Long-term Study: Simuvax (Cancer Vaccine) Well Tolerated

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http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHeal ... 8720090803

ARTICLE:

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UPDATE 2-Oncothyreon's cancer vaccine well-tolerated in long use

Mon Aug 3, 2009 2:46pm EDT

* Prolonged treatment with Stimuvax well-tolerated

* No evidence of autoimmune reactions with prolonged use

* Shares rise 35 pct to a near two-year high (Adds analyst comments, updates share movement)

By Jennifer Robin Raj

BANGALORE, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Oncothyreon Inc (ONTY.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said a long-term follow-up study showed that prolonged treatment with its cancer vaccine Stimuvax was well-tolerated among patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), sending its shares up as much as 35 percent.

There was no evidence of autoimmune reactions with prolonged use and the most common treatment-related adverse events were injection-site reactions, which tended to diminish after the first year of treatment, the company said.

"Today's data are very promising, and make us incrementally more bullish on Stimuvax's long-term potential in non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer," Rodman and Renshaw analyst Simos Simeonidis.

The long-term follow-up study involved 16 patients who received treatment with Stimuvax for between 2 and 8.2 years as part of a mid-stage trial and as of April, ten of the 16 studied patients were alive without evidence of disease progression.

"In the 171-patient mid-stage trial, there were 32 stage IIIb NSCLC patients who received Stimuvax. What today's data means is that 9 out of these 32 patients, or 28 percent, were alive 6 years later," analyst Simeonidis said.

"For a comparison, the average five-year survival for NSCLC is around the 10 percent mark," he said, adding that for six-year survival, it is lesser.

Rodman and Renshaw makes a market in Oncothyreon.

The mid-stage trial of Stimuvax was conducted by Oncothyreon, with patient enrollment concluding in 2003. Long-term follow-up of these patients was conducted by Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which assumed the clinical development of Stimuvax in 2007.

Merck KGaA is currently conducting late-stage trials of Stimuvax in both NSCLC and breast cancer.

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(Reuters, Healthcare News, Article by Jennifer Robin Raj, August 3, 2009)

Disclaimer:

The information contained in these articles may or may not be in agreement with my own opinions. They are not being posted with the intention of being medical advice of any kind.