Trial of Vaccine for Breast and Ovarian Cancer

A clinical trial of a vaccine for breast and ovarian cancer patients has shown that patients receiving the vaccine were more likely to survive and less likely to relapse compared to patients in the control group. The findings were presented at the 9th International Symposium on Recent Advances in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in San Diego (CA, USA). The trial was conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Seattle, WA, USA). The study involved 70 patients with breast or ovarian cancer, who were treated with high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation and the vaccine, called Theratope.

Theratope is based on a plasma-membrane material from malignant white blood cells taken from the patient, designed to cause the body to induce an immune response against cancer cells. Of the 70 patients treated, 45 are still alive, with 31 of those remaining in remission. The first 40 patients commenced treatment in September 1995 and completed treatment in November 1997. The second group of 30 patients began treatment in May 1998 with an optimized formulation of Theratope and finished treatment in November 2000. The optimized formulation is now being used in a phase III trial in women with metastatic breast cancer.

Theratope was developed by Biomira Inc. (Edmonton, Canada), which is specializing in the development of innovative therapeutic approaches to cancer management. "These findings are consistent with earlier studies indicating an apparent survival benefit,” noted Alex McPherson, M.D., president of Biomira.




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