In brief: Psiron; Eqitx

Psiron (ASX:PSX) has presented a research paper at the International Meeting on Molecular Biology of Picornaviruses showing anticancer activity of a new strain of its lead product (CVA21) against a wider range of colorectal cancer cells.

The CVA21 lead candidate is currently in Phase I trials after preliminary results in patients showed it was well tolerated. The new strain, known as the DAF variant, uses a different method of infecting and killing cancer cells

Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved a clinical trial of a new immunotherapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis C infection, developed by Eqitx (ASX:EQX)/CRC for Vaccine Technolgy joint-venture VacTx.

The trial will test VacTx's proprietary lipopeptide vaccine technology.

The immunotherapeutic effect of the vaccine is produced by stimulating the patient's own immune system with a synthetic lipopeptide vaccine based on epitopes from the hepatitis C virus.

Dr Kevin Fahey, Eqitx director and chairman of VacTx, said Eqitx would be following the trial's progress with interest, because it would be the first time a lipopeptide vaccine based on VacTx's technology has been used in a clinical setting. A positive outcome from the study would be an important step in the technology's development.

The trial will involve researchers from the MacFarlane Burnet Research Institute, the University of Melbourne, Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, Australian Red Cross Blood Service, Mater Medical Research institute and Monash Medical Centre.

The research consortium was awarded a major grant from the US National institutes of health in 2003 to fund the study.