Their cash and equity position in Abgenix is still larger than their market cap. One of these days this science is going to be worth something in terms of their market cap.
CEGE will also be presenting their cancer vaccine results (phase II clinical trials) at ASCO
Cell Genesys Reports Encouraging Preclinical Data for GVAX(R) Vaccine in Acute Leukemia
Studies Demonstrated Improvement in Tumor-Free Survival
FOSTER CITY, Calif., May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Cell Genesys, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEGE - news) collaborators at Johns Hopkins University reported today that in animal studies of
acute leukemia, GVAX© cancer vaccine, administered following bone marrow transplantation, significantly prevented tumor relapse and increased the therapeutic benefit of
transplantation. Tumor-free survival rates were approximately 80 percent in animals receiving the combination of GVAX© vaccine and transplantation, 40 percent in animals
receiving vaccination alone and zero percent in animals receiving neither treatment. Additionally, GVAX© vaccination resulted in the sustained production of an expanded population
of tumor-specific immune cells, thereby redirecting the immune system to recognize and destroy tumor cells. This study, published by Hyam I. Levitsky, M.D., Ivan Borrello, M.D.,
and their colleagues at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the May 15, 2000 issue of the journal, ``Blood,'' provides a model for how to use GVAX© cancer vaccine
following bone marrow transplantation in humans with hematologic cancers such as acute leukemia and multiple myeloma. Human clinical trials for GVAX© vaccine in leukemia
and myeloma are currently planned to start during the next year.
``These preclinical data strongly support the initiation of human clinical trials in GVAX© cancer vaccine following bone marrow transplantation in patients with acute leukemia and
other hematologic malignancies,'' stated Dr. Levitsky, associate professor of oncology and medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. ``Although autologous bone
marrow transplantation is currently employed in the treatment of acute leukemia and multiple myeloma, relapse rates remain unacceptably high. We are encouraged that in these
preclinical studies, GVAX© cancer vaccine not only significantly reduced tumor relapse but also resulted in the generation of a sustained increase in the numbers of antitumor
immune cells, increasing the therapeutic benefit of transplantation.''
In the preclinical study described in the ``Blood'' paper, GVAX© cancer vaccine was administered to two groups of mice -- those which received marrow transplants and those which
did not. It was observed that post-transplant administration of GVAX© generated more effective antitumor immune responses than vaccination in the non-transplant group in several
distinct assays of immune function. It was also reported that GVAX© vaccine resulted in the sustained activation of tumor-specific immune cells and that this effect correlated
closely with improved tumor-free survival in the transplant animals.
Autologous (patient-specific) bone marrow transplantation is currently being used to treat hematologic cancers in order to reduce the bone marrow toxicity of high dose
chemotherapy. In the human trials of GVAX© vaccine in acute leukemia and multiple myeloma that are currently being planned, patients will be treated with chemotherapy to induce
remission and will then be vaccinated before and after autologous bone marrow transplantation. The form of GVAX© vaccines used in these trials will be a mixture of the patient's
irradiated tumor cells collected prior to chemotherapy and a non-patient specific GVAX© product produced at Cell Genesys. The goal of GVAX© vaccine therapy in this setting is
to stimulate an immune response directed against the patient's tumor cells and prolong the remission induced by chemotherapy and transplantation. |
