A classic case of an overlooked Canadian company. Here is some information that you may find handy.
The company's product target markets with significant unmet medical needs in the area of ovarian, breast and gastrointestinal cancer. The potential for each of these markets is in excess of $250 million. The company's products are significantly less toxic than existing treatments and are designed to be used with existing treatment modalities such as Radiation and Chemotherapy. This integrated approach should provide clinical results.
Altarex's plateform technology AIT has generated a number of proprietary lead compounds and in the future will generate additional compounds in combination with radioisotopes and light activated chemicals. This will provide a complete integrated approach to the treatment and management of cancer from pre-surgical cancer detection to long term immunotherapy.
The company has corporate partnerships in place with a number of leading pharmaceutical companies including Draximage Inc., the former radiopharmaceutical division of Merck Frosst Canada Inc. and Medac GmbH, and over the next several months additional partnerships should be in place.
Altarex has alliances with a number of leading research institutions including the University of Alberta, Bonn, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, and Waterloo.
Results from an ongoing evaluation of clinical trials results for Altarex's OVAREX Therapeutic vaccine for ovarian cancer were recently presented at two International Scientific Confewrences. Analysis of the additional survival data from 64 evaluable patients indicated, with high degree of statistical significance (p<0.001), that patients injected with OVAREX had a median survival of 59 months in comparison to a survival of only 39 months for 247 control patients.
The 5 year survival of patients receiving the Vaccine was 40.7% in comparison to 11.4% for those patients receiving conventional chemotherapy. The results also demonstrated the indication of both humoral and cellular responses specific to the ovarian cancer antigen CA125, which also correlated with an increase in the mean survival of the patients. It is the ability to stimulate both of these immune responses that fundamentally distinguishes Altarex's technology from competing immunotherapeutic approaches to the treatment of cancer.
Clinical trial results continue to support Ovarex as a relatively more effective, non-toxic therapy for ovarian cancer. In addition, Altarex scientists arealso developing a new proprietary encapsulation technology which can effectively increase the potency of Ovarex. Recent inducstry findings have demonstrated the potential use of CA 125 as a target antigen for immunotherapy of other forms of cancer, in addition to ovarian cancer, that also express the CA 125 antigen. These findings have powerful implications for Ovarex and suggest that, upon approval for ovarian cancer, this vaccine could potentially be see applicationsfor indications such as breast and lung cancer
Ovarex is currently in Phase II/III clinical trials in Canada, Europe and the United States for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. In order to substantiate clinical trial data to be submitted to regulatory authorities, Altarex is enrolling approximately 200 patients in each of its Canadian and Eurpoean clinical trial studies, while involving a large number of cancer centres across Canada and Europe. The enrollment of additional 200 patients in the U.S. clinical trial will result in one of the largest clinical trial studies for a cancer immunotherapy product. The key to regulatory approval for any new approach to the treatment of cancer is that it demonstrates at least the efficacy of chemotherapy but with fewer side effects. Recently, IDEC pharmaceutical's Rituxan was unanimously recommended for approval by the FDA's biological response modifers advisory commitee (BRMAC) after proving to be at least as efficacious as chemotherapy in the treatment of relapsed or refractory low-grade and follicular non-hodgekin's lymphoma. The approval of Rituxan would represent the first FDA approval of a monoclonal antibody product for cancer, thus validating the immunotherapeutic approach to the treatment of cancer and paving the way for Altarex and other cancer companies with monoclonal antibody-based technologies. European regulatory authorities have agreed to accelerated review of Ovarex upon successful completion of this Phase II/III trial.
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