Viventia's lead product, Proxinium, is being developed to treat late stage, locally advanced head and neck cancer and is currently enrolling patients in a phase III global trial that is also expected to complete accrual by the end of 2007. Vicinium and Proxinium are antibodies that target the cancer antigen EpCAM.
“The form of cancer we are treating, Tis bladder cancer, is frequently unresponsive following initial treatment and these patients usually require either partial or complete removal of the bladder to avoid metastasis to other organs,” said Dr Nick Glover, president and CEO of Viventia Biotech.
“The goal of Vicinium treatment is to substantially reduce or eliminate the need for surgical resection or removal of the bladder. The potential of Vicinium was demonstrated in our previous trial, where an overall 95% response rate was observed.”
The phase II clinical trial will enroll approximately 30 patients with locally persistent non-invasive Tis bladder cancer. Tis, or carcinoma in-situ of the urothelium, is a high-grade form of bladder cancer that behaves more aggressively than other forms of the disease.