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news.Patients in Liverpool, UK are to trial a new therapy for pancreatic cancer developed by Danish-based biotech company Pharmexa.
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The phase III TeloVac trial has been designed by the Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Sub-Group of the UK National Cancer Research Institute and will be run by Cancer Research UK's Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit.
Funded by Cancer Research UK, the trial will test the vaccine GV1001 alongside two chemotherapy drugs gemcitabine and capecitabine on patients with locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer. GV1001 is a new immunotherapeutic drug for pancreatic cancer developed by Pharmexa.
One of the trial's two principal investigators, Professor John Neoptolemos, based at the University of Liverpool and a consultant surgeon at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said: “The National Cancer Research Institute is very committed to this trial and is focusing a great deal of energy on recruiting patients to take part in it. This is because we firmly believe that GV1001 could play a key role in the future treatment of pancreatic cancer.”
He added: “We're proud to manage this fundamental trial at the Liverpool Cancer Trials Unit and we hope other centers in the UK will participate in order to achieve maximum benefit for patients suffering from locally advanced and metastatic pancreatic cancer.”
Chief investigator Dr Gary Middleton from the Royal Surrey County Hospital, who is working alongside Professor Neoptolemos and Professor David Cunningham from the Royal Marsden Hospital, said: “We believe the future treatment of pancreatic cancer, as well as many other cancers, will include combinations of various chemotherapies together with biological and targeted therapies.
“GV1001 is a particularly attractive vaccine; the antigen that it targets is expressed on virtually all pancreatic cancer cells and the vaccine stimulates the production of all of the cells that are required for an effective immune attack upon these cancers. Adding it to the platform of chemotherapy is an exciting strategy which, if successful, would create a new standard of care in this disease.”