Therapeutic Vaccine for Advanced Colorectal Cancer Said Promising

Avicine®, a therapeutic cancer vaccine designed to stimulate an immune response in patients, has produced encouraging results in patients with late-stage colorectal cancer in a phase II trial, according to a report by researchers in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

Researchers said that in a study of 77 patients with state IV colorectal cancer conducted at 12 clinical sites in the United States, two-thirds of the patients developed higher anti-hCG antibody levels and these patients had a median survival of 45 weeks.

Camptosar®, part of the current standard regimen for treating advanced colorectal cancer, produces a median survival of 37-40 weeks, according to the researchers.

Avicine was well tolerated in this trial and did not produce the severe toxicities associated with standard chemotherapy treatment, the researchers added.

"Stage IV colorectal cancer is one of the toughest forms of cancer to treat; chances of long-term survival for patients at this stage of cancer are not favorable," said Patrick L. Iversen, Senior Vice President of Research and Development of AVI BioPharma, Inc.

"We are encouraged by these results and by the results of our Phase II pancreatic cancer study, and believe that Avicine has a chance of making a real difference in patients with difficult forms of cancer," Iversen added.

Other sources: Clinical Cancer Research, AVI BioPharma