Doctors at Dana-Farber are developing a therapeutic cancer vaccine, targeted to patients with smoldering myeloma.
Smoldering Multiple Myeloma - Multiple Myeloma - OncoPep
"The medical community has shown growing interest in treating patients in the early stage of MM, called smoldering multiple myeloma, which may have the potential to prevent the progression of this cancer."
"OncoPep is advancing PVX-410, a novel therapeutic cancer vaccine. PVX-410 contains four proprietary peptides designed to specifically target MM cells, with the goal of "training" the immune system to recognize and attack the cancer cells before the cancer advances."
This vaccine will, "stimulate the patient’s immune system to attack his or her cancer through an optimized combination of disease-specific peptides and adjuvants (substances that stimulate the immune system)."
"The initial clinical target is smoldering multiple myeloma, a precursor disease to MM for which there are no approved treatments. The Company plans to initiate a Phase 1 trial in the U.S. for PVX-410 in smoldering multiple myeloma in early 2013."
When I asked about this vaccine at an appointment a couple months ago my doctor asked me if I had ever seen the movie I Am Legend. Heh. Kinda scary! But, in all seriousness, hopefully this is promising. :)
That sounds promising I will ask Dr. B at Little Rock and Dr. T here in Nashville about whether they have heard about PVX-410. So it has 4 peptides in it that are owned by Oncpep. I appreciate your Dr. comment about the movie I am Legend.....it is somewhat concerning to be injected with a novel agent for which medical science has no idea all the side effects. Let us all know what you hear about this!
ReplyDeleteMy doctor at Dana-Farber, Dr. PR, is not directly involved in this vaccine, but his partner, Dr. KA is. I will definitely keep my ears open for updates! I believe they are recruiting for a phase 1 trial right now. Definitely exciting!
DeleteThanks for the kind words about tomorrows infusion. I have emailed the doctor referenced in your article above asking about the clinical trial for PVX-410. I will let you know what I find out.
ReplyDeleteThat's great you emailed! Hope you get some good information; looking forward to hearing about what he says.
DeleteKeith, this is the link for the trial.
Deletehttp://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01718899
Glad you are able to live your life joyfully and to the fullest, Elizabeth! Hope you remain smoldering for a long, long time!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much - I do, too! :)
Deletei am definitely interested....What has happened since January 2013?
DeleteKerri, I'm not sure. My guess would be since the trial just commenced they don't have that much data yet.
DeleteI was in the trial for pvx410 and my smoldering has accelerated at a rate far beyond what it did over the last 5 years. I will start standard treatment for the disease in January.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear the pxc410 trial did not work for you. I hope that your treatments this January go well. Best wishes to you.
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