BUFFALO, N.Y. — A drug developed at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is headed for a big clinical trial in the U.S. and China next year.
A Roswell spin-off company, Mimivax, has signed a licensing deal with Chinese drug manufacturer Fosun, which will help fund the critical testing ahead.
“The upcoming trial will be approximately 250 patients in twenty centers across the US and China," says Mimivax CEO, Michael Ciesielski. "That increases the statistics and gets a better feeling about how effective the drug is in a wider population across the country."
In previous smaller trails of the drug, SurVaxM, patients with the brain cancer glioblastoma was survived longer. The hallmark of the disease are aggressive brain tumors that often debilitate the patient before death. Average life expectancy after diagnosis is 15-months.
Dr. Robert Fenstermaker, chairman of neurosurgery at Roswell, has treated hundreds of glioblastoma patients, “It is very frustrating and difficult cancer to treat. It’s one of the few cancers in which survival has not improved in the last few years."
Traditional treatment for patients involves surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. But in early trials of SurVaxM, when the drug has been added to those other treatments, the survival of patients has been extended.
The next trial is expected to last about three years, and if successful, could lead to FDA approval for wider use.