Pfizer Inc. and Celldex Therapeutics Inc. said 70 percent of patients getting their experimental brain tumor vaccine were alive without their cancer worsening about eight months after diagnosis, a study found.
Cancer typically progresses in about 50 percent of patients during that time period, said Tom Davis, Celldex's chief medical officer. The finding, involving 40 patients, is from an interim analysis of a study by the American Society for Clinical Oncology. The full results will be presented this week at the group's annual meeting in Chicago.
The treatment is designed to ramp up the body's immune response to fight off the tumor. The vaccine targets the molecule called epidermal growth factor receptor variant III, which plays a role in cell growth. The strategy could be applied to breast, ovarian and prostate cancer as well, though none of those indications are in human testing, Celldex said.
In the research, newly diagnosed patients received injections of CDX-110 along with radiation therapy and Merck & Co.'s Temodar until their tumor progressed. All patients received the experimental treatment, rather than giving the medicine to half of the participants while the other half received placebos. Final results from 65 patients enrolled in the trial should be available by year's end, Davis said.
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