PROSPECT: A Phase III Clinical Trial of the Immunotherapy Vaccine Prostvac in Asymptomatic Hormone-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients.

The goal of the Prospect Trial is to enhance a man’s immune system to fight prostate cancer. It is a Phase III trial for metastatic, hormone-resistant prostate cancer patients who are either asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic. The trial utilizes the investigational immunotherapy, Prostvac, a therapeutic pox virus cancer vaccine directed at PSA-producing cells. It is administered with or without GM-CSF (granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor). GM-CSF is a protein secreted by immune system cells that functions as a white blood cell growth factor. Prostvac is delivered via a series of injections over five months. The end point of the trial is to improve overall survival.  Prostvac was developed at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest of the institutes of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland. There is considerable interest in administering this vaccine to men in earlier stages of their disease. For more information such as concerning qualification and locations of the trial, see the following link. One can also find information at the National Cancer Institute’s clinical trial website, http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials or call the NCI’s help line at 1-800-4-CANCER. Prostvac was also discussed in earlier blogs posted on this website on Sept. 20th, 2011, January 3rd, 2012, and the Bavarian Nordic website, who are co-developers of Prostvac. For a fact sheet on Prostvac and its results in previous trials, see the following link.