The trials are now under way in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). The studies include a new phase II trial, an extension of the original phase II trial, and a new phase I trial.
Kristen Hege, vice president of Clinical Research at Cell Genesys, said: “GVAX immunotherapy for leukemia, like our lead product, GVAX immunotherapy for prostate cancer now in phase III development, is designed to stimulate the immune system as a means of treating cancer. Moreover, GVAX immunotherapy for leukemia may prove to be useful in multiple hematologic malignancies.”
Results from the phase II trial in CML showed that the addition of GVAX immunotherapy to Gleevec therapy reduced persistent leukemic disease in 10 of 19 patients. The company also previously reported encouraging clinical data from a phase II trial of GVAX immunotherapy for leukemia in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia.