Celldex' EGFRvIII shows promise in GBM study

Celldex Therapeutics, a New Jersey, USA-based biotechnology company, says that data from trials of its epidermal growth factor receptor variant III peptide vaccine, EGFRvIII, used in the treatment of glioblastoma, elicited both humoral and cellular immune response. The announcement was made at a poster session at the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Atlanta.

The study compared the median time to progression that the vaccine conferred, ie 12 months, with a historically matched, unvaccinated cohort that showed an average TTP of 7.1 months. The firm added that the performance of EGFRvIII compares favorably with that of combined temozolomide and radiation therapy, which produced a median TTP of 6.9 months, and that the median survival time of patients receiving the drug had, so far, exceeded 18 months. The company says that it intends to carry out further development of the agent.