SAN JOSE, Calif., and PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Anixa Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ANIX), a biotechnology company focused on using the body's immune system to fight cancer, today announced it has extended its collaboration with The Wistar Institute and Dmitry I. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D.  Gabrilovich is a pioneer in the field of myeloid-derived suppressor cell (MDSC) biology and its roles in cancer progression and therapy response.  The project is focused on understanding the role of MDSCs and how they can be used in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. 

"We are pleased to continue our collaboration with our long-time partner, The Wistar Institute," stated Amit Kumar, Ph.D., President and CEO of Anixa Biosciences.  "With support from Wistar and in collaboration with their laboratories and personnel, we have made tremendous progress with our Cchek™ cancer detection technology and in gaining a greater understanding of the role of MDSCs in cancer."

"Our joint project has focused on discovering and validating new markers that can identify MDSCs," stated Dmitry I. Gabrilovich, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Leader of the Immunology, Microenvironment and Metastasis Program at The Wistar Institute.  "We are pleased to be continuing this collaboration with Anixa.  Our goal is to continue to understand the behavior of MDSCs, which are now known to play a major role in enabling tumors to evade and escape the immune system."

Heather A. Steinman, Ph.D., M.B.A., Vice President for Business Development and Executive Director for Technology Transfer at The Wistar Institute stated, "Anixa has been a wonderful partner of ours for years, and we are looking forward to continuing our fruitful collaboration."

About The Wistar Institute
The Wistar Institute is an international leader in biomedical research with special expertise in cancer, immunology, infectious disease research, and vaccine development. Founded in 1892 as the first independent nonprofit biomedical research institute in the United States, Wistar has held the prestigious Cancer Center designation from the National Cancer Institute since 1972. The Institute works actively to ensure that research advances move from the laboratory to the clinic as quickly as possible. Wistar's Business Development team is dedicated to advancing Wistar science and technology development through creative partnerships. wistar.org.

About Anixa Biosciences, Inc.
Anixa, a cancer-focused biotechnology company, is harnessing the body's immune system in the fight against cancer.  Anixa is developing both diagnostics and therapeutics to detect cancer early, when it is most curable, and to treat those afflicted once diagnosed.  It is developing the Cchek^TM platform, a series of inexpensive non-invasive blood tests for the early detection of solid tumors, which is based on the body's immune response to the presence of a malignancy.  It is also developing chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) based immuno-therapy drugs which genetically engineer a patient's own immune cells to fight cancer.  Anixa also continually examines emerging technologies in complementary or related fields for further development and commercialization.  Additional information is available at www.anixa.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:  Statements that are not historical fact may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements are not statements of historical facts, but rather reflect Anixa's current expectations concerning future events and results.  We generally use the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "likely," "will" and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements.  Such forward-looking statements, including those concerning our expectations, involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond our control, which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  These risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to, those factors set forth in "Item 1A - Risk Factors" and other sections of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.  We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.  You are cautioned not to unduly rely on such forward-looking statements when evaluating the information presented in this press release. 

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SOURCE Anixa Biosciences, Inc.