Special Bulletin
--- The New Ewing's Vaccine Clinical Trial ---(Click here for the abstract from Dr. Geiger's team)
Dr. James Geiger and his research team at the University of Michigan have submitted a Phase II Clinical Trial Ewing's Vaccine Proposal to the National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute for funding. (Clinical trials test new drugs and treatments on human beings. All drugs and treatments were once a "Clinical Trial." Each "Phase" looks at different aspects of the drug/treatment.) Dr. Geiger's team feels they have a good chance at bringing some recurrent/relapsed Ewing's sufferers into remission. This is the proposal the Brian Morden Foundation has been supporting and believes has curative potential.
Highlights of the vaccine:
1. It is non-toxic and non-chemotherapeutic. This means patients whose chemotherapy has failed and have run out of treatment alternatives, have another chance to get the tumors under control through the use of this vaccine.
2. The most common side effect from the vaccine has been fatigue.
3. A stem cell transplant is indicated prior to the administration of the vaccine doses. This is NOT an attempt to cure, because HSCT's (transplants) have not been successful with ES. The HSCT is to clear the body of as much tumor and other vaccine inhibiting elements as possible to optimize the chances that the vaccine will develop at a faster rate than the tumor and kill any remaining tumor cells.
4. The vaccine is usually given in three doses, weeks apart, as an outpatient at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor. No hospital stay is needed for the vaccine treatments.
5. In a world where the only treatments available to children with Ewing's Sarcoma are the "hand-me-down" drugs that were developed for adult cancers like breast, prostate, lung, œdiseases children never get, it is wonderful to have a
treatment specifically aimed at Ewing's Sarcoma, a childhood specific disease.
IF YOU ARE A RECURRENT/RELAPSE EWING'S SARCOMA PATIENT AND WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS VACCINE, THE PHASE II CLINICAL TRIAL OR THE "PILOT STUDY" SEE BELOW:
PLEASE CALL:
DR. JAMES D. GEIGER, LEAD INVESTIGATOR
Tumor Immunologist and Pediatric Surgeon
Associate Professor
University of Michigan Medical School
Mott Children's Hospital
(734) 763-2072
OR
THE BRIAN MORDEN FOUNDATION
(800) 997-7278
Important additional Information:
THE PILOT STUDY
If you are a patient who is seriously ill with ES or a parent of a child who is very sick with ES, please note the following.
The National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute review process will normally take six to eight months. A decision to fund this Phase II ES Vaccine Clinical Trial may not come until August '04. This means that many of the critical patients whose cancer has returned (recurred) won't make it through the review period.
Dr. Geiger and his research team will open a "Pilot Study" program that is privately funded to allow ES patients in dire need to receive treatment much sooner. Under a Pilot Study, patients can be treated on an as-needed-basis. The
NIH/NCI proposal depends on public dollars and restricts the treatment period and use of the vaccine. A privately funded "Pilot Study" would allow for adaptations.THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS ONLY INTENDED TO BE INFORMATIONAL IN NATURE AND NOT MEDICAL ADVICE. IN ALL CASES, YOUR ONCOLOGIST AND DR. GEIGER OR A MEMBER OF HIS TEAM MUST DISCUSS YOUR PARTICULAR CASE IN ORDER TO DETERMINE IF THIS TREATMENT IS RIGHT FOR THE PATIENT.
Cancer Research by Dr. Geiger and colleagues:
A Phase I Trial of Tumor Lysate-pulsed Dendritic Cells in the Treatment of Advanced Cancer - published in Clinical Cancer Research, April 2002 (pdf file)
Vaccination Of Pediatric Solid Tumor Patients with Tumor Lysate-pulsed Dendritic Cells Can Expand Specific T Cells and Mediate Tumor Regression - published in Cancer Research, December 1, 2001 (pdf file)
If you're interested in financially supporting the vaccine pilot study, please contact us.return to brianmordenfoundation.org <3
Contact The Brian Morden Foundation at fdj@brianmordenfoundation.orglast updated 2/18/05