Gritstone Oncology Receives Notice of Allowance from U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on its Core Patent Application for Tumor Antigen Prediction Model

Gritstone to be Issued Patent for its EDGE™ Deep Learning Model to Identify Neoantigens for Inclusion in Personalized Cancer Immunotherapies

EMERYVILLE, Calif., May 7, 2018 – Gritstone Oncology, Inc., an immuno-oncology company developing personalized cancer immunotherapies to fight multiple cancer types, announced today that that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for Gritstone’s patent application, “Neoantigen identification, manufacture, and use” 2017/0212984 for its EDGE™ (Epitope Discovery in cancer GEnomes) technology, a deep learning model designed to identify neoantigens for inclusion in personalized cancer immunotherapies.

The allowed patent application covers the use of the EDGE™ technology, particularly where the model was trained using mass spectrometry data. In this allowed patent application, which will result in an issued patent in the coming weeks, Gritstone’s deep learning platform has demonstrated significant innovation over existing prediction tools. Gritstone’s use of the EDGE™ technology meaningfully increases the odds that the neoantigens selected for inclusion in an immunotherapy will elicit anti-tumor immunity. Any company seeking to use mass spectrometry as a basis to improve neoantigen prediction will need to address this allowed application in their future development plans.

“We have been focused on building a best-in-class neoantigen prediction model since day one of Gritstone’s existence,” said Andrew Allen, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Gritstone, “and we are happy to now have a robust model that is ready for clinical application following our expected IND submission in the second half of 2018. A good prediction model is key to the success of our neoantigen-based immunotherapy, and we have been pioneering the application of mass spectrometry and deep learning tools to this complex and clinically important biological problem. We are very pleased to have received this Notice of Allowance from the USPTO, as we work to enhance treatment options for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.”

About Gritstone Oncology, Inc.

Gritstone is a privately-held company developing personalized cancer immunotherapies to fight multiple cancer types. Gritstone brings together distinguished scientific founders, an experienced and diverse management team, a seasoned and successful board of directors and deep financial backing to tackle fundamental challenges at the intersection of cancer genomics, immunology, and immunotherapy design. The Company’s goal is to extend the benefits of immunotherapy by leveraging new insights into the immune system’s ability to destroy cancer cells, based on the study of patients treated with checkpoint inhibitors such as PD-(L)1 monoclonal antibodies. Gritstone’s approach seeks to generate a therapeutic immune response in these patients by unleashing the demonstrated natural power of a patient’s own immune system to recognize tumor-specific neoantigens, or TSNA, in order to destroy tumor cells. The importance of TSNA as targets for the immune system was first recognized in 2014 and 2015 by two of our co-founders, Dr. Timothy Chan and Dr. Naiyer Rizvi. Leveraging these insights, Gritstone has built a personalized immunotherapy approach on two key pillars—first, through its proprietary Gritstone EDGE™ artificial intelligence-based platform, conferring a powerful ability to predict, from a routine tumor biopsy, the TSNA that are presented on a patient’s tumor cells; and second, Gritstone’s ability to develop and manufacture a potent immunotherapy utilizing a patient’s unique TSNA to drive the patient’s immune system to attack and destroy tumors. Gritstone is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area with key functions located in Cambridge, MA and Pleasanton, CA. The company launched in August 2015 and has received funding from leading blue-chip biotechnology investors, including Versant Ventures, The Column Group, Clarus, Frazier Healthcare Partners, Lilly Asia Ventures, GV, Redmile Group and Casdin Capital. More information can be found at www.gritstone.com or @gritstoneonc.

Media Contact:
Dan Budwick 
1AB Media 
dan@1abmedia.com