BiovaxID, a therapeutic anti-cancer vaccine produced by Biovest, a subsidiary of Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, is now available in Europe.
BiovaxID is a personalised vaccine, which uses the patient's own immune system to treat follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and potentially other B-cell blood cancers, such as chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, mantle cell lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
University of Cologne Professor of Medicine Volker Diehl said that Phase III results, although positive, did not include a BiovaxID maintenance regimen consisting of periodic booster shots.
"This booster regimen may be key in continuing to stimulate a robust and enduring immune response, thus further improving results, and perhaps even resulting in durable remissions for some patients," Diehl said.
Biovest is planning to include multiple booster vaccines for potential maintenance therapy purposes, as part of the vaccine delivery for prescriptions processed under the named-patient programme.
The treatment will be available on a named-patient basis where physicians are permitted to supply investigational drugs to willing patients who qualify for the treatment.
