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Allovectin-7(R) May Offer Patients a New Option for Advanced Melanoma

Posted on: Monday, 10 September 2007, 12:00 CDT

Internationally-recognized melanoma investigator Sanjiv S. Agarwala, MD, Chief, Medical Oncology, St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network, is recruiting patients into a large Phase 3 study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Allovectin-7®, an investigational product for advanced melanoma. Serving as sub-investigators are surgical oncologists Lee B. Riley, MD, PhD, Chief, Surgical Oncology, St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network, and Darius C. Desai, MD.

If Allovectin-7® is found to be safe and effective in clinical trials, it may offer patients a new option for fighting advanced melanoma (stage 3 or stage 4). Safety and efficacy data from a Phase 2 clinical trial of Allovectin-7® were presented at the 2006 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting. The ongoing Phase 3 study is designed to determine whether more patients with advanced melanoma respond favorably to Allovectin-7® alone than to current standard chemotherapy alone.

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2007 about 60,000 new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the United States and more than 8,000 patients will die from melanoma. The exact cause of melanoma is not always clear, but exposure to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight is a major risk factor. Melanoma is more likely to occur in those having fair skin, a large number of moles, a history of sun tanning or sunburns, or close relatives with the disease.

Patients whose melanoma is caught early can often be cured with surgery. However, more advanced stage 3 or 4 melanoma − which has spread beyond the original site to other parts of the body − usually requires additional medical intervention such as chemotherapy. Because cures at this stage are rare, therapy for late-stage melanoma is focused on reducing the tumor burden and hopefully increasing a patient's length of survival. Most patients who receive standard chemotherapy experience poor long-lasting response rates and serious side effects.

"Cancer cells often evade the body's natural disease-fighting mechanisms. The challenge in treating advanced melanoma is to find a way to train the natural immune system to locate and eliminate cancerous cells," said Dr. Agarwala. "We believe that Allovectin-7® triggers several of the body's natural immune response mechanisms to recognize and attack the tumors, both locally and throughout the body. "

Allovectin-7® has been previously administered to over 700 cancer patients in several multi-center clinical trials.

To be eligible for the current Allovectin-7® clinical trial, patients must be at least 18 years old and have confirmed recurrent metastatic melanoma with at least one tumor large enough to inject − about the size of a pea. Patients having received previous chemotherapy for melanoma cannot participate. In addition, patients with lung lesions can be included but those with liver or brain lesions cannot.

Approximately 375 patients will be enrolled to receive either Allovectin-7® alone or the current standard chemotherapy (dacarbazine or temozolomide) alone. Sixty-seven percent of enrolled patients will be randomly assigned to receive Allovectin-7® and 33 percent will receive chemotherapy. Allovectin-7® will be administered by a weekly injection into the tumor for six consecutive weeks. The injection cycle may be repeated every eight weeks. Participants will be closely monitored to assess disease status, safety and tolerability. Patients whose melanoma does not clinically progress will be encouraged to continue on the trial and be assessed for up to two years.

To find out whether you or someone you know qualifies for the study, please visit www.melanomatrial.com.

About St. Luke's Cancer Center:

St. Luke's Cancer Center, with locations in Allentown and Bethlehem, provides care to more than 2,000 new patients each year. St. Luke's offers general cancer care as well as special programs for melanoma, lung, breast, prostate and gastrointestinal cancers. St. Luke's clinicians have extensive experience with advanced forms of radiation therapy. The Center offers stereotactic radiosurgery, image-guided radiation therapy (IGRT) for daily motion management often in conjunction with IMRT, and SIR-Spheres for the treatment of liver tumors.

The Center offers Mammosite™ treatments for breast cancer, permanent seeds for prostate cancer, and robotically-assisted surgery for the treatment of prostate and lung cancer. St. Luke's Radiology Department is a GE Healthcare Super Show Site, offering digital mammography, PET scanning, breast MRI and the Innova 4100 imaging system. St. Luke's Cancer Center is the only Cancer Center in Pennsylvania to be recognized with the 2004 Commission on Cancer's Outstanding Achievement Award.

Note to reporters, editors, and producers: local physicians are available for interviews upon request.

Source: Business Wire

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