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Archived Press Releases
Recruitment
to the prostate cancer vaccine trial has closed (March 2003)
Prostate Cancer Vaccine Trial Set to Expand
Novel therapeutic vaccine trial to enrol
additional 30 prostate cancer patients at St. George's Hospital
Medical School
London, 30 May 2002 - A clinical trial of a novel therapy for prostate
cancer at St. George’s Hospital Medical School is being expanded
to accommodate a wider range of patients. The study will now enrol
60 prostate cancer patients in a Phase II clinical trial of Onyvax-P,
a therapeutic cancer vaccine designed to stimulate patients’
immune systems to specifically attack their cancer.
The Phase II trial is being expanded to include an additional 30
patients who have failed hormone therapy (with rising levels of
Prostate Specific Antigen, or PSA, the blood marker of prostate
cancer) and who have disease that has spread and can be seen on
scans. Recruitment of an earlier trial group of 30 patients who
have rising PSA levels but no evidence of disease spread was initiated
in January 2002 and is due for completion this summer; clinical
results are expected in 2003. All study participants will receive
the vaccine therapy for a period of 12 months and will be followed
up for a further 12-month period.
Evidence to date suggests that the immune system can selectively
identify and attack cancerous cells which carry unique markers.
The new vaccine treatment focuses the immune system on these markers
with the aim of destroying cancer cells without the severe side
effects often associated with conventional cancer treatments.
“New treatments are clearly necessary for prostate cancer,
and evidence suggests the disease may be amenable to this immunotherapy
approach,” commented Dr Hardev Pandha, lead investigator
of the study at St. George’s Hospital Medical School. “We
are encouraged by earlier results with similar vaccines, where data
suggest the drug was able to generate an immune response against
the cancer with an excellent side effect profile. We hope this will
translate into improved patient outcome in the current Phase II
study and have now expanded our trial in order to be able to be
able to monitor and evaluate a broader patient population.”
Prostate cancer appears set to become the most common male cancer
within three years; some 21,000 men are diagnosed and 9,500 die
annually in the UK. If detected early enough, it can be treated
effectively by surgery or radiotherapy while hormone therapy can
control later stages of the disease.
A confidential help line has been set up for patients to find out
more about potential eligibility for the Onyvax-P trial at 020 8682
9131.
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