Progenics Licenses Onco Vaccine And Adjuvant

US company Progenics Pharmaceuticals has licensed a clinically- advanced melanoma vaccine, GMK, from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, USA, and signed a contract with Cambridge Biotech for access to the immunostimulatory adjuvant QS-21, a GMK constituent.

GMK Shows Clinical Promise GMK is a ganglioside conjugate vaccine comprising GM2 ganglioside, an antigenic-determining molecule, coupled to a carrier protein called keyhole limpet hemocyanin, and formulated with QS-21. In clinical trials, treatment with the prototype product has been shown to reduce disease recurrence and prolong survival in high-risk melanoma patients, with induction of antibodies against GM2 ganglioside in all patients treated. Two Phase III trails for GMK are scheduled to start in early 1996, in the USA and Europe.

Under the terms of the Sloan-Kettering deal, Progenics gains an exclusive worldwide license to ganglioside conjugate platform technology. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.