Opexa Therapeutics Recognizes World MS Day and Will Present Poster With Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Data …

THE WOODLANDS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Opexa Therapeutics, Inc. (OPXA), a biotechnology company developing a patient specific T-cell immunotherapy for multiple sclerosis (MS), today honored World MS Day with a renewed commitment to the multiple sclerosis community. Opexa will be sponsoring a booth and will be presenting baseline data from its Immune Monitoring Program in a poster session at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) & the Fifth Cooperative Meeting with Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) May 29 June 1 in Orlando, Florida.

Since May 2009, the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF) has organized a World Multiple Sclerosis Day and this year it is being celebrated on May 29th. The purpose of this day is to raise global awareness of MS and how it impacts the lives of those living with the disease and their families.

Multiple Sclerosis affects over 2 million people worldwide. Although much progress has been made in the development of new drugs to treat the Relapsing Remitting form of MS over the past several years, unfortunately, side effects continue to be a concern to many patients. Additionally, while Secondary Progressive MS affects approximately 35% of all people with MS, there still remains very limited treatment options for these patients. Recognizing this, Opexa embarked on a clinical trial for Secondary Progressive MS patients and hopes to bring its lead product candidate, TcelnaTM, to market in an efficient manner.

We can still do a lot more as a community to raise awareness of those suffering from MS, commented Neil K. Warma, President and Chief Executive Officer of Opexa. There is still a great deal that is unknown about the disease and its mechanism of action and further understanding of the immunology behind the disease is required. Additional development of novel, safe and effective therapies is a necessity as side effects continue to plague patients and the current medications to which they have access. At Opexa we remain committed to every MS patient. We are focused on developing Tcelna as a personalized immunotherapy for Secondary Progressive MS and are pleased to play a role in supporting World MS Day. We look forward to speaking with those attending the ACTRIMS symposium who wish to come by the Opexa booth to learn more about MS and Tcelna.

The Companys poster, entitled "Profiling Of Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis By Multicolor Flow Cytometry," will be presented on Saturday, June 1, 2013 from 12:00 pm 2:00 pm EDT. It highlights baseline data from the immune monitoring program that is part of Opexas ongoing Phase 2b Abili-T clinical trial in Secondary Progressive MS patients.

About Opexa

Opexas mission is to lead the field of Precision Immunotherapy by aligning the interests of patients, employees and shareholders. The Companys leading therapy candidate, Tcelna, is a personalized T-cell immunotherapy that is in a Phase IIb clinical development program (the Abili-T trial) for the treatment of Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis. Tcelna is derived from T-cells isolated from the patients peripheral blood, expanded ex vivo, and reintroduced into the patients via subcutaneous injections. This process triggers a potent immune response against specific subsets of autoreactive T-cells known to attack myelin.

About Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic, inflammatory condition of the central nervous system and is the most common, non-traumatic, disabling neurological disease in young adults. It is estimated that approximately two million people have MS worldwide.

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Opexa Therapeutics Recognizes World MS Day and Will Present Poster With Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis Data ...