Sanofi Pasteur to sponsor therapeutic cancer vaccine study

Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of Sanofi-Aventis, has announced it is to sponsor a trial assessing a multi-pronged therapeutic cancer vaccine regimen.

The phase II clinical study will be conducted in patients with advanced-stage melanoma – a form of cancer which is often fatal and for which there exist limited treatment options at present.

Patients are being enrolled in the MEL11 trial in the US and Canada and researchers will explore the safety and efficacy of a therapeutic cancer vaccine regimen.

The aim of the vaccine is to stimulate the immune system to fight melanoma by making use of a modified canarypox virus ALVAC(2) which has been shown to boost immune responses in humans.

Teresa Petrella, medical oncologist and clinical researcher at the Odette Cancer Centre at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, said: “The MEL11 study uses an entirely new treatment approach to advanced-stage melanoma.”

She added that the study protocol will combine the use of the vaccine with traditional anti-cancer drugs to boost the immune system.

Last month, Sanofi Pasteur announced that it had begun to ship the first doses of its influenza vaccine for the 2008-9 season in the US.