Patient access section

Welcome to the patient access section of Prima Biomed's CVac™ Ovarian Cancer Vaccine Trial CAN-003.

Thank you for your interest in Prima Biomed's clinical trial of CVac™, an experimental vaccine treatment which may prevent recurrence of ovarian cancer in patients whose disease is in remission after surgery and/or chemotherapy. If you are a patient recently in remission after chemotherapy, this brief trial outline may be helpful for you. More information is available on the US Government Clinical Trials website. The study is also ongoing in Australia at the Austin Hospital, in Heidelberg, Victoria and the Peter MacCallum Hospital in East Melbourne.

CVac™

CVac™ therapy is a novel investigational vaccine therapy for the treatment of ovarian cancer. The vaccine therapy uses special cells called dendritic cells, taken from the ovarian cancer patient's blood by a process called leukapheresis.The patient’s blood is circulated through a special filter that takes out only the dendritic cells needed to make the vaccine. These cells are multiplied in the laboratory, and then bathed with a protein called mucin-1 which is present in great amounts in the tumors cells. The dendritic cells take up the mucin-1, and are then frozen to be shipped to the physician for administration to the patient. The vaccine is thawed, then injected into the surface of the skin. Once in the skin the dendritic cells activate immune cells called T Cells and program them to find and destroy tumour cells producing the mucin-1 protein.

Clinical Study CAN-003

This clinical study is designed to help oncologists and health authorities understand how effective the vaccine therapy might be in patients with ovarian cancer that is in remission. In some patients, even though the ovarian cancer is in remission, there is still a possibility that some ovarian cancer cells have been left behind. These cells may multiply causing the tumour to reappear. CVac ™ has been designed to try to prevent recurrence of the tumour. The CVac ™ vaccine is prepared individually for each patient, and it is given ten times over a year. This study looks at how long it takes for any cancer cells that may still be in the body to start growing again. The study lasts approximately 2 years for each patient.

If you would like to know more about the study, please contact Dr. Neil Frazer, Chief Medical Officer : +1 919 654 6736, or Neil.Frazer@PrimaBiomed.com.au.




 



09/04/2010