuse to approve our marketing applications or allow us to manufacture or market our products, and we may be criminally prosecuted.

 

The successful development of biopharmaceuticals is highly uncertain.

 

Successful development of biopharmaceuticals is highly uncertain and is dependent on numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control. Products that appear promising in the early phases of development may fail to reach the market for several reasons including:

·	Preclinical study results that may show the product to be less effective than desired (e.g., the study failed to meet its primary objectives) or to have harmful or problematic side effects;

·

Failure to receive the necessary regulatory approvals or a delay in receiving such approvals. Among other things, such delays may be caused by slow enrollment in clinical studies, length of time to achieve study endpoints, additional time requirements for data analysis, or BLA preparation, discussions with the FDA, an FDA request for additional preclinical or clinical data, or unexpected safety or manufacturing issues.

·	Manufacturing costs, pricing or reimbursement issues, or other factors that make the product uneconomical; and

·	The proprietary rights of others and their competing products and technologies that may prevent the product from being commercialized.

 

Success in preclinical and early clinical studies does not ensure that large-scale clinical studies will be successful. Clinical results are frequently susceptible to varying interpretations that may delay, limit or prevent regulatory approvals. The length of time necessary to complete clinical studies and to submit an application for marketing approval for a final decision by a regulatory authority varies significantly from one product to the next, and may be difficult to predict.

We must comply with significant government regulations.

The research and development, manufacture and marketing of human therapeutic and diagnostic products are subject to regulation, primarily by the FDA in the United States and by comparable authorities in other countries. These national agencies and other federal, state, local and foreign entities regulate, among other things, research and development activities (including testing in animals and in humans) and the testing, manufacturing, handling, labeling, storage, record keeping, approval, advertising and promotion of the products that we are developing. Noncompliance with applicable requirements can result in various adverse consequences, including, delay in approving or refusal to approve product licenses or other applications, suspension or termination of clinical investigations, revocation of approvals previously granted, fines, criminal prosecution, recall or seizure of products, injunctions against shipping products and total or partial suspension of production and/or refusal to allow a company to enter into governmental supply contracts.

 

The process of obtaining requisite FDA approval has historically been costly and time consuming. Current FDA requirements for a new human drug or biological product to be marketed in the United States include: (1) the successful conclusion of preclinical laboratory and animal tests, if appropriate, to gain preliminary information on the product’s safety; (2) filing with the FDA of an Investigational New Drug Application (“INDA”), to conduct human clinical trials for drugs or biologics; (3) the successful completion of adequate and well-controlled human clinical investigations to establish the safety and efficacy of the product for its recommended use; and (4) filing by a Company and acceptance and approval by the FDA of a New Drug Application ("NDA") for a drug product or a "BLA" for a biological product to allow commercial distribution of the drug or biologic. A delay in one or more of the procedural steps outlined above could be harmful to us in terms of getting our product candidates through clinical testing and to market.

 

We can provide no assurance that the Advaxis products will obtain regulatory approval or that the results of clinical studies will be favorable.

We received in February 2006 permission from the appropriate governmental agencies in Israel, Mexico and Serbia to conduct in those countries Phase I clinical testing of Lovaxin C, our Listeria based cancer vaccine which targets cervical cancer in women. However, the testing, marketing and manufacturing of any product for sale or distribution in the United States will require filing with and the approval of the FDA. We cannot predict with any certainty the amount of time necessary to obtain such FDA approval or further approval, if any, from Israel, Mexico or Serbia and whether any such approval will ultimately be granted. Preclinical and clinical trials may reveal that one or more products is ineffective or unsafe, in which event further development of such products could be seriously delayed or terminated. Moreover, obtaining approval for certain products may require the testing on human subjects of substances whose effects on humans are not fully understood or documented. Delays in obtaining FDA or any other necessary regulatory approvals of any proposed product and failure to receive such approvals would have an adverse effect on the product’s potential commercial success and on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, it is possible that a product may be found to be ineffective or unsafe due to conditions or facts which arise after development has been completed and regulatory approvals have been obtained. In this event, we may be required to withdraw such product from the market. To the extent that our success will depend on any regulatory approvals from governmental authorities outside of the United States which perform roles similar to that of the FDA, uncertainties similar to those stated above will also exist. See “Item 1. Business - Governmental Regulation”.

We rely upon patents to protect our technology. We may be unable to protect our intellectual property rights and we may be liable for infringing the intellectual property rights of others.

Our ability to compete effectively will depend on our ability to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies, including the Listeria System, and the proprietary technology of others with which we have entered into licensing agreements. We have licensed eleven patents and fifteen patents are pending from Penn. Further, we rely on a combination of trade secrets and nondisclosure, and other contractual agreements and technical measures to protect our rights in the technology. We depend upon confidentiality agreements with our officers, employees, consultants, and subcontractors to maintain the proprietary nature of the technology. These measures may not afford us sufficient or complete protection, and others may independently develop technology similar to ours, otherwise avoid the confidentiality agreements, or produce patents that would materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations. Such competitive events, technologies and patents may limit our ability to raise funds, prevent other companies from collaborating with us, and in certain cases prevent us from further developing our technology due to third party patent blocking right.

 

We believe that our technology and the technology licensed from Penn do not infringe the rights of others; however, we cannot assure you that the technology licensed from Penn will not, in the future be found to infringe upon the rights of others. We have become aware of a public company, Cerus Corporation, which has issued a press release claiming to have a proprietary Listeria-based approach to a cancer vaccine. We believe that through our exclusive license with Penn, we have earlier priority filing dates of certain applications and a dominant patent position for the use of recombinant Listeria monocytogenes expressing proteins or tumor antigens as a vaccine for the treatment of infectious diseases and tumors. Based on searches of publicly available databases, we do not believe that Cerus or The University of California Berkeley (which is where Cerus’ consulting scientist works) or any other third party owns any published Listeria patents or has any issued patent claims that might materially negatively affect our freedom to operate our business as currently contemplated in the field of recombinant Listeria monocytogenes.

Cerus has filed an opposition against European Patent Application Number 0790835 (EP 835 Patent) which was granted by the European Patent Office and which is assigned to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania and exclusively licensed to us. Cerus’ allegations in the Opposition are that the EP 835 Patent, which claims a vaccine for inducing a tumor specific antigen with a recombinant live Listeria, is deficient because of (i) insufficient disclosure in the specifications of the granted claims, (ii) the inclusion of additional subject matter in the granted claims, and (iii) a lack of inventive steps of the granted claims of the EP 835 Patent.

 

On November 29, 2006, following oral proceedings, the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office determined that the claims of the patent as granted should be revoked due to lack of inventive step under European Patent Office rules based on certain prior art publications. This decision has no material effect upon our ability to conduct business as currently contemplated.

 

We will review the formal written decision in order to evaluate whether to file an appeal. In the event of an appeal there is no assurance that it will be successful. If such ruling is upheld on appeal, our patent position in Europe may be eroded. The likely result of this decision will be increased competition for us in the European market for recombinant live Listeria based vaccines for tumor specific antigens. Regardless of the outcome, we believe that our freedom to operate in Europe, or any other territory, for recombinant live Listeria based vaccine for tumor specific antigen products will not be diminished.

 

Regardless of the outcome, we believe that our freedom to operate in Europe, or any other territory, for recombinant live Listeria based vaccine for tumor specific antigen products will not be diminished. See “Item 1. Partnerships and Agreements-Penn.

 

For more information about Cerus Corporation and its claims with respect to listeria-based technology, you should visit their web site at www.cerus.com or to view its publicly filed documents, www.sec.gov . Others may assert infringement claims against us, and should we be found to infringe upon their patents, or otherwise impermissibly utilize their intellectual property, our ability to continue to use our technology or the licensed technology could be materially restricted or prohibited. If this event occurs, we may be required to obtain licenses from the holders of our intellectual property, enter into royalty agreements or redesign our products so as not to utilize this intellectual property, each of which may prove to be uneconomical or otherwise impossible. Licenses or royalty agreements required in order for us to use this technology may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. These claims could result in litigation, which could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Such competitive events, technologies and patents may limit our ability to raise funds, prevent other companies from collaborating with us, and in certain cases prevent us from further developing our technology due to third party patent blocking right. See Item 1. “Business—Patents and Licenses”.

We are dependent upon our license agreement with Penn, as well as proprietary technology of others.

The manufacture and sale of any products developed by us will involve the use of processes, products or information, the rights to certain of which are owned by others. Although we have obtained licenses with regard to the use of Penn’s patents as described herein and certain of such processes, products and information of others, we can provide no assurance that such licenses will not be terminated or expire during critical periods, that we will be able to obtain licenses for other rights which may be important to us, or, if obtained, that such licenses will be obtained on commercially reasonable terms.

 

If we are unable to maintain and/or obtain licenses, we may have to develop alternatives to avoid infringing or the patents of others, potentially causing increased costs and delays in product development and introduction or preclude the development, manufacture, or sale of planned products. Some of our licenses provide for limited periods of exclusivity that require minimum license fees and payments and/or may be extended only with the consent of the licensor. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to meet these minimum license fees in the future or that these third parties will grant extensions on any or all such licenses. This same restriction may be contained in licenses obtained in the future. Additionally, we can provide no assurance that the patents underlying any licenses will be valid and enforceable. Furthermore, we call to your attention that in 2001 an issue arose regarding the inventorship of U.S. Patent 6,565,852 and U.S. Patent Application No. 09/537,642. These patent rights are included in the patent rights licensed by Advaxis from Penn. It is contemplated by GSK, Penn and us that the issue will be resolved through:  (1) a correction of inventorship to add certain GSK inventors, (2) where necessary and appropriate, an assignment of GSK’s possible rights under these patent rights to Penn, and (3) a sublicense from us to GSK of certain subject matter, which is not central to our business plan. To date, this arrangement has not been finalized and we cannot assure that this issue will ultimately be resolved in the manner described above. See “Item 1. Business - Patents and Licenses”. To the extent any products developed by us are based on licensed technology, royalty payments on the licenses will reduce our gross profit from such product sales and may render the sales of such products uneconomical. See “Item 1. Business - Partnerships and Agreements - Penn”.

For more information about Cerus Corporation and its claims with respect to Listeria-based technology, you should visit their web site at www.cerus.com or to view its publicly filed documents.

We have no manufacturing, sales, marketing or distribution capability and we must rely upon third parties for such.

We do not intend to create facilities to manufacture our products and therefore are dependent upon third parties to do so. We currently have an agreement with Cobra Manufacturing for production of our vaccines for research and development and testing purposes. Our reliance on third parties for the manufacture of our products creates a dependency that could severely disrupt our research and development, our clinical testing, and ultimately our sales and marketing efforts if the source of such supply proves to be unreliable or unavailable. If the contracted manufacturing source is unreliable or unavailable, we may not be able to replace the development of our product candidates, including the clinical testing program, could not go forward and our entire business plan could fail.

If we are unable to establish or manage strategic collaborations in the future, our revenue and product development may be limited.

Our strategy includes eventual substantial reliance upon strategic collaborations for marketing and commercialization of Lovaxin C, and we may rely even more on strategic collaborations for research, development, marketing and commercialization of our other product candidates. To date, we have not entered into any strategic collaborations with third parties capable of providing these services although we have been heavily reliant upon third party outsourcing for our research and development activities. In addition, we have not yet marketed or sold any of our product candidates or entered into successful collaborations for these services in order to ultimately commercialize our product candidates. Establishing strategic collaborations is difficult and time-consuming. Our discussion with potential collaborators may not lead to the establishment of collaborations on favorable terms, if at all. For example, potential collaborators may reject collaborations based upon their assessment of our financial, regulatory or intellectual property position. If we successfully establish new collaborations, these relationships may never result in the successful development or commercialization of our product candidates or the generation of sales revenue. To the extent that we enter into co-promotion or other collaborative arrangements, our product revenues are likely to be lower than if we directly marketed and sold any products that we may develop.

Management of our relationships with our collaborators will require:

·	significant time and effort from our management team;

·	coordination of our research and development programs with the research and development priorities of our collaborators; and

·	effective allocation of our resources to multiple projects.

 

If we continue to enter into research and development collaborations at the early phases of product development, our success will in part depend on the performance of our corporate collaborators. We will not directly control the amount or timing of resources devoted by our corporate collaborators to activities related to our product candidates. Our corporate collaborators may not commit sufficient resources to our research and development programs or the commercialization, marketing or distribution of our product candidates. If any corporate collaborator fails to commit sufficient resources, our preclinical or clinical development programs related to this collaboration could be delayed or terminated. Also, our collaborators may pursue existing or other development-stage products or alternative technologies in preference to those being developed in collaboration with us. Finally, if we fail to make required milestone or royalty payments to our collaborators or to observe other obligations in our agreements with them, our collaborators may have the right to terminate those agreements.

 

We may incur substantial liabilities from any product liability claims if our insurance coverage for those claims is inadequate.

 

         We face an inherent risk of product liability exposure related to the testing of our product candidates in human clinical trials, and will face an even greater risk if the product candidates are sold commercially. An individual may bring a liability claim against us if one of the product candidates causes, or merely appears to have caused, an injury. If we cannot successfully defend ourselves against the product liability claim, we will incur substantial liabilities. Regardless of merit or eventual outcome, liability claims may result in:

·	decreased demand for our product candidates,

·	injury to our reputation,

·	withdrawal of clinical trial participants,

·	costs of related litigation,

·	substantial monetary awards to patients or other claimants,

·	loss of revenues,

·	the inability to commercialize product candidates, and

·	increased difficulty in raising required additional funds in the private and public capital markets.

 

  We currently have insurance covering our clinical trial sites. We do not have product liability insurance because we do not have products on the market.  We intend to obtain insurance coverage and to expand such coverage to include the sale of commercial products if marketing approval is obtained for any of our product candidates. However, insurance coverage is increasingly expensive. We may not be able to maintain insurance coverage at a reasonable cost and we may not be able to obtain insurance coverage that will be adequate to satisfy any liability that may arise.

We may incur significant costs complying with environmental laws and regulations.

We will use hazardous materials, including chemicals and biological agents and compounds that could be dangerous to human health and safety or the environment. As appropriate, we will store these materials and wastes resulting from their use at our or our outsourced laboratory facility pending their ultimate use or disposal. We will contract with a third party to properly dispose of these materials and wastes. We will be subject to a variety of federal, state and local laws and regulations governing the use, generation, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and wastes. We may also incur significant costs complying with environmental laws and regulations adopted in the future.

If we use biological and hazardous materials in a manner that causes injury, we may be liable for damages.

Our research and development and manufacturing activities will involve the use of biological and hazardous materials. Although we believe our safety procedures for handling and disposing of these materials will comply with federal, state and local laws and regulations, we cannot entirely eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from the use, storage, handling or disposal of these materials. We do not carry specific biological or hazardous waste insurance coverage, workers compensation or property and casualty and general liability insurance policies which include coverage for damages and fines arising from biological or hazardous waste exposure or contamination. Accordingly, in the event of contamination or injury, we could be held liable for damages or penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources, and our clinical trials or regulatory approvals could be suspended or terminated.

We need to attract and retain highly skilled personnel; we may be unable to effectively manage growth with our limited resources.

At the date of this report, we have nine employees. We intend to expand our operations and staff as needed. Our new employees may include key managerial, technical, financial, research and development and operations personnel who will not have been fully integrated into our operations. We expect the expansion of our business to place a significant strain on our limited managerial, operational and financial resources. We will be required to expand our operational and financial systems significantly and to expand, train and manage our work force in order to manage the expansion of our operations. Our failure to fully integrate our new employees into our operations could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. Our ability to attract and retain highly skilled personnel is critical to our operations and expansion. We face competition for these types of personnel from other technology companies and more established organizations, many of which have significantly larger operations and greater financial, technical, human and other resources than we have. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining qualified personnel on a timely basis, on competitive terms, or at all. If we are not successful in attracting and retaining these personnel, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations will be materially adversely affected. In such circumstances we may be unable to conduct certain research and development programs, unable to adequately manage our clinical trials of Lovaxin C and other products, and unable to adequately address the management needs of the Company. See “Item 6. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations and Plan of Operations”, “Item 1. Business - Strategy”, and “Business--Employees.”

 

We depend upon our senior management and key consultants and their loss or unavailability could put us at a competitive disadvantage.

 

We depend upon the efforts and abilities of our senior executive, as well as the services of several key consultants, including Yvonne Paterson, Ph.D. The loss or unavailability of the services of any of these individuals for any significant period of time could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations. We have not obtained, do not own, nor are we the beneficiary of, key-person life insurance. See “Item 10. Executive Compensation—Employment Agreements”.

Risks Related to the Biotechnology / Biopharmaceutical Industry

The biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapid technological developments and a high degree of competition. We may be unable to compete with more substantial enterprises. The biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries are characterized by rapid technological developments and a high degree of competition.   Competition in the biopharmaceutical industry is based significantly on scientific and technological factors. These factors include the availability of patent and other protection for technology and products, the ability to commercialize technological developments and the ability to obtain governmental approval for testing, manufacturing and marketing. We compete with specialized biopharmaceutical firms in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, as well as a growing number of large pharmaceutical companies that are applying biotechnology to their operations. Many biopharmaceutical companies have focused their development efforts in the human therapeutics area, including cancer. Many major pharmaceutical companies have developed or acquired internal biotechnology capabilities or made commercial arrangements with other biopharmaceutical companies. These companies, as well as academic institutions and governmental agencies and private research organizations, also compete with us in recruiting and retaining highly qualified scientific personnel and consultants. Our ability to compete successfully with other companies in the pharmaceutical field will also depend to a considerable degree on the continuing availability of capital to us.

We are aware of certain products under development or manufactured by competitors that are used for the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of certain diseases we have targeted for product development. Various companies are developing biopharmaceutical products that potentially directly compete with our product candidates even though their approach to such treatment is different. Several companies, such as Cerus Corporation, in particular, Dandreon Corporation and CancerVax Corporation, are developing cancer vaccines which would be directly competitive with our product candidates. In addition, numerous other companies, many of which have greater financial resources than we do, are actively engaged in the research and development of cancer vaccines, and are in Stage II and Stage III Testing of such products. Such companies include: Antigenics, Inc.; Avi BioPharma, Inc.; Biomira, Inc.; Corixa Corporation; Dendreon Corporation; Epimmune, Inc.; Genzyme Corp.; Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Vical Incorporated; CancerVax Corporation; Genitope Corporation; and Xcyte Therapies, Inc.

We expect that our products under development and in clinical trials will address major markets within the cancer sector. Our competition will be determined in part by the potential indications for which drugs are developed and ultimately approved by regulatory authorities. Additionally, the timing of market introduction of some of our potential products or of competitors’ products may be an important competitive factor. Accordingly, the relative speed with which we can develop products, complete preclinical testing, clinical trials and approval processes and supply commercial quantities to market is expected to be important competitive factors. We expect that competition among products approved for sale will be based on various factors, including product efficacy, safety, reliability, availability, price and patent position. See “Item 1. Business - Research and Development Programs” and “Business - Competition”.

Risks Related to the Securities Markets and Investments in our Common Stock

 

The price of our common stock may be volatile.

 

The trading price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially. The price of the common stock that will prevail in the market after the sale of the shares of common stock by the selling stockholders may be higher or lower than the price you have paid, depending on many factors, some of which are beyond our control and may not be related to our operating performance. These fluctuations could cause you to lose part or all of your investment in our common stock. Those factors that could cause fluctuations include, but are not limited to, the following:

·	price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;

·	fluctuations in stock market prices and trading volumes of similar companies;

·	actual or anticipated changes in our earnings or fluctuations in our operating results or in the expectations of securities analysts;

·	general economic conditions and trends;

·	major catastrophic events;

·	sales of large blocks of our stock;

·	departures of key personnel;

·	changes in the regulatory status of our product candidates, including results of our clinical trials;

·	events affecting Penn or any future collaborators;

·	announcements of new products or technologies, commercial relationships or other events by us or our competitors;

·	regulatory developments in the United States and other countries;

·	failure of our common stock to be listed quoted on the Nasdaq Small Cap Market, American Stock Exchange or other national market system;

·	changes in accounting principles; and

·	discussion of the company or our stock price by the financial and scientific press and in online investor communities.

·	The impact of the embedded conversion feature in the secured convertible debenture.

 

In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been brought against that company. Due to the potential volatility of our stock price, we may therefore be the target of securities litigation in the future. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources from our business.

If additional authorized shares of our common stock available for issuance or shares eligible for future sale were introduced into the market, it could hurt our stock price .

 

We are authorized to issue 500,000,000 shares of common stock. As of December 31, 2006, there were an aggregate of 41,147,363 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding on a fully diluted basis. In addition, 6,959,077 shares of our common stock may be issued upon the exercise of currently outstanding stock options and 25,009,220 shares of common stock may be issued upon the exercise of current outstanding warrants subject to certain restrictions and or dilution clauses. There is a significant amount of additional shares that may be issued as a result of: i. raising of additional funds in the near future at terms that may trigger existing anti-dilutive clauses in certain outstanding warrants and future options awards, ii. the conversion of the remaining $2,575,000 principal amount existing convertible secured debenture. Of the $3,000,000 convertible secured debenture the outstanding principal balance as of December 31, 2006 was $2,575,000. The $425,000 principal amount of the debenture conversion converted into 2,641,940 common shares at an overage of $0.161 per share since inception of the debenture. The future dilution of this conversion due to the embedded conversion and warrants features of this instrument along with the actions of Cornell Capital Partners to hold or sell the shares converted will materially affect the market price as well as the dilution of the other outstanding instruments that may trigger anti-dilutive clauses. We are unable to estimate the amount, timing or nature of future sales of outstanding common stock. Sales of substantial amounts of the common stock in the public market by these holders or perceptions that such sales may take place may lower the common stock’s market price.

Our common stock is considered   to be “ penny stock ” .

Our common stock may be deemed to be “penny stock” as that term is defined in Rule 3a51-1, promulgated under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Penny stocks are stocks:

·	with a price of less than $5.00 per share;

·	that are not traded on a “recognized” national exchange;

·	whose prices are not quoted on the NASDAQ automated quotation system; or

·	of issuers with net tangible assets less than $2,000,000 (if the issuer has been in continuous operation for at least three years) or $5,000,000 (if in continuous operation for less than three years), or with average revenue of less than $6,000,000 for the last three years.

 

Section 15(g) of the Exchange Act and Rule 15g-2 promulgated thereunder require broker-dealers dealing in penny stocks to provide potential investors with a document disclosing the risks of penny stocks and to obtain a manually signed and dated written receipt of the document before effecting any transaction in a “penny stock” for the investor’s account. We urge potential investors to obtain and read this disclosure carefully before purchasing any shares that are deemed to be “penny stock.”

Rule 15g-9 promulgated under the Exchange Act requires broker-dealers in penny stocks to approve the account of any investor for transactions in such stocks before selling any “penny stock” to that investor. This procedure requires the broker-dealer to:

·	obtain from the investor information about his or her financial situation, investment experience and investment objectives;

·	reasonably determine, based on that information, that transactions in penny stocks are suitable for the investor and that the investor has enough knowledge and experience to be able to evaluate the risks of “penny stock” transactions;

·	provide the investor with a written statement setting forth the basis on which the broker-dealer made his or her determination; and

·	receive a signed and dated copy of the statement from the investor, confirming that it accurately reflects the investor’s financial situation, investment experience and investment objectives.

Compliance with these requirements may make it harder for investors in our common stock to resell their shares to third parties. Accordingly, our common stock should only be purchased by investors, who understand that such investment is a long-term and illiquid investment, and are capable of and prepared to bear the risk of holding the common stock for an indefinite period of time.

We will incur increased costs as a result of recently enacted and proposed changes in laws and regulations relating to corporate governance matters.

 

Recently enacted and proposed changes in the laws and regulations affecting public companies, including the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 and rules adopted or proposed by the SEC and by the Nasdaq Stock Market, will result in increased costs to us as we evaluate the implications of these laws and regulations and respond to their requirements. These laws and regulations could make it more difficult or more costly for us to obtain certain types of insurance, including director and officer liability insurance, and we may be forced to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. The impact of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our board of directors, our board committees or as executive officers. We are presently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these laws and regulations and cannot predict or estimate the amount or timing of additional costs we may incur to respond to their requirements.

A limited public trading market may cause volatility in the price of our common stock.

Our common stock began trading on the OTC:BB on July 28, 2005 and is quoted under the symbol ADXS. The quotation of our common stock on the OTC:BB does not assure that a meaningful, consistent and liquid trading market currently exists, and in recent years such market has experience extreme price and volume fluctuations that have particularly affected the market prices of many smaller companies like us. Our common stock is thus subject to this volatility. Sales of substantial amounts of common stock, or the perception that such sales might occur, could adversely affect prevailing market prices of our common stock and our stock price may decline substantially in a short time and our shareholders could suffer losses or be unable to liquidate their holdings. Our stock is thinly traded due to the limited number of shares available for trading on the market thus causing large swing is price.

There is no assurance of an established public trading market.

A regular trading market for our common stock may not be sustained in the future. The NASD has enacted recent changes that limit quotation on the OTC Bulletin Board to securities of issuers that are current in their reports filed with the SEC. The effect on the OTC Bulletin Board of these rule changes and other proposed changes cannot be determined at this time. The OTC Bulletin Board is an inter-dealer, over-the-counter market that provides significantly less liquidity than the NASDAQ Stock Market. Quotes for stocks included on the OTC Bulletin Board are not listed in the financial sections of newspapers as are those for the NASDAQ Stock Market. Therefore, prices for securities traded solely on the OTC:BB may be difficult to obtain and holders of common stock may be unable to resell their securities at or near their original offering price or at any price. Market prices for our common stock will be influenced by a number of factors, including:

·	The issuance of new equity securities pursuant to a future offering;

·	Changes in interest rates;

·	Competitive developments, including announcements by competitors of new products or services or significant contracts, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;

·	Variations in quarterly operating results

·	Change in financial estimates by securities analysts;

·	The depth and liquidity of the market for our common stock;

·	Investor perceptions of our company and the technologies industries generally; and

·	General economic and other national conditions.

Our common stock is quoted on the OTC:BB. In addition we are subject to a covenant to use our best efforts to apply to be listed on the American Stock Exchange or quoted on the Nasdaq National Stock Market.

We may not be able to achieve secondary trading of our stock in certain states because our common stock is not nationally traded.

Because our common stock is not approved for trading on the Nasdaq National Market or listed for trading on a national securities exchange, our common stock is subject to the securities laws of the various states and jurisdictions of the United States in addition to federal securities law. This regulation covers any primary offering we might attempt and all secondary trading by our stockholders. While we intend to take appropriate steps to register our common stock or qualify for exemptions for our common stock, in all of the states and jurisdictions of the United States, if we fail to do so the investors in those jurisdictions where we have not taken such steps may not be allowed to purchase our stock or those who presently hold our stock may not be able to resell their shares without substantial effort and expense. These restrictions and potential costs could be significant burdens on our stockholders.

Our executive officers, directors and principal stockholders control our business and may make decisions that are not in our best interests.

Our officers, directors and principal stockholders, and their affiliates, in the aggregate, beneficially own, as of October 31, 2006, more than one-third of the outstanding shares of our common stock on a fully diluted basis. As a result, such persons, acting together, have the ability to substantially influence all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, including the election and removal of directors and any merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets, and to control our management and affairs. Accordingly, such concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in discouraging a potential acquirer from making a tender offer or otherwise attempting to obtain control of our business, even if such a transaction would be beneficial to other stockholders.

Sales of additional equity securities may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and your rights in us may be reduced.

We expect to continue to incur product development and selling, general and administrative costs, and in order to satisfy our funding requirements, we will need to sell additional equity securities, which may be subject to registration rights. The sale or the proposed sale of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public markets may adversely affect the market price of our common stock and our stock price may decline substantially. Our stockholders may experience substantial dilution and a reduction in the price that they are able to obtain upon sale of their shares. Also, new equity securities issued may have greater rights, preferences or privileges than our existing common stock.

Additional authorized shares of common stock available for issuance may adversely affect the market.

We are authorized to issue 500,000,000 shares of our common stock. As of December 31, 2006, we had 41,147,363 shares of our common stock issued and outstanding, excluding shares issuable upon exercise of our outstanding warrants and options. As of December 31, 2006, we had outstanding 6,959,077 options to purchase shares of our common stock at a weighted exercise price of $0.25 per share and outstanding warrants to purchase 25,009,220 shares of our common stock, with exercise prices ranging from $0.1952 to $0.40 per share. In addition we have reserved 12,334,495 shares of common stock for an issuance upon conversion of principal of and payment of interest on our Debenture at the Fixed Conversion Price of $0.287 per share (larger amounts given the embedded conversion feature and the lower than the Market Conversion Price rather than the Fixed Conversion Price). There are 4,200,000 shares upon exercise A Warrants at a price of $0.287 and 300,000 shares upon exercise B Warrants at a price of $0.344 per share subject to dilution included in the warrants outstanding. Pursuant to our 2004 Stock Option Plan, 2,381,525 shares of common stock are reserved for issuance under the plan. Pursuant to our 2005 Stock Option Plan, 5,600,000 shares of common stock are reserved for issuance under the plan. To the extent the shares of common stock are issued or options and warrants are exercised, holders of our common stock will experience dilution. In addition, in the event of any future financing of equity securities or securities convertible into or exchangeable for, common stock, holders of our common stock may experience dilution.

Shares eligible for future sale may adversely affect the market.

From time to time, certain of our stockholders may be eligible to sell all or some of their shares of common stock by means of ordinary brokerage transactions in the open market pursuant to Rule 144 (“Rule 144”) promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act of 1933”), subject to certain limitations. In general, pursuant to Rule 144, a stockholder (or stockholders whose shares are aggregated) who has satisfied a one-year holding period may, under certain circumstances, sell within any three-month period a number of securities which does not exceed the greater of 1% of the then outstanding shares of common stock or the average weekly trading volume of the class during the four calendar weeks prior to such sale. Rule 144 also permits, under certain circumstances, the sale of securities, without any limitations, by a non-affiliate of our company who has satisfied a two-year holding period. Any substantial sale of our common stock pursuant to Rule 144 or pursuant to any resale prospectus may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities.

An aggregate of 47,841,513 shares of common stock are registered under the Securities Act under the registration statement filed on April 19, 2006 for reoffering by a selling stockholder upon conversion of principal and interest on Debentures and exercise of the warrants subject to its agreement not to acquire shares upon conversion or exercise if it would result in it and its affiliates owning more than 4.9% of our then outstanding shares. 56,730,045 shares of common stock are also registered with the SEC for reoffering by other selling stockholders of which 18,961,113   shares are to be offered for resale upon exercise of warrants. These shares would otherwise be eligible for future sale under Rule 144 after passage of the minimum one year holding period for holders who are not officers, directors or affiliates of the Company. The registration and subsequent sales of such shares of common stock will likely have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock.

 

Our Articles of Incorporation provide for the authorization of 5,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock. Pursuant to our Articles of Incorporation, our Board of Directors is authorized to issue such “blank check” preferred stock with rights that are superior to the rights of stockholders of our common stock, at a purchase price then approved by our Board of Directors, which purchase price may be substantially lower than the market price of shares of our common stock, without stockholder approval. We are able to issue shares of preferred stock with rights superior to those of holders of our common stock. Such issuances can dilute the tangible net book value of shares of our common stock. However, we have agreed not to issue without the consent of the Debenture holder any shares of preferred stock or common stock at a price less than the closing bid price of a share of our common stock as long as there is outstanding at least $500,000 principal amount of the Debenture.

The conversion of the Debentures could encourage short sales by third parties, which could contribute to the future decline of our stock price and materially dilute existing stockholders' equity and voting rights.

The conversion of the Debentures into common stock has the potential to cause significant downward pressure on the price of our common stock. This is particularly the case if the shares being placed into the market following conversion exceed the market's ability to absorb the increased number of shares. Such an event could place further downward pressure on the price of our common stock, presenting an opportunity to short sellers and others to contribute to the future decline of our stock price. If there are significant short sales of our stock, the price decline that would result from this activity will cause the share price to decline more so, which, in turn, may cause long holders of the stock to sell their shares thereby contributing to sales of stock in the market. If there is an imbalance on the sell side of the market for the stock, our stock price will decline. If this occurs, the number of shares of our common stock that is issuable upon conversion of the Debentures issued in February 2, 2006 and March 8, 2006 will increase, which will materially dilute existing stockholders' equity and voting rights. See Financial Footnotes Secured Convertible Debenture.

   

We are able to issue shares of preferred stock with rights superior to those of holders of our common stock. Such issuances can dilute the tangible net book value of shares of our common stock.

Our Certification of Incorporation provide for the authorization of 5,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock. Pursuant to our Certificate of Incorporation, our Board of Directors is authorized to issue such “blank check” preferred stock with rights that are superior to the rights of stockholders of our common stock, at a purchase price then approved by our Board of Directors, which purchase price may be substantially lower than the market price of shares of our common stock, without stockholder approval.

We do not intend to pay dividends.

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our securities. We currently intend to retain our earnings for funding growth and, therefore, do not expect to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future.