Somatix Therapy
Executive Summary
Company's Phase I GVAX gene therapy protocol for prostate cancer is the first approved by NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee under the new accelerated review procedures. GVAX is designed to produce an immune response that "seeks out and destroys remaining or metastatic tumors" by genetically modifying the patient's own cells to produced the immunostimulant GM-CSF, Somatix says. Trials of GVAX for renal cell carcinoma and advanced melanoma are already under way