Strong results from Australian cancer vaccine trials.

2002 DEC 18 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Australian Cancer Technology, Ltd. (AustCancer) (ACU) has announced achievement of a major milestone in phase Ib/IIa clinical trials of its Pentrix anticancer vaccine at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney.

The results will enable the company to proceed to the next stage of development of Pentrix, which is a potentially important treatment in the fight against cancer.

Pentrix is an "anti-idiotypic" (molecular mimic technology) vaccine that is intended to induce the body's immune system to attack tumors. All five patients who have completed the multidose trial to date have produced a strong immune response, giving the first indications of the potential clinical efficacy of the vaccine. This immune response is judged by the production of specific antibodies and T-cells in response to the vaccine.

Pentrix differs from other vaccines in development in that it can be used in up to 50% of all cancer patients across a broad spectrum of cancer types. Most other developmental vaccines are designed to treat one specific type of cancer and many use a patient's own cells and are therefore individually tailored for each patient.

"These results are extremely pleasing," said Dr. Roger Aston, chairman of AustCancer. "This is the first successful trial of a human-derived vaccine of this type and represents a major advance towards demonstrating that the Pentrix technology may be an effective treatment of cancer in man."

The success of the trial has generated new information that will result in the lodgment of additional patents further strengthening the intellectual property position and expanding the utility of the technology.

Five patients have completed the phase Ib/IIa trial and a further ...