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TORONTO STAR THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2003
PRITHI YELAJA STAFF REPORTER
Injection of progress in cancer treatment
Vaccines prove 'very promising'
More targeted than chemo
Full Story

For more information on cancer trials, contact: 1-866 455 0349 or visit www.cancervaccines.com

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Excerpts from: TORONTO STAR APRIL 3, 2003

Vaccines, the latest tools in the fight against cancer, are showing great promise in slowing and even curing the disease in some cases.

Since they're designed to target only cancer cells and not healthy ones, they don't induce the harsh side effects common to chemotherapy, such as hair loss and nausea. Side effects with vaccines tend to be minor and typically include irritation at the injection site.
 
 "I know hard chemotherapy is on patients," says Dr. Neil Berinstein, an oncologist at Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre and head of the cancer vaccine program at Aventis Pasteur, a Toronto-based pharmaceutical company which is building a $350-million cancer vaccine lab. The toxicity of chemotherapy is cumulative, which wears down patients, Berinstein adds.

"Vaccines are a whole new emerging area of cancer therapy, he says, predicting that within a decade, most cancer patients will receive a vaccine as part of their treatment. The results we have to date are very promising."

Worldwide, researchers are developing vaccines specifically for cancer of the cervix, colon, lung, lymphoma and melanoma.

Now we want to give the vaccine earlier in the treatment because we think the immune system will be stronger and the vaccines will work better," Berinstein says. "We're not going to cure cancer, but it (vaccine) has an important role in improving the survival of patients, reducing the chance of relapse, and improving the quality of life."

LYMPHOMA: So far, 20 Canadian patients are enrolled in a study to test a new personalized vaccine, to treat non-Hodgkins lymphoma, the disease that took the lives of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and King Hussein of Jordan.

Only 10 percent of cancer patients get involved in clinical trials, and Berinstein encourages more to take part.

"If we get more patients involved, we could bring new treatments forward quicker, he says.

Part of the problem is that many oncologists outside of major teaching hospitals, where most of the trials take place, may not know about them, so it is up to patients to do their own research and push to get enrolled, Berinstein says.

As well, some patients are simply afraid of being guinea pigs, but the likelihood of getting a therapy that will harm them is low, he believes.

"By the time new treatment protocols get to the clinic, a lot of testing has been done to make sure that it is safe."

TORONTO STAR THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2003 PRITHI YELAJA STAFF REPORTER Injection of progress in cancer treatment Vaccines prove 'very promising' More targeted than chemo Full Story

TORONTO STAR THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2003
PRITHI YELAJA STAFF REPORTER
Injection of progress in cancer treatment
Vaccines prove 'very promising'
More targeted than chemo
Full Story