Prima to get $4.7m grant for cancer vaccine

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) has secured a €3.8 million ($4.7 million) grant from the EU and a German state to support development of its CVac cancer vaccine candidate.

Germany’s Saxony Development Bank has approved the allocation of the grant, using funding from the state of Saxony and the EU.

Prima will use the funds to help pay for phase II clinical trials of CVac in three new cancer indications beyond the current focus on treating ovarian cancer patients in remission.

“Given that mucin 1 is overexpressed on a number of cancer types and our data indicate that CVac induces a mucin 1 specific T cell response, exploring new indications with our established platform is a sensible progression,” Prima CEO Matthew Lehman said.

He added that the company will confirm the three new cancer indications that will be targeted in the second quarter.

The Saxony Development Bank had in 2011 awarded a €4.1 million grant to the company to support its multinational phase II/III CANVAS trial, which this month started recruiting in Europe.

Prima Biomed decided in mid-2012 to refocus its attention and resources on the development of CVac.

Completed phase II trials in ovarian cancer have demonstrated a T cell response.