First lung cancer vaccine approved

[robinson]

Cuba approves lung cancer vaccine
Country's health officials say drug has increased survival up to 5 months


HAVANA - Cuban scientists said on Tuesday the first vaccine to extend lives of lung cancer patients has been approved by Cuban authorities for use and is available in the island's hospitals.

The drug, CimaVax EGF, has been shown to increase survival rates on average four to five months and much longer in some patients, they said in a news conference at Cuba's Center of Molecular Immunology.

In contrast to chemotherapy, the traditional treatment for lung cancer, they said CimaVax EGF has few side effects because it is a modified protein that attacks only cancer cells.


They said it was the first lung cancer vaccine to be approved anywhere in the world, although there are others currently being tested.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25354060/

Many News stories on this one.

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&s...t=1&q="CimaVax EGF"&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wn

 

[skeptifem]

wow

 

[robinson]

J Clin Oncol. 2008 Mar 20;26 (9):1452-8 18349395 (P,S,E,B)
Phase II Randomized Controlled Trial of an Epidermal Growth Factor Vaccine in Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer.
... CONCLUSION Vaccination with EGF was safe and provoked an increase in anti-EGF antibody titers and a decrease in serum EGF. There was a direct correlation between antibody response and survival. There was a direct correlation between decrease in serum EGF and survival. In patients younger than 60 years, vaccination was associated with increased survival.

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/auid:8385803

Us doing clinical trials, expect approval in several years.

 

[Lucifuge Rofocale]

Cuba? I hope that's not a propaganda move.

 

[krazyKemist]

Cuba? I hope that's not a propaganda move.

Don't think so. Cuba does pretty interesting medical research, and their vaccine research is one of the most revolutionary these days (they are, for example, pioneering synthetic vaccine research). Several profs from my place (Canada) collaborate with cuban researchers and are pretty impressed by their work, even though they typically have much less resources than we do.