Australia's Prima BioMed plans to raise AU$38 million to fund late-stage trials of CVac, an immunotherapy ovarian cancer vaccine designed to be administered post-surgery and post-chemotherapy to delay the relapse and control the metastases of the cancer. There are currently no maintenance-based therapy products commercially available for that indication, noted the developer in a release. The money, which will come in the form of an AU$18 million placement to shareholders and a AU$20 million share purchase plan, is slated to fund Phase III trials of the vaccine.
Prima plans to enroll 800 patients in its late-stage study across multiples sites in Europe, the U.S. and Australia. Enrollment will begin this summer, with data from the late-stage trial expected by 2013. "If statistical endpoints are successfully reached in the Phase III Trial, CVacTM will be well placed to become the world's first ovarian cancer immunotherapy treatment," the company noted in a release.
- here's Prima's release (.pdf)