INTROGEN REPORTS PROMISING DATA ON CANCER VACCINE

Approximately half of patients with advanced small-cell lung cancer responded to Introgen Therapeutics' INGN 225 molecular cancer vaccine in combination with subsequent chemotherapy. Patients in the Phase II study achieved a 52 percent objective tumor response rate, and 41 percent of patients were still alive one year after receiving the immunotherapy.

Historically, tumor responses to second-line chemotherapy are between 6 and 30 percent, and most patients survive for less than six months, according to the company. The data imply that INGN 225 immunotherapy can sensitize cancer cells to the effects of chemotherapy, restoring its effectiveness.

INGN 225 is a cancer vaccine containing the p53 gene, which is known to help restore normal cellular function and to promote apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in cancer cells. Induction of p53-specific immune responses were observed following INGN 225 therapy and were found to correlate with increased tumor responses to the administered chemotherapy.

"Of particular interest, some patients who previously failed platinum chemotherapy responded to platinum re-treatment. These findings have important implications for improving the efficacy of these widely utilized cancer chemotherapies," Dmitry Gabrilovich, the trial's principal investigator, said.