Email
Print
Vaccine strong in tests
Treatment for lung cancer in third round of trials
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: August 22, 2008
The biotech company that Justin Murdock, the son of Dole Food Co. owner David Murdock, leads has begun stage-III clinical trials for a lung cancer vaccine.
NovaRx, based in San Diego, is testing its Lucanix vaccine in about 700 patients with lung cancer — a disease which the American Cancer Society says is the number one cause of cancer death in the world.
The trials will be conducted at 90 different sites in the United States, Canada, India and Europe.
Carissa Schumacher, director of corporate development for NovaRx, said clinical testing may take up to three years, but researchers hope to be done sooner.
The vaccine attacks a cancer cell's defense mechanism: TGF-beta, which is a protein the cancer cell excretes, creating a cloak around it so that white blood cells, the attack drones of the immune system, can't see it, Schumacher said.
"What Lucinex does is allows the body to take that ... barrier down so your immune system can see the tumor and attack it," Schumacher said. "The cancer loses its defense mechanism."
Researchers have had good results with Lucinex in stage-II trials with late-stage lung cancer patients, according to a statement released by the company.
"NovaRx remains committed to developing whole cell-based therapeutic vaccines for any form of cancer in which this approach may significantly improve patient outcomes by either curing their disease entirely, or by stabilizing it over the course of their lives," said Justin Murdock in the statement.
Dole Food Co. owner David Murdock announced in March 2007 that he invested $35 million in a therapeutic vaccine company of which his son, Justin, is chief executive officer. Officially, Castle & Cooke has not released the name of the company that Murdock invested in, but other people connected to David Murdock are involved with the company.
Andrew Conrad, Murdock's science advisor, and Edward Roohan, president and COO of Castle & Cooke, sit on NovaRx's board.
"They are so excited about this," Schumacher said. "The Murdocks are committed in biotechnology and health care companies."
Justin and his father have said if the vaccine is successful and approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the company would move to the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis.
• Contact Ben McNeely: 704-789-9131
Email
Print
ADVERTISEMENT
Click a region for news specific to that area.
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
Advertisement
