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This initiative makes AVAX the first company anywhere to provide this
patient-oriented service directly to oncologists, surgeons and their patients.
AVAX and its collaborators have over 10 years experience collecting,
processing and storing tumor cells and is now ready to provide this service to
patients in U.S., through its Philadelphia facility, and plans to make the
service available to patients in Europe and Australia in the near future.
AVAX will begin offering tumor cell banking to melanoma and ovarian cancer
patients immediately and expects to expand the service to include other
cancers in the future.
"This is an exciting and important day for cancer patients worldwide,
especially with all the new and improved cancer treatments on the horizon,"
says Dr. Jeffrey M. Jonas, president and chief executive officer of AVAX
Technologies Inc. "Many patients who undergo surgery to treat their cancer
and discard their tumor may be missing out on potential therapeutic and
diagnostic options. Too often patients are unaware of alternatives until
after their tumor has been removed. Saving tumor cells in a viable form via
AVAX's cell banking procedure may allow such patients to take advantage of new
clinical trials that require samples of the patients own tumor. In addition,
by storing their own tumor cells patients can access new commercial products
that may arise with the advent of genomics and proteomics, and, at any time,
may utilize the services of companies that study tumor cells to help predict
response to chemotherapy."
By storing their own tumor cells patients can access new commercial products
that may arise with the advent of genomics and proteomics, and, at any time,
may utilize the services of companies that study tumor cells to help predict
response to chemotherapy.
AVAX Tumor Cell Banking will utilize the company's existing ICT System(TM)
(Individualized Cell Therapy System), a proprietary method of processing
procedures and protocols already being used in part to service multicenter
U.S. clinical trials of the company's autologous cancer vaccines. The process
begins with patients choosing to store tumor cells at one of AVAX's
facilities, after their tumors have been surgically removed. By storing cells
at a single location, patients, with physician guidance, will then have the
option to direct the use of these stored tumor cells based upon treatments
already on the market, as part of clinical trials, or even future clinical
studies. Patients may also have the cells sent elsewhere for predictive
testing. The cells may be stored for up to three years. AVAX plans to
provide this service for approximately $1,000 per patient, which includes
storage for three years and all necessary handling procedures. This cost will
be waived if the patient enters an AVAX clinical trial, which uses the tumor
cells to manufacture vaccine.
"The strategy of developing a Tumor Cell Banking business is directly in
line with AVAX's objective to provide innovative individualized treatments to
patients with cancer worldwide," explains Dr. Jonas. "To execute this
portion of our strategic plan without major incremental cost, we will use our
existing platform to collect resected tumors, utilizing our facility in
Philadelphia to process and store the tumor cells in a quality controlled
environment. Currently, our Philadelphia facility can accommodate storage of
tumor cells for over 2,000 individual patients per year, a capacity that can
be expanded as demand increases. The service will be marketed initially to
oncologists, surgeons and hospitals that are involved with our ongoing trials
of M-Vax(TM), our autologous cancer vaccine for stage III melanoma and O-
Vax(TM) for ovarian cancer. We also plan initiatives to educate patients and
advocacy groups on the importance of saving tumor cells.
"Further, it is our hope that through this initiative, AVAX can help
standardize storage procedures for tumor cell banking throughout the industry,
avoiding the confusion that may arise when potential treatments being
developed by other researchers and pharmaceutical companies have differing
requirements for the processing and storage of tumor cells.
"From the financial perspective," says Dr. Jonas, "we expect the
commercial storing of patient tumor cells for future use to generate both a
near-term and recurring revenue stream for the company. Moreover, we believe
that this service may increase the pace of enrollment in our clinical trial
programs and establish new procedures in the medical community relating to
saving and storing cancer cells."
Oncologists or patients interested in learning more about the program may
call toll free (866) 960-1333.
AVAX Technologies is a biotechnology company with international
operations, specializing in the development and commercialization of
individualized therapies and other novel technologies primarily focused on
cancer and other life-threatening diseases. The company's lead development
program is a patented Autologous Cell technology (AC Vaccine(TM)) that
attempts to stimulate the patient's own immune system to recognize, contain
and eliminate cancer cells. AVAX's lead product, M-Vax(TM), is currently on
the market in Australia for the treatment of stage III melanoma. In the
United States, AVAX is conducting a pivotal registration trial of M-Vax in
Stage III melanoma and a Phase 2 trial in Stage IV melanoma. AVAX is also
conducting a multicenter Phase 2 trial in ovarian cancer (O-Vax(TM)). The AC
Vaccine technology is also being evaluated for its efficacy in other cancers
including a Phase 1/2 trial in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (L-VAX(TM)) at M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center and a Phase 1/2 equivalent study in breast cancer (B-
Vax(TM)) at the University of Tokyo. AVAX is also developing a gene therapy
technology based on the thymidine kinase (TK) suicide gene for the treatment
of graft versus host disease, cancer and other indications and autologous
chondrocytes for the repair of damaged cartilage. AVAX is based in Kansas
City, Missouri, with operations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Paris and Lyon,
France; and Melbourne, Australia.
Source: AVAX Technologies Inc.
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