Genitope suspends cancer work, looks to alternatives

After reviewing a failed late-stage trial of MyVax for Hodgkins lymphoma, Genitope has decided to suspend development work and focus on alternatives like its antibody program. MyVax had already failed to hit a primary endpoint with no significant difference in progression-free survival of patients. But researchers had been enthusiastic about finding a positive response among patients who mounted a positive immune response to the tumor-specific target and those who did not.

"We are disappointed that we will not be able to make MyVax personalized immunotherapy available to patients with follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma," said CEO Dan Denney. "We firmly believe that MyVax personalized immunotherapy has the potential to safely induce long-term remissions, possibly including life-long remissions... However, we recognize that the costs and time required for further clinical development of MyVax personalized immunotherapy are prohibitive at this time, and we thus intend to focus our efforts on the development of our monoclonal antibody program."

- check out Genitope's release
- read the report from the East Bay Business Journal

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