Advaxis Appoints Daniel J. O'Connor to Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Business Development Officer

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Advaxis, Inc., (OTCBB: ADXS), a leader in developing the next generation of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases, announced the appointment of Daniel J. O’Connor to the position of Senior Vice President, Chief Legal and Business Development Officer.

“I believe that Advaxis’ future holds tremendous potential”

Thomas Moore, Advaxis’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “We are delighted to welcome Dan O’Connor to Advaxis. Now that our clinical development has reached an advanced stage, his success as a general counsel and in leading business development and licensing negotiations is a timely addition to our management team. We are very fortunate to attract a highly experienced professional of this caliber. It is a significant endorsement of Advaxis’ immunotherapy technology and our potential to unlock unrealized enterprise value.”

Mr. O’Connor, age 48, has fifteen years of executive, legal, and regulatory experience in the biopharmaceutical industry with ImClone Systems, PharmaNet and Bracco Diagnostics.

"I believe that Advaxis’ future holds tremendous potential," said Mr. O’Connor. "I look forward to continuing the company's culture of decisiveness and efficient execution. We will aggressively advance ADXS-HPV and our other pipeline product candidates, while building commercial alliances to both accelerate product development and generate shareholder value."

Joining ImClone in 2003, Mr. O’Connor supported the clinical development, launch, and commercialization of ERBITUX(R). As ImClone’s senior vice president, general counsel, and secretary, he played a key role in resolving numerous issues facing ImClone, including extensive licensing negotiations, in advance of the company being sold to Eli Lilly in 2008.

Prior to joining ImClone, Mr. O’Connor was PharmaNet’s general counsel and instrumental in building the company from a start-up contract research organization to an established world leader in clinical research. Mr. O’Connor was also a criminal prosecutor in New Jersey and gained leadership experience as a Captain in the U.S. Marines, serving in the Persian Gulf in 1990. Most recently, while at Bracco Diagnostics, a large private pharmaceutical and medical device company, Mr. O’Connor was the company’s vice president and general counsel.

About Advaxis, Inc.

Advaxis is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing the next generation of immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases. Advaxis immunotherapies are based on a novel platform technology using live, attenuated bacteria that are bio-engineered to secrete antigen/adjuvant fusion protein(s) designed to redirect the powerful immune response all human beings have to the bacterium to the cancer itself.

In April 2012, Advaxis’ lead construct, ADXS-HPV, was selected as the Best Therapeutic Vaccine (approved or in development) at the 5th Annual Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) Awards by the vaccine industry and the journal Expert Reviews of Vaccines. The ViE awards, sponsored by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, were created to recognize the accomplishments and contributions of companies and individuals in the vaccine industry over the previous 12 months. Additional information is available at the World Vaccine Congress website.

Advaxis’ lead construct, ADXS-HPV, is being evaluated in 4 ongoing clinical trials that are open to enrollment for HPV-associated diseases: CIN 2/3 (US study, Clinical Trials.gov Identifier NCT01116245), locally advanced cervical cancer (GOG/NCI US study, Clinical Trials.gov Identifier NCT01266460), recurrent/refractory cervical cancer (India), and head & neck cancer (CRUK study, Clinical Trials.gov Identifier NCT01598792). Over fifteen (15) distinct constructs are in various stages of development, developed directly by the Company and through strategic collaborations with recognized centers of excellence such as: the National Cancer Institute, Cancer Research – UK, the Wistar Institute, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of British Columbia, the Karolinska Institutet, and others. For more information please visit: advaxis.com | Facebook | twitter | LinkedIn

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: statements as to the anticipated timing of clinical studies and other business developments, statements as to the development of new constructs, expectations as to the adequacy of our cash balances to support our operations for specified periods of time and as to the nature and level of cash expenditures, expectations as to market opportunities, our ability to take advantage of those opportunities, and the risk factors set forth from time to time in Advaxis' SEC filings, including but not limited to its report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended October 31, 2011, which is available at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision to these forward-looking statements which may be made to reflect the events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements.