GVAX for Patients With Pancreatic Cancer

Clinical Pearls

Smitha Krishnamurthi, MD, associate professor of medicine, Case Western Reserve University, describes GVAX for patients with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma. A phase II study of the vaccine waspresented at the 2014 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium.

• GVAX is a whole cell vaccine made of pancreatic cancer cells expressing GM-CSF. GVAX is given with low-dose cyclophosphamide.
• Patients in the study were randomized to receive cyclophosphamide/GVAX followed by CRS-207 or just cyclophosphamide/GVAX. CRS-207 is a modified Listeria bacteria which expresses mesothelin.
• Patients in the cyclophosphamide/GVAX and CRS-207 arm experienced an overall survival benefit of about 2 months (6.1 versus 3.9 months).