Intravenous administration of a novel, gene-based, anti-angiogenic biologic (VB-111) essentially doubled the overall survival of patients with recurrent glioblastoma compared to the current standard of care, a researcher, at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHSC) at San Antonio said in an October 1, 2015 press release from the UTHSC at San Antonio. Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain cancer that kills two-thirds of patients within five years. A patient's outlook with recurrence of the disease is considered to be weeks or months. CTRC Medical Oncologist Andrew J. Brenner, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor in Medicine, Neurology, and Neurosurgery at the UT Health Science Center School of Medicine, presented final results of a Phase 2 clinical research study that evaluated VB-111, in continuous and intermittent doses and in comparison to the treatment standard, the chemotherapy Avastin™. Patients receiving VB-111 survived 15 months on average, compared to 8 months on average for patients receiving Avastin alone. The CTRC and three other centers enrolled 62 patients with recurrent glioblastoma for the studies. "These are the patients with the most serious cases, whose glioblastoma has recurred after surgery and who, as a result, have a very short life expectancy," Dr. Brenner said. Dr. Brenner, principal investigator for the studies, presented the results this week at the European Cancer Congress 2015 meeting in Vienna, Austria (September 25-29). "In addition to the benefit in overall survival, VB-111 was safe and well-tolerated in the patients, and proved to be effective both as a single therapy for recurrent glioblastoma, and in combination with Avastin," he said.
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