Onyvax and University of Michigan Develop
PSA Expressing Cell Lines for Prostate Cancer Vaccine Research
London, UK – 29 March, 2004: Onyvax Limited, the biotechnology
company developing novel cancer therapies, and the University
of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center announced the development
of two novel metastatic prostate cancer cell lines for the development
of Cell Vaccines at the 95th annual meeting of the American Association
for Cancer Research (AACR), taking place in Orange County, Orlando
from 27-31 March 2004.
The cell lines are particularly valuable because they are derived
from metastatic deposits of prostate cancer and express prostate
specific antigen (PSA). Very few prostate cell lines have been
developed, the majority of which are derived from primary tissue
and do not express PSA. These new cell lines therefore represent
an invaluable resource for understanding basic prostate cancer
biology and may also form the basis of second generation, improved
performance Cell Vaccines to treat the disease.
Dr. Anthony Walker, CEO of Onyvax Ltd, said: "These cell
lines and clones thereof are ideal candidates for future allogenic
prostate cancer vaccines, particularly because of their PSA and
other antigen expression, growth kinetics and scalability. This
work would not have been possible without the world class scientific
expertise and resources of our collaborators at the University
of Michigan”
Professor Ken Pienta, Professor of Internal Medicine and Urology
at University of Michigan, said “These cell lines will
be useful additions to the existing models of prostate cancer
and may enable more advanced studies into the mechanisms of prostate
cancer progression and metastasis. Furthermore, they may have
considerable therapeutic potential as components of a vaccine
to treat prostate cancer.”
Onyvax is developing a number of cancer vaccines including Onyvax-P,
a Cell Vaccine for the treatment of prostate cancer. Interim
data from a Phase II clinical trial has shown that treatment
with Onyvax-P slows down the rate of PSA release in men with
hormone resistant prostate cancer and may also slow down the
rate of disease progression. Onyvax expects to release final
data from this trial later this year and is preparing to initiate
phase III pivotal clinical trials within the next year.
For further information, please contact:
Onyvax
Dr Anthony Walker / Rob Johnson
+44 (0)20 8682 9119
Financial Dynamics
Francetta Carr / Lucy Briggs
+44 (0)20 7831 3113
