( f GVAX immunotherapy for pancreatic can...)Cell Genesys Reports Additional Data From Phase 2 Clinical Trial of GVAX Immunotherapy for Pancreatic Cancer,Health

f GVAX immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer was conducted by the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in 14 patients who also received the immunotherapy following surgical resection of their tumor and standard adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy. As first reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in January 2001, three of eight patients who received the therapeutic dose levels of the immunotherapy had prolonged disease-free survival for a period of at least eight years. This outcome is considered particularly significant since all three long-term survivors were judged to be at high risk for recurrent cancer due to microscopic evidence of residual pancreatic tumor following surgery and two patients had metastatic tumor in regional lymph nodes. In addition, the three patients with prolonged disease-free survival -- but not the five who progressed and died -- showed evidence of treatment-associated antitumor immunity, including induction of T cell responses to the candidate tumor-associated antigen, mesothelin.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States. According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 37,170 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2007, and 33,370 are expected to die from the disease in 2007. Because symptoms are non-specific, cancer of the pancreas is rarely diagnosed at an early stage leaving surgical removal of the tumor as a treatment option for only approximately 20 to 30 percent of pancreatic cancer patients. The median survival of patients with operable cancer of the pancreas with currently available therapies is approximately 17 to 22 months.

Cell Genesys is focused on the development and commercialization of novel biological therapies for patients with cancer. The company is currently pursuing two clinical stage product platforms -- GVAX(TM) cancer immunotherapies and oncolytic virus therapies. Ongoing clinical trials include Phase 3 trials of GVAX immunot
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