Bellicum Recommended For $16.9 Million Award From The Cancer Prevention And Research Institute Of Texas

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:BLCM), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel cellular immunotherapies for cancers and orphan inherited blood disorders, today announced that the Company received notice of a Product Development award totaling approximately $16.9 million from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (“CPRIT”) to support clinical studies of its lead product candidate BPX-501.

“We are proud to have been approved by CPRIT and its Oversight Committee for this award to help accelerate the clinical development of BPX-501 and rimiducid in hematologic cancers”

Assuming successful contract negotiations and execution, the CPRIT award would fund a portion of a three-year global clinical program comprising clinical trials for adult and pediatric patients with high- and intermediate-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The proposed studies are designed to evaluate the benefit of BPX-501 and rimiducid in the context of in vivo and ex vivo T-cell depleted haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT).

“We are proud to have been approved by CPRIT and its Oversight Committee for this award to help accelerate the clinical development of BPX-501 and rimiducid in hematologic cancers,” said Tom Farrell, President and CEO of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. “Patients with higher risk AML have very limited treatment options, and we’ve seen promising early results with BPX-501 in pediatric AML patients. The CPRIT award proceeds would allow us to more fully evaluate whether BPX-501 can improve haploidentical transplant outcomes in higher risk AML patients.”

About CPRIT

To date, CPRIT has awarded $1.67 billion in grants to Texas researchers, institutions and organizations. CPRIT provides funding through its academic research, prevention, and product development research programs. Programs made possible with CPRIT funding have reached all 254 counties of the state, brought more than 110 distinguished researchers to Texas, advanced scientific and clinical knowledge, and provided more than three million life-saving education, training, prevention and early detection services to Texans.

About Bellicum Pharmaceuticals

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

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Bellicum may, in some cases, use terms such as "predicts," "believes," "potential," "proposed," "continue," “designed,” "estimates," "anticipates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "may," "could," "might," "will," "should" or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things: our research and development activities relating to BPX-501, rimiducid, CAR-T and TCR programs; the success of our contract negotiation with CPRIT and our acceptance of the award; the effectiveness of BPX-501, its possible range of application and potential curative effects and safety in the treatment of diseases including as compared to other treatment options and competitive therapies; the timing and success of our clinical trials, including the rate and progress of enrollment in our clinical trials, such as our planned AML trial; and, the timing of regulatory filings for BPX-501 and for rimiducid. Various factors may cause differences between Bellicum’s expectations and actual results as discussed in greater detail under the heading “Risk Factors” in Bellicum’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. Any forward-looking statements that Bellicum makes in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. Bellicum assumes no obligation to update our forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date of this press release.