DepoVax Technology Selected for HPV–related Cancer Trials

Dana-Farber has been awarded a research grant of $1.2 million for clinical evaluation of its cancer vaccine. The grant from Stand Up To Cancer and the Farrah Fawcett Foundation was awarded to a team of Dana-Farber researchers at the 2014 American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting. The three-year grant will be used to fund a Phase I clinical trial of the group’s peptide cancer antigen formulated in DepoVax in patients with HPV-related cervical, head, and neck cancers.

The grant was awarded based on a proposal highlighting the potential of Dana-Farber’s proposed cancer antigen identified by a new mass spectrometry method termed Poisson detection MS and Immunovaccine’s DepoVax platform. The DepoVax data focused on clinical trial results with DPX-Survivac, which demonstrated strong immune response activity in cancer patients and the immune enhancement observed with the immune modulating agent cyclophosphamide. Dana-Farber’s proposed Phase I study in HPV-related cancers will use the same approach, formulating the Institute'speptide-based vaccine in DepoVax and administering it to patients in combination with cyclophosphamide.

Source: Immunovaccine