AU - Breast cancer vaccine trial set for 2015

Very exciting but I wonder what he means by this - 

He said women with early stage breast cancer are currently treated with hormone therapy after surgery.

"The problem is that it only works for 10-12 months," Dr Leong said.

ML - I'm wondering if he meant 10 -12 years - but that doesn't fit in the context of his statement either.

Maybe he meant 'for some women' as the article refers to relapse rate within three years.

I pray that the vaccine works!

They sent me a press release that further explains the results. Here is the pertinent information.

ASN-004 (Breast Cancer)

The second treatment, ASN-004, is being developed as a therapeutic vaccine for treating breast

cancer. ASN-004 is an improved version of a vaccine (OM-MUC-1) and platform originally developed

at Melbourne’s Burnet Institute (formerly the Austin research Institute), ASN-004 can target breast

cancer which arises in an estimated 514,750 individuals in the US, Western Europe and Japan.

The predecessor to ASN-004 was studied in a series of investigator-led clinical trials by the Burnet

Institute in Australia and Overseas over a 15-year period.

“Of particular note were the striking results from the use of OM-MUC-1 in a double blind

randomized placebo controlled study performed in early breast cancer patients,” commented Dr

Leong.

Early stage breast cancer is currently treated by removing or treating the primary cancer, but in 25

to 35 per cent of cases, the cancer will return up to three years later in the form of metastatic breast

cancer, which is currently incurable. In the OM-MUC-1 breast cancer trial, at the 10-year mark, eight

out of 15 patients (53%) in the placebo group had their cancer return, compared to only one out of

16 (6%) in the vaccine treated group.

“Ascend plans to demonstrate improved potency with ASN-004 and to evaluate its potential use in

both early and advanced breast cancer,” Dr Leong said