When examining the success rate of drug candidates for the treatment of cancer, numbers are not encouraging. Historical figures show that once such a candidate reaches clinical trials, it has a 5% chance to be approved compared to more than 10% for the overall pharma industry. (more…)
A cancer vaccine is a treatment aimed at stimulating the patient’s immune system to act against cancer. Unlike other cancer therapies, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, cancer vaccines do not target or damage cancer cells directly. (more…)
GVAX is similar to traditional vaccines against pathogens like bacteria and viruses. Such traditional vaccines involve the injection of a weakened pathogen or some structural part of it, which is identified and recognized by the immune system. A minor immune response against the vaccine results in immunity towards the pathogen so that next time it enters the body, there will be a swift, strong and systemic response against it. Cell Genesys is taking a similar approach but with some differences. First, the pathogens in this case are cancer cells which are not external pathogens but self derived cells. Second, the vaccine is not given to healthy people but only to people who already have advanced stage prostate cancer. Third, whereas most pathogens can be recognized by the immune system even without any external help, (vaccines simply give the immune system a nice head start), the ultimate goal with GVAX is to make the immune system recognize those cancer cells which it cannot recognize in the first place.
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