Lung cancer vaccine trial begins recruitment

Three Australian hospitals are part of a worldwide Phase III clinical trial of a potential vaccine treatment for patients with a form of advanced lung cancer.

The drug Stimuvax, developed by Canadian biotechnology company Biomira, is a vaccine designed to induce an immune response to cancer cells that express MUC1, a protein antigen widely expressed in common cancers.

MUC1 is over-expressed in many cancers such as lung, breast and colorectal cancer. Stimuvax is thought to work by stimulating the body's immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells expressing MUC1.

A spokesperson for Biomira said the drug was a synthetic MUC1 peptide vaccine incorporating a 25-amino acid sequence of the MUC1 cancer mucin, using a liposome delivery system. The liposome enhances recognition of the cancer antigen by the immune system and facilitates better delivery, the company said.

The trial is being conducted by Biomera's partner Merck KgaA, the German arm of global pharma company Merck, and its US affiliate EMD Pharmaceuticals.

Recruitment of patients with unresectable stage III non-small cell lung cancer - cancers that cannot be surgically removed but have been stabilised with radio-chemotherapy - is open on a global scale.

It is understood that the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, the RPA in Sydney and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth are participating in the trial.