'Vaccine' provides hope for prostate cancer patients
Saturday, 1 May 2010
FE Report
American drug watchdog Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Thursday a cancer vaccine, a drug that trains the body's own immune system to fight the disease.
FDA okayed the new drug, Provenge, for advanced prostate cancer after clinical trials found it extended the lives of patients about four months compared with a placebo, according to a report by New York Times (NYT).
Unlike preventive vaccines for measles, hepatitis or even the new ones for cervical cancer, Provenge is a therapeutic vaccine. It is used for patients who are diagnosed with prostrate cancer.
Some patients may be disappointed, however, because the company said it could produce enough vaccine to supply only 2,000 patients in the next year, the NYT said.
Dendreon, which has produced the vaccine, said Provenge would be available at first only in 50 centres that participated in the clinical trials. But manufacturing capacity will be expanded greatly in the coming year.
A full treatment will cost US $93,000 - a fairly large amount poor patients of Bangladesh can ill-afford.
Men with prostate cancer typically have either radiation treatment or surgery to remove the prostate gland, followed by drugs that reduce the levels of the hormone testosterone, which fuels prostate tumors.
Provenge was approved for men whose cancer has spread in the body and for whom the hormone-deprivation drugs no longer work but who still have minimal symptoms, or none at all.
Before Provenge, the only approved treatment for men was the chemotherapy drug Taxotere, also known as docetaxel, which in clinical trials extended lives by about two or three months.
The clinical trial of Provenge involved 512 men, those who got Provenge had a median survival of 25.8 months after treatment, while those who got a placebo lived a median of 21.7 months.
After three years, 32 per cent of those who got Provenge were alive, compared with 23 per cent of those who got the placebo. The main side effects were fever, chills, fatigue and pain.
Provenge is the first approved product for Dendreon, which was founded in 1992 by two professors at Stanford, Dr Edgar Engleman and Dr Samuel Strober. Dendreon executives said the company had spent about $1 billion developing Provenge.
David Miller, chief executive of Biotech Stock Research, predicted that sales of Provenge would reach $1 billion annually within two or three years. Dendreon's stock rose 27 per cent Thursday to $50.18, more than double its level a year ago.
Dendreon hopes to use the same technique to make other cancer vaccines, including one for bladder cancer. There are dozens of other cancer vaccines in development by other companies.
American drug watchdog Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Thursday a cancer vaccine, a drug that trains the body's own immune system to fight the disease.
FDA okayed the new drug, Provenge, for advanced prostate cancer after clinical trials found it extended the lives of patients about four months compared with a placebo, according to a report by New York Times (NYT).
Unlike preventive vaccines for measles, hepatitis or even the new ones for cervical cancer, Provenge is a therapeutic vaccine. It is used for patients who are diagnosed with prostrate cancer.
Some patients may be disappointed, however, because the company said it could produce enough vaccine to supply only 2,000 patients in the next year, the NYT said.
Dendreon, which has produced the vaccine, said Provenge would be available at first only in 50 centres that participated in the clinical trials. But manufacturing capacity will be expanded greatly in the coming year.
A full treatment will cost US $93,000 - a fairly large amount poor patients of Bangladesh can ill-afford.
Men with prostate cancer typically have either radiation treatment or surgery to remove the prostate gland, followed by drugs that reduce the levels of the hormone testosterone, which fuels prostate tumors.
Provenge was approved for men whose cancer has spread in the body and for whom the hormone-deprivation drugs no longer work but who still have minimal symptoms, or none at all.
Before Provenge, the only approved treatment for men was the chemotherapy drug Taxotere, also known as docetaxel, which in clinical trials extended lives by about two or three months.
The clinical trial of Provenge involved 512 men, those who got Provenge had a median survival of 25.8 months after treatment, while those who got a placebo lived a median of 21.7 months.
After three years, 32 per cent of those who got Provenge were alive, compared with 23 per cent of those who got the placebo. The main side effects were fever, chills, fatigue and pain.
Provenge is the first approved product for Dendreon, which was founded in 1992 by two professors at Stanford, Dr Edgar Engleman and Dr Samuel Strober. Dendreon executives said the company had spent about $1 billion developing Provenge.
David Miller, chief executive of Biotech Stock Research, predicted that sales of Provenge would reach $1 billion annually within two or three years. Dendreon's stock rose 27 per cent Thursday to $50.18, more than double its level a year ago.
Dendreon hopes to use the same technique to make other cancer vaccines, including one for bladder cancer. There are dozens of other cancer vaccines in development by other companies.