Maybe this will growth further.
Monday May 20, 8:44 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Aphton Corporation
Interim Gastric Cancer Impressive Results Presented At ASCO From Aphton Phase II Trial
ORLANDO, Fla.--(BW HealthWire)--May 20, 2002--Aphton Corporation (Nasdaq:APHT - News) - At the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, FL, on Sunday, May 19, 2002, investigators from the UCLA Jonnson Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, CA and the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, presented further impressive interim results from a Phase II clinical trial with previously untreated patients diagnosed with metastatic stomach cancer. The patients were treated with Aphton's anti-gastrin immunogen (G17DT) and chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin and 5FU.
Of the 36 reported and audited evaluable patients (20% more patients than previously reported), one patient had a complete response (no detectable residual tumor) and 18 had a partial response (tumor shrinkage of 50% or more) for an overall response rate of 53%. This is the highest overall response rate yet reported for this combination therapy. Of the balance, 11 patients had stable disease (SD), so that the combined tumor response rate and stable disease was 84%. These results compare favorably with the only large, randomized, phase III trial with cisplatin plus 5 FU/Leucovorin for patients with advanced gastric cancer, which reported a tumor response rate of 20%. Aphton's anti-gastrin targeted immunotherapy adds a biological dimension to the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.
On Friday, May 17, 2002, a special symposium was held by Aventis (AVE), a major pharmaceutical company and Aphton's strategic partner for treating cancers with Aphton's G17DT. Jaffer Ajani, MD, of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas and a leading authority worldwide on gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, described the molecular and biological, central role of gastrin and gastrin receptors in the development, growth, proliferation and metastasis of adenocarcinomas of the GI tract. Noting that there is no approved therapy currently available and that chemotherapy is considered only palliative, Dr. Ajani discussed the inhibition of the growth and spread of these cancers, in vitro, in vivo, and presented the above described audited interim results of the clinical trial with patients with metastatic stomach cancer who were treated with Aphton's G17DT and chemotherapy consisting of cisplatin and 5FU.
On Monday, May 20, 2002, investigators from the University of Nottingham, UK, and the Derbshire Royal Infirmary, UK, presented the results from a phase II study with patients with histologically proven stage IV gastric cancer who were treated with Aphton's G17DT, but with no chemotherapy administered. Of the 10 evaluable patients, the median survival was 7.1 months, which the investigators said compared to a median survival of 4.8 months in previous studies for such stage IV gastric cancer patients (a 48% median survival benefit).
Concurrently, investigators from the University of Nottingham presented results from in vitro and in vivo pancreatic cancer cell line studies, with Aphton's G17DT in combination with gemcitabine. In the in vivo study, with tumor weight as the principal measure, the combined benefit was a reduction of tumor weight of 55%, a statistically significant (p=0.025), 45% benefit over that with gemcitabine alone. The investigators concluded: "Anti-G17DT antibodies provide an additional anti-tumour effect over that which can be achieved by gemcitabine alone in the treatment of pancreatic cancer." |
