MedImmune Reports Preliminary Vitaxin Data

MedImmune (MEDI) said the preliminary data from a study involving patients with stage IV metastatic melanoma showed a 12.7-month median survival for those treated with Vitaxin alone.

Data also showed a 9.4-month median survival for patients treated with Vitaxin plus dacarbazine (DTIC). In a separate recent Phase III trial, patients treated with DTIC alone, the current standard of care in advanced melanoma, had a median survival of 7.9 months, the company said.

Vitaxin is MedImmune's development-stage monoclonal antibody being evaluated in separate trials involving patients with advanced melanoma and prostate cancers. The data from the melanoma trial were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.

The preliminary data demonstrated that the one-year survival rate was 53% for patients receiving Vitaxin alone, while the one-year survival rate was 42% for patients receiving Vitaxin plus DTIC. Data on three patients are still pending.

In the study, 112 patients with stage IV metastatic melanoma received weekly intravenous infusions of Vitaxin either alone or in conjunction with DTIC once every three weeks. To date, safety data suggest that Vitaxin has been generally well tolerated in these patients. Immunogenecity data are pending.