For Immediate Release
For more information, contact:
Mike Shefky, Communications and Marketing Manager
mshefky@sitcancer.org (414) 271-2456 www.sitcancer.org
NCI IMMUNOTHERAPY WORKSHOP DEVELOPS RANKED LIST OF AGENTS WITH HIGH POTENTIAL FOR USE IN TREATING CANCER
Milwaukee---Discussions held at the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) "Immunotherapy Agent Workshop" (Workshop) generated a list of 20 ranked agents with high potential for use in treating cancer. Despite substantial demonstrated immunological efficacy, these 20 listed agents are not currently available for testing to broad audiences of cancer patients. It is believed that the Workshop's findings will encourage future therapeutic endeavors utilizing these high-potential agents.
Agent rankings, as compiled by Workshop participants on July 12, 2007, were based on the likelihood of the agent's efficacy in cancer therapy and were well-vetted with broad and substantial input by attending delegates. Although the 20 agents are presented in rank order, all are considered to have substantial potential for cancer therapy. The complete listing of ranked agents can be found in the Workshop's resulting manuscript located at the following website link for the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (sitc): http://www.sitcancer.org/news/nci_manuscript.pdf
The Workshop Proceedings states, "The exceedingly broad nature of the consensus behind this list will facilitate subsequent NCI discussions on the availability of clinical grade immunotherapeutic drugs for human trials and will inform other governmental agencies, nongovernmental funding agencies, industry, and individual investigators that these agents have broad appeal to the immunotherapy community and, by consensus, hold particular promise for use in cancer therapy."
The 20 ranked agents were selected from a pre-listing of 124 agents as suggested to the NCI by an online community of interested researchers and clinicians. The NCI sought recommendations on agents with known substantial immunologic or physiologic activity that have not been tested or have been inadequately tested in cancer patients. Of the 124 agents suggested, all needed to meet the following criteria:
The Workshop's organizing committee then winnowed the list of 124 agents to the top 30 for presentation and ranking at the Workshop. Ultimately, Workshop participants decided upon a final rank listing of 20 high-potential agents as presented in the Workshop Proceedings.
Workshop participants included broad representation by academia, industry, and the NCI. Suggestions for participation came from key stakeholders affiliated with the sitc, American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), American Association of Immunologists (AAI), American Society of Oncology (ASCO), American Society of Hematology (ASH), and the Cancer Vaccine Consortium (CVC).
Founded in 1984, the International Society for Biological Therapy of Cancer (sitc) is an organization of clinicians, researchers, students, post-doctoral fellows, and allied health professionals dedicated to improving cancer patient outcomes by advancing the development and application of biological therapy through interaction, innovation and leadership.
###
