2011 Medical News ASCO: Abagovomab No Help in Ovarian Cancer - in Meeting Coverage, ASCO from MedPage Today

Medical News: ASCO: Abagovomab No Help in Ovarian Cancer - in Meeting Coverage, ASCO from MedPage Today


"Abagovomab maintenance treatment after debulking surgery and successful platinum and taxane first-line chemotherapy did not prolong progression-free survival in advanced ovarian cancer," he said in a late-breaker report given during a packed plenary session.

The invited discussant for the MIMOSA trial, George Coukos, MD, PhD, professor of gynecologic oncology at the University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, suggested that the target of abagovomab – the CA-125 receptor – may not be the best avenue to approach ovarian cancer recurrence.

"CA-125-targeted immunotherapy based on antibody approaches does not appear to be a useful clinical strategy," Coucos said. He noted that oregovomab -- a cousin of abagovomab – also failed to produce positive results in ovarian cancer.

press release: Quest PharmaTech Provides Chemo Immunotherapy Clinical Trial update (Italy)

Oregovomab - Quest PharmaTech Announces Formation of Clinical Advisory Panel - MarketWatch

"All members of the Panel have a keen interest in innovative improvements in the area of ovarian cancer and see a great opportunity to advance the previous learning with Oregovomab in the context of combination therapies to better access the potential of the immune response to bring clinical benefit to ovarian cancer patients," commented Dr. Nicodemus. "We are excited about the potential of the approach for these three planned clinical trials."

Quest PharmaTech completes critical review of development status for its recently acquired therapeutic antibody platform - Oregovomab + chemo trials..

"An 80 patient multicentre Italian cooperative trial will establish evidence for the clinical benefit associated with enhanced specific T cell immunity achievable by combining oregovomab with carboplatin and paclitaxel in the initial treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. Concurrent to this effort, a 30 patient Canadian clinical trial will evaluate the ability of a TLR-3 agonist to enhance the strength of the oregovomab immune response generated in the 'maintenance' setting in advanced ovarian cancer patients following front-line chemotherapy. The third clinical trial to be conducted in the U.S. will use gemcitabine, another cytotoxic agent, in a cohort of patients with CA125 associated resectable pancreatic cancer in combination with oregovomab."

""Successful completion of our clinical strategy will lead to a product for one or all treatment phases of advanced ovarian cancer, starting with front line treatment followed by watchful waiting and finally retreatment or initial treatment of recurrent disease."

"The additional antibodies in the platform (anti-MUC1, anti-PSA, anti-CA19.9 and anti-TAG 72) will undergo continuing preclinical development in anticipation of rapid clinical development once the initial oregovomab studies establish the validity of the combination therapy premise."

"Quest PharmaTech is developing the high affinity monoclonal antibody oregovomab (MAb B43.13) for the treatment of ovarian cancer. Oregovomab targets the circulating tumour-associated antigen CA125."