Stimuvax is an investigational therapeutic cancer vaccine

Cancer vaccine

The term cancer vaccine refers to a vaccine that either prevents infections with cancer-causing viruses, treats existing cancer or prevents the development of cancer in certain high risk individuals...

 designed to induce an immune response to cancer cells that express MUC1

MUC1

Mucin 1, cell surface associated or polymorphic epithelial mucin is a mucin encoded by the MUC1 gene in humans. MUC1 is a proteoglycan with extensive O-linked glycosylation of its extracellular domain. Mucins line the apical surface of epithelial cells in the lungs, stomach, intestines, eyes and...

, a glycoprotein antigen

Antigen

An antigen is a foreign molecule that, when introduced into the body, triggers the production of an antibody by the immune system. The immune system will then kill or neutralize the antigen that is recognized as a foreign and potentially harmful invader. These invaders can be molecules such as...

 widely expressed on common cancers. MUC1 is over-expressed on many cancers such as lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer. Stimuvax is thought to work by stimulating the body's immune system to identify and destroy cancer cells expressing MUC1.

Lung cancer

Phase IIb study of 171 patients with inoperable stage IIIb NSCLC, in which Stimuvax showed a trend towards extending median overall survival from 13.3 months for patients receiving best supportive care (BSC) to 30.6 months for patients receiving Stimuvax plus BSC. This result, from a subset of on stage 3b patients in the study, was no statistically significant (p = 0.16, J. Thorac. Oncol., 2(8):S199-S201, August 2007). Reported side effects included mild-to-moderate flu-like symptoms, gastrointestinal disturbances and mild injection-site reactions.