stimuvax?

[sarah]

Lani, anyone heard about this? http://www.oncothyreon.com/clinical/stimuvax.html
health and happiness
sarah

[Jackie07]

Sarah,

I found a couple articles about Stimuvax (L-BLP25) - figured Lani is probably busy with the ASCO conference:

So far it seems to have been evaluated for Non-small Cell Lung Cancer only:

Jpn J Clin Oncol. (javascript:AL_get(this,%20'jour',%20'Jpn%20J%20Cl in%20Oncol.');) 2011 May;41(5):718-22. Epub 2011 Mar 9.
Safety of BLP25 Liposome Vaccine (L-BLP25) in Japanese Patients with Unresectable Stage III NSCLC after Primary Chemoradiotherapy: Preliminary Results from a Phase I/II Study.
Ohyanagi F (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Ohyanagi%20F%22%5BAuthor%5D), Horai T (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Horai%20T%22%5BAuthor%5D), Sekine I (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Sekine%20I%22%5BAuthor%5D), Yamamoto N (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Yamamoto%20N%22%5BAuthor%5D), Nakagawa K (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Nakagawa%20K%22%5BAuthor%5D), Nishio M (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Nishio%20M%22%5BAuthor%5D), Senger S (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Senger%20S%22%5BAuthor%5D), Morsli N (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Morsli%20N%22%5BAuthor%5D), Tamura T (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Tamura%20T%22%5BAuthor%5D).
Source
*The Cancer Institute Hospital of JFCR, 3-10-6 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8550, Japan. mnishio@jfcr.or.jp.
Abstract
Preliminary safety findings are presented from the open-label Phase I part of a combined Phase I/II study of BLP25 liposome vaccine (L-BLP25) in Japanese patients with unresectable Stage III non-small-cell lung cancer after primary chemoradiotherapy. Six patients received four or more once-weekly vaccinations with L-BLP25 1000 μg subcutaneously prior to a preliminary safety evaluation. Treatment continued with once-weekly vaccinations with L-BLP25 1000 μg subcutaneously until week 8, then maintenance vaccinations every 6 weeks until progressive disease. Cyclophosphamide (300 mg/m(2) i.v. single dose) was given 3 days before first vaccination. Median age was 63.5 years and performance status was 0-1. No serious adverse events occurred; none necessitated discontinuation. L-BLP25-related adverse events (Grade 1) were myalgia, arthralgia and nausea; cyclophosphamide-related adverse events comprised dysgeusia, anorexia and nausea. The first evaluation of L-BLP25 in Japanese patients shows that it is well tolerated, and the safety profile is consistent with that seen in previous studies of Caucasian patients.


Expert Rev Respir Med. (javascript:AL_get(this,%20'jour',%20'Expert%20Rev %20Respir%20Med.');) 2008 Feb;2(1):37-45.
BLP-25 liposomal vaccine: a promising potential therapy in non-small-cell lung cancer.
Powell E (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Powell%20E%22%5BAuthor%5D), Chow LQ (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Chow%20LQ%22%5BAuthor%5D).
Source
The Ottawa Hospital Regional Cancer Center/University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
Despite marginal improvements in survival gained from multimodality treatment, long-term survival rates remain low for lung cancer, which remains the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in North America. BLP25 liposomal (L-BLP25) vaccine (Stimuvax) is a promising liposomal vaccine designed to generate an immune response against MUC1, a glycoprotein expressed on the cell surface of many normal epithelial tissues and over or aberrantly expressed on many carcinoma cells, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). MUC1 is potentially a good target for immunotherapy, as evidenced by preclinical data and in Phase I and II clinical trials demonstrating the potential early activity of L-BLP25 with minimal toxicity in NSCLC. A Phase III randomized, placebo-controlled trial of L-BLP25 is currently being conducted in stage III NSCLC patients.