SARASOTA, Fla., March 28, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- A twenty-year secret has come to light. While working on the development of an imaging technology to study cancer tumors, University of Alberta Professor Emeritus Dr. Antoine Noujaim stumbled across a potentially major breakthrough in the treatment of ovarian cancer patients. In a taped interview, Dr. Noujaim told StockInterview.com, "We sent some of these antibodies to Professor Richard Baum in Germany for imaging of ovarian cancer patients. Dr. Baum phoned back, after some time, and told me, 'The patients I was imaging here had advanced ovarian cancer and some of them seem to have done quite well after we gave them a couple of shots (of the B43.13 antibody, the clinical name for OvaRex(r) MAb) to image the tumor.' I thought he was joking with me."
During a conversation with his German colleague, Noujaim recalled being told, "These patients had maybe four or five months to live. All of a sudden, a year later and they're still around." Baum urged Noujaim to investigate this further. Dr. Noujaim recalls him saying, "Something is happening here. I've seen hundreds of patients, but nothing like this."
The scientific accident, which occurred in the mid 1980s, has evolved into OvaRex(r) MAb and has been granted orphan drug and fast track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Phase III clinical trials are currently being conducted in about 64 research centers across the United States through Unither Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of United Therapeutics. Dr. Noujaim also told StockInterview.com that since his discovery and subsequent research, "We had over 500 patients injected with the murine monoclonal antibody. Our studies to date may show that vaccines may slow the growth of the tumor with a very good safety profile."
Noujaim also told StockInterview.com, "There is the very original (ovarian cancer) patient who was injected in 1987. She's in Germany, and according to Dr. Baum she was still alive a year ago." He added, "It's a matter of great pride for me that some people who received OvaRex(r) MAb are alive today."
The entire feature, which includes interviews with OvaRex(r) MAb inventor, Dr. Antoine Noujaim, and ViRexx Chief Executive Dr. Lorne Tyrrell, can be found on the Internet news website, StockInterview.com: