Cell Genesys Reports Association Between Immune Response and Patient Survival in Phase 2 Trial of GVAX Immunotherapy for Prost...( SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO Calif. Feb. 1...),Health

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cell Genesys, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEGE) today reports the results of an analysis examining the potential association between immune responses to GVAX immunotherapy for prostate cancer and increased patient survival in a Phase 2 trial in patients with metastatic, hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). More than 400 patient-specific GVAX-induced antibody responses were identified in the sera of the treated patients by three different biochemical techniques confirming, as previously reported, that GVAX treatment results in a broad, multi-antigen immune response. An ongoing analysis of these GVAX-induced antibody responses has shown that at least two of the antibody responses are associated with patient survival, an association that is independent of the dose and number of treatments administered. These data will be presented today by Dr. Thomas Harding and colleagues from Cell Genesys at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's Genitourinary Cancer Symposium being held in San Francisco, California.

Cell Genesys has previously reported the results of two multicenter Phase 2 trials of GVAX immunotherapy for prostate cancer in metastatic HRPC. The second of these two trials enrolled 80 patients. The serum of 65 patients (the total number for whom adequate sera were available) were examined to determine each patient's immune response to two specific antigens, HLA-A24 and FLJ14668, following GVAX treatment. Thirty-four of 65 patients demonstrated an FLJ14668-specific antibody immune response. These 34 patients had a median survival of 43 months, compared to a median survival of 21 months achieved by the patients who did not generate anti-FLJ14668 antibodies (p=0.002). Twenty-t
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