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VACCINE FOR OVARIAN CANCER NOW IN PHASE II TRIALS

October 14, 2005

Prima BioMed reported that it has completed initial recruitment for its Phase IIa clinical trial in ovarian cancer at the Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. The anticancer technology being tested involves taking a blood sample from patients and isolating particular immune cells from the blood, which are then matured into dendritic cells and treated with the vaccine before their return to the body.

The patients' immune cells are incubated in the laboratory with the vaccine, mucin-1. When returned to the bloodstream, the treated cells are primed to marshal the immune system to mount a strong attack on cells carrying mucin-1 on their surface -- in this case, ovarian cancer.

The primary endpoint of the trial is clinical response or disease stabilization as measured by the decline in or plateau of the serum marker, CA-125. Secondary endpoints include progression-free survival, immune response, any adverse events, any interruptions or withdrawal from treatment and performance status.