Merck's OVCA Vaccine

[meganrogers]

Merck is working on a vaccine and it is successful.

They now have the Cervical Cancer Vaccine ( Gardasil) and are working on an OVCA vaccine. They are in the second trial and need one more before the FDA approves. By giving it to patients with OVC in recurrence, they have prevented it from returning for two years. They are tweeking that and want total prevention. They have also been successful with prostrate cancer and as you heard last week, skin cancer. It does not seem that OVC patients are very vocal for our cause. If we write Merck and tell them how much we need the vaccine, possibly they could advance their study. There is such a loud voice for Breast Cancer, yet I never hear about a fight for OVC. We need to yell out for help.

http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/health/ovarian_cancer_vaccine

Above are some sights to read concerning the vaccine, also just type in Ovarian Cancer Vaccine and many sights will pop up.

Merck Address:  Merck & Co., Inc.
One Merck Drive
P.O. Box 100
Whitehouse Station, NJ 08889-0100 USA
Phone: [phone]
Monday-Friday 8:30 AM - 5:30 PM ET

Have any of your doctors mentioned this vaccine or the research?

[melenzbee83]

bump up

[Pat4444]

Do they need a sample of tumor because I don't think mine was saved,,there are blocks fixed in formalin but not fresh.

[jane65]

Hi Megan,
Yes I'm unfortunately staged 4B epithelial OVCA metastasized to the lymph nodes.
Grade 3 poorly differentiated cells. All are not good signs.

Thank you for thinking about me, my last CT scan was clear, but my oncologist said I'm not in remission because of the small increases in my CA the past 3 months, I'm not totally convinced, but he's he guy with the degrees.

The new vaccines look so exciting and bring hope!

I wish you good health,
Jane

[meganrogers]

I already heard back from the Roswell Park Cancer Institute where Dr. Odunsi is working on the OVCA vaccine. Here is the info they sent me:

Dear Megan,

Thank you for writing to Roswell Park Cancer Institute, America's first and Upstate New York's only comprehensive cancer center. Your recent inquiry to Deborah Pettibone has been forwarded to Roswell Park's Cancer Information Program. We are pleased to provide information on the ovarian cancer vaccine being researched by Dr. Odunsi (http://www.roswellpark.org/Patient_Care/Meet_the_Team/Clinicians/Odunsi_Kunle_MD_PhD) and his team.

We are Cancer Information Specialists, not physicians, and this information is not intended to replace or override information given by a physician, nor is it an endorsement of any organization, product, or service.



These links will bring you to details about the studies now recruiting patients (either click the links or copy and paste them into the address window of your Web browser):



125207 - http://www.cancer.gov/search/ViewClinicalTrials.aspx?cdrid=628730&version=HealthProfessional



127008 - http://www.cancer.gov/search/ViewClinicalTrials.aspx?cdrid=640517&version=HealthProfessional&protocolsearchid=6303100



Attached please find the article on this vaccine that was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in July 2007.



To watch a short video about the vaccine, please use this link: http://www.roswellpark.org/mmnr2/popups/video_popup.asp?video=Cancer_Vaccine_VNR



To watch a video about an earlier trial of the above vaccine, please use this link: http://www.roswellpark.org/mmnr2/popups/video_popup.asp?video=Ovarian_VNR

If any of your colleagues are interested in participating in either of these trials, please invite them to call us at the toll-free number below so that we may ask a few questions about their diagnosis and treatment history; we will then forward their information to Dr. Odunsi's research team so they may contact them.  

For trial 125207, participants would be required to sign a release so we can obtain medical records and a sample of the tumor specimen for special testing. They must be willing to travel to Buffalo, NY, every month for a total of six months; and would need to stay in Buffalo for four days each time.

For trial 127008, they would need to come to Buffalo weekly for four months.



I hope this information will be helpful for you. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us again. Thank you for thinking of Roswell Park for your cancer information needs.

Respectfully,

James Hart, Information Specialist
Cancer Information Program
Roswell Park Cancer Institute
Elm & Carlton Streets
Buffalo, NY  14263

1-877-ASK-RPCI
1-877-275-7724
Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 5:30 pm
www.RoswellPark.org
www.twitter.com/RoswellPark

For a free subscription to Roswellness, Roswell Park's national award-winning health magazine, or to subscribe to e-HealthFlash (our free monthly health newsletters by e-mail), please click the link below:


I was dissapointed to hear they are still in phase I, but I had heard one could only have the vaccine if they were in remission. I thought of Jane, but now read that you may be Stage II-IV, and not in remission. YES! They are looking for OVCA patients for the trial. They are located in Buffalo, NY., to my knowledge.

They are sending more info which will come from the Dr.'s office later.
The above links are from the National Cancer Institute. Hope this answers some questions and gives hope. Megan

[meganrogers]

I looked up the article above and found an e-mail address of the contact or writer and sent an e-mail asking more questions about the story and doctor. I also wrote Merck asking about the vaccine. I will also ask my doctor tomorrow when I go for chemo. I know I read somewhere that MD Anderson is also working on a vaccine. We need the vaccine NOW.

[MaryMargaret387]

Reported April 10, 2009
Ovarian Cancer Vaccine
BUFFALO, N.Y. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Each year, about 25,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Many already have advanced disease by the time they get that diagnosis. Because there is no good screening test and the cancer is often caught too late, overall survival is about 25 percent. A new discovery may improve those odds.

Happily married with two healthy kids, Jill Kisker was living a charmed life.

"The best thing that ever happened to me was having my kids," Kisker told Ivanhoe.

Then the worst thing happened. Three years ago, Kisker was diagnosed with stage-three ovarian cancer.

"I just thought, my kids are so little," Kisker said. "This just can't be true. How did this happen? How did I get here?"

Determined to beat the odds, she had surgery, six rounds of chemo and joined a study on an experimental vaccine. Kunle Odunsi, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Gynecologic Oncology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., is testing a vaccine that targets and destroys a specific protein usually found in adult male testes but is also found on ovarian cancer cells.

"We're able to generate very robust immune responses," Dr. Odunsi told Ivanhoe.

In a study of 22 women, 70 percent had a positive response to the vaccine.

"I think it's highly promising," Dr. Odunsi said.

In another study in women who already had several recurrences, the vaccine delayed their next relapse by nearly two years.

"The ultimate goal here is that this will translate into prevention of relapse altogether and therefore prolongation of overall survival," Dr. Odunsi said.

Three years later, Kisker is still cancer-free. But she knows she's not out of the woods.

"Whatever I have to do to be here, I'll do it, as long as I'm here," she said.

Because for her, anything else is simply not an option.

In the study, the vaccine was given as an injection once a month for seven months. Dr. Odunsi says he has seen no side effects in any women who have received the vaccine other than a little redness at the injection site.

[jane65]

Thank you for posting this exciting information, let's all cross our fingers and toes that this is a successful vaccine, and that it passes the FDA quickly!

I'll ask my oncologist about it when I see him June 22nd.

Have a pleasant day, Megan.
Jane