By Mark Chael --
On April 8th, Antigenics Inc. announced that the Russian Ministry of Public Health had approved Oncophage® for the treatment of intermediate-risk kidney cancer. According to Antigenics, Oncophage® is derived from a discrete tumor and contains the antigenic fingerprint of the cancer cells that make up that particular tumor, making Oncophage® "personalized" to fight against recurrence of the tumor. Treatment with Oncophage® after full or partial removal of a tumor is designed to reprogram the body’s immune system to attack remaining cancer cells and new cancer cells with the corresponding antigenic fingerprint.
The company has over 50 U.S. patents covering the Oncophage® platform technology, including U.S. Patent No. 7,309,491, and no doubt a number of pending patent applications worldwide.
According to some reports, Oncophage® failed to lower the overall risk of relapse in a Phase III trial, but it helped 60 percent of people stay in remission longer if they had an intermediate risk of recurrence. This treatment has received fast track and orphan drug designations from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for both kidney cancer and metastatic melanoma, but it has yet to be fully approved for use anywhere outside of Russia. The company plans on seeking European approval later this year and is in ongoing discussions with the FDA for approval in the U.S.
Oncophage®, also called vitespen and formerly called HSPPC-96, is derived from proprietary heat shock protein technology developed at Antigenics and elsewhere. The personalized cancer vaccine is generated after full or partial resection of a tumor, which is then shipped to Antigenics for processing. At Antigenics, heat shock protein gp96 and associated peptides are isolated from the tumor and processed for re-introduction into the patient as a putative cancer vaccine. If successfully prepared from the tumor, the vaccine is normally ready for injection into the patient within 6 to 8 weeks following surgery.
Antigenics is publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol AGEN.
Comments