Now Open for Patient Enrollment: Stimuvax® Phase III Clinical Trial in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) Patients

As recently announced by Biomira Inc., the global Phase III clinical trial – START (Stimulating Targeted Antigenic Responses To NSCLC), that is assessing the efficacy and safety of Stimuvax® (BLP25 liposome vaccine) as a potential treatment for patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is open for patient enrollment.

There are currently no approved maintenance therapies for patients responding to first-line treatment for unresectable stage III NSCLC.

The trial is now open to patients in 12 countries including the United States which will subsequently expand to additional countries is expected to include more than 1, 300 patients in about 30 countries.

Stimuvax is an innovative cancer vaccine designed to induce an immune response to cancer cells that express MUC1, a protein antigen widely expressed on common cancers.

MUC1 is over expressed on many cancers such as lung cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Stimuvax is thought to work by stimulating the body’s immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells expressing MUC1.

Designed based on scientific advice from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA/CHMP) which has been approved by the USFDA through a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA), the START trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study that will evaluate patients with documented unresectable stage III NSCLC who have had a response or stable disease after at least two cycles of platinum based radio-chemotherapy.

To find more information about the START trial or to find a participating center and eligibility criteria, visit http://www.StimuvaxSTART.com or http://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Find more details from Biomira, Inc.’s press release.