Vaccine-making contract goes to Cambrex
Geron's GRNVAC1 telomerase vaccine for use in clinical trials and
will now transfer production to its Walkersville, Maryland
facility.
"Cambrex is a leader in the cell therapy manufacturing field and we are extremely pleased to have this important partnership in place," said Melissa Behrs, Geron's vice president of oncology.
"The capabilities and expertise at Cambrex position them well to serve as our central manufacturing facility, producing GRNVAC1 vaccine for all patients in our clinical trials," she said.
GRNVAC1 is a cancer vaccine comprised of autologous dendritic cells loaded ex vivo with telomerase mRNA.
The telomerase vaccine is currently in multiple Phase I-II clinical trials at Duke University in the US, where different strategies to optimise vaccine performance are under evaluation.
Results of the first completed Phase I-II clinical trial of GRNVAC1 in metastatic prostate cancer patients were published in the Journal of Immunology in March 2005.
The vaccine is so far showing promise, demonstrating a potential clinical response in 19 out of 20 subjects and was well tolerated with no major treatment-related toxicities.
In addition to GRNVAC1, Geron also has two anti-cancer products in the clinic that target telomerase: GRN163L, a specific telomerase inhibitor drug that is in a Phase I-II clinical trial in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL); and GRNVAC1, a telomerase therapeutic vaccine currently in multiple Phase I-II trials at Duke University.
