Bavarian Nordic announced today that a PROSTVAC(TM) abstract has been accepted for presentation at the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Orlando May 29 to June 2, 2009. ASCO is the world's leading cancer organization. Data from a Phase 2 prospective randomized placebo-controlled study of 125 patients with advanced prostate cancer will be presented by Philip Kantoff MD, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute who is the principal investigator of the study. The presentation will take place on May 30, 2009 at 5:00 PM EDT Bavarian Nordic previously reported data from this study, showing that patients receiving PROSTVAC(TM) had a statistically significantly longer median overall survival by 8.5 months (p=0.015) compared to the control group. Currently the only approved treatment for advanced prostate cancer extends median overall survival by an average of 2.4 months. In addition, PROSTVAC(TM) also had a very favourable safety and tolerability profile. PROSTVAC(TM) is a therapeutic vaccine moving into late stage clinical development that has the potential to extend the lives of people with advanced prostate cancer. Administered subcutaneously, it induces a specific, targeted immune response that attacks prostate cancer cells. Conventional chemotherapy currently used to treat prostate cancer has limited survival rates and is often associated with numerous side effects. In contrast, PROSTVAC(TM) has the potential to extend survival with improved quality of life. PROSTVAC is being developed in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with Bavarian Nordic's U.S.-based subsidiary, BN ImmunoTherapeutics. In clinical trials to date PROSTVAC(TM) and related PSA containing poxviral vaccines have been investigated in more than 500 patients for 10 years. Anders Hedegaard, President & CEO of Bavarian Nordic said: "We are very pleased that ASCO has accepted the PROSTVAC(TM) study as an oral presentation at this year's annual meeting. This is truly encouraging and it solidifies our decision to take PROSTVAC(TM) into Phase 3 in 2010 based on the promising data, that we have already reported with this therapeutic vaccine." Asger Aamund Chairman Contact Anders Hedegaard, President & CEO. Phone +45 23 20 30 64
PROSTVAC(TM) data accepted for an oral presentation at the ASCO Annual Meeting
| Source: Bavarian Nordic A/S