Stimuvax achieves impressive 3-year survival in NSCLC

German drugmaker Merck KGaA says that three year data from a Phase II trial of its Stimuvax MUC-1 vaccine in non-small cell lung cancer indicate that the drug may provide survival benefit for patients with unresectable stage IIIB disease. The findings were announced at this year's International Association for the study of Lung Cancer Congress in Seoul, South Korea.

The results showed that, after three years, 49% of NSCLC patients treated with Stimuvax in combination with best supportive care were still alive, compared with just 27% of those given BSC alone. In addition, subjects in the Stimuvax group experienced a 17.3 month increase in median survival (30.6 months versus 13.3 months).

Merck said that Stimuvax, which it is developing under license from Canada's Biomira (Marketletter January 15), has entered Phase III development, and added that the START trial is currently open for enrollment.