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Allovectin-7(R) May Offer Jupiter Medical Center Patients a New Option for Treating Advanced Melanoma

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 December 2007, 15:00 CST

Skin cancer specialists at Jupiter Medical Center's Ella Milbank Foshay Cancer Center are recruiting patients to participate in a large Phase 3 study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of Allovectin-7®, an investigational gene-based immunotherapeutic product for advanced melanoma. Immunotherapy is therapy designed to train your body's immune system to recognize and destroy tumor cells. 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).

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

Melanoma is among the fastest-growing cancer indications, rising at a 3 to 5 percent annual rate during the last 30 years. 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.

Patients whose melanoma is caught early can often be cured with surgery. However, more advanced stages 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.

"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 Elizabeth Reich, M.D., Hematologist/Oncologist, an investigator on the Allovectin-7® study. "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."

Approximately 375 patients will be enrolled in the study throughout the United States and will 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.

"Jupiter Medical Center is proud to be able to offer our community access to leading clinical trials so they don't have to travel outside the area," said Paul Dell Uomo, CEO. "These types of studies also give our physicians and staff an opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience with the latest in approved, investigational cancer treatments."

A not-for-profit 276-bed community Medical Center consisting of 156 private acute care hospital beds and 120 long-term care beds, JMC provides a broad range of services, with specialty concentrations in orthopaedics, long-term care, minimally invasive vascular procedures, cancer care and advanced diagnostics. JMC is currently in the midst of a major, multi-year growth plan which includes emergency room expansion, 8-bed progressive care unit and The Raso Education Center. The Medical Center has approximately 1,400 employees, 460 physicians and 700 volunteers.

For more information about the Phase 3 Allovectin-7® clinical trial or other clinical trials available at Jupiter Medical Center, please call the Oncology Clinical Research Office at (561) 745-5768.

Source: Business Wire

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