Corixa Corp. and Genesis Research and Development Corporation Ltd announced that the companies have discontinued the development of PVAC treatment, a product candidate for the treatment of psoriasis. The decision follows the recent completion of a randomized and placebo controlled clinical trial of PVAC in mild to moderate psoriasis patients that examined different dosages and durations of therapy. This trial confirmed that PVAC therapy failed to provide a statistically significant increase in the percentage of patients achieving a 75 per cent reduction in psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score as compared to placebo treated patients.
In addition, results of a clinical trial in which PVAC treatment was provided to patients in advance of standard ultraviolet light therapy failed to demonstrate a significant clinical benefit of PVAC over and above that manifested by ultraviolet light therapy alone.
“The results of the randomized and placebo controlled trials do not justify further investment of resources in PVAC product development,” stated Steven Gillis, PhD, chairman and chief executive officer of Corixa. “We appreciate the efforts of the investigators involved in these studies as well as the support of our development partners, Medicis and Zenyaku Kogyo. While we would have preferred a different outcome, we thoroughly explored the potential utility of PVAC in this indication and we are confident that we have made the right decision.”
Corixa is a developer of immunotherapeutics with a commitment to treating and preventing cancer and infectious diseases by understanding and directing the immune system. On June 30, 2003, Corixa announced that the FDA approved BEXXAR for the treatment of patients with CD20 positive, follicular, NHL, with and without transformation, whose disease is refractory to Rituximab and has relapsed following chemotherapy.
Founded in 1994, Genesis is a New Zealand-based biotechnology company. It has built a broad genomic platform for the development of innovative products in health. Genesis partners with industry leaders to develop products that have global market potential through the mining of its extensive microbe, plant and mammalian EST databases for cellular regulators that may be used as therapeutics.
AgriGenesis Biosciences Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Genesis that is focused on using key plant cell signaling genes - novel hormones and transcription factors - to control commercial traits including growth rates and wood fiber quality in trees, nutritional content of forage grasses, flowering control, salt and cold tolerance.