Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : IMMULOGIC -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (281)	6/15/1999 8:24:00 PM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 305

Tuesday June 15, 4:45 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc Cantab's Anti Cocaine Vaccine Demonstrates Safety and Immunogenicity in Phase I Trial - Results Presented at The 61st Annual Scientific Meeting of The American College on Problems of Drug Dependence - CAMBRIDGE, England, June 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: CNTBY; LSE: CTB) today announced findings from a Phase I clinical trial with its anti cocaine vaccine, TA-CD. The principal investigator, Thomas Kosten, MD, (VA Medical Center, West Haven, Connecticut) presented results at the 61st Annual Scientific Meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) in Acapulco, Mexico. The trial, designed to demonstrate the safety and immunogenicity of TA-CD, was a double blind placebo-controlled dose escalation study run at a drug rehabilitation facility in New England, USA. Thirty-four subjects, all with a history of cocaine addiction, were enrolled in the trial. The trial protocol involved three injections of vaccine at four-weekly intervals. Key findings from the trial included: TA-CD was shown to have a positive safety and tolerability profile. No serious vaccine-associated adverse events were reported. All patients receiving the active vaccine mounted an antibody response that was dose related. Antibody responses persisted to at least day 84. This antibody was shown to be capable of recognizing free cocaine in the blood. ''We were encouraged by the evidence that the vaccine was very well tolerated and able to generate sustained antibody responses at all dose levels,'' said Dr. Kosten. ''I am very keen to see this vaccine development program move forward into more advanced trials. TA-CD offers the potential for a new and highly viable approach to a very serious problem for which there are no alternative pharmacotherapies available.'' This Phase I trial received funding support from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), one of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. ''These encouraging early clinical data with TA-CD broadly endorse the scientific rationale of our substance addiction vaccine programs,'' said John St Clair Roberts, MD, Medical Director at Cantab. ''With this initial success as a platform, we look forward to progressing not only TA-CD into Phase II trials, but also moving TA-NIC, our anti nicotine vaccine candidate based on the same scientific strategy, swiftly through Phase I.'' A randomized placebo-controlled Phase II clinical trial is planned to commence in the second half of 1999. In addition to providing further information on product safety and immunogenicity, it will aim to evaluate the effect of TA-CD on reducing patient cocaine use. Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc, based in Cambridge, UK, was established in 1989 to exploit advances in immunology. Cantab has become a leader in the field of immunotherapy, developing novel products for the treatment and prevention of chronic infectious diseases, cancer and substance addiction through use of its proprietary antigen and gene delivery systems. SOURCE: Cantab Pharmaceuticals plc