In a setback vaccine against cancer, the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced yesterday that it had immunotherapy was tested in a trial phase III flopped. The company holds hope, however, that some patients with a certain genetic signature will always be helped, and the trial continues.
The treatment "did not prolong disease-free survival significantly compared with placebo ..." in volunteers with melanoma, the London-based company, said bluntly in a statement Press. Called MAGE-A3, the vaccine targets the same name proteins that are expressed on tumor cells in a subset of patients. It is supposed to stimulate the immune system to destroy the cells.
The likely problem with MAGE-A3 is one that a myriad of other vaccines against cancer has not been able to overcome, said Steven Rosenberg, a immunotherapist and head of the branch of surgery the National cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland: He could not prevent immune reactions that hinder the vaccine's ability to mount a successful attack on tumors. "I thought there was a very small chance that MAGE vaccine would have an impact," Rosenberg said, "because no vaccine as it was effective."
GSK scientists -A it with others, have tried hard to predict exactly who could respond to immune therapies such as MAGE-A3 and other treatments against cancer in general. in July, the company's researchers and academic collaborators published an article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology identification of 84 gene "signature" that seemed to correlate with the way people with metastatic melanoma responded to therapy. Now, said the spokesman for GSK Melinda Stubbee, the company will test some variation of this signature I in the ongoing melanoma trial, which includes 1345 people. a data safety monitoring board is to allow the study to continue while it tested.
GSK also has an essay on Cancer III lung in phase with MAGE-A3 and plans to present these results next year. In a presentation to analysts and investors in late July, CEO of GSK Andrew Witty, described MAGE-A3 as he continued "high-risk, but potentially high rewards". "I'm not naive, I am completely open to the possibility that these programs fail. "
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