could bounce very soon, page-13

cancer vaccine registration likely
"NEW YORK (AP) -- Canadian biotech company Biomira Inc. and German drug maker Merck KGaA said Wednesday that they started a mid-stage clinical trial for their lung cancer vaccine to support a marketing approval application in Canada.

An earlier Phase II trial showed a survival benefit in lung cancer patients whose disease was localized. Canadian regulators are requiring the new trial to use the survival data for an early approval, the companies said."
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050420/biomira_blp25.html?.v=1

This is very important news for PRR. Imminent Canadian registration for BioMira's BLP-25 lung cancer vaccine bodes well for CancerVac.

As I understand it, BioMira and Merck wanted to change the formulation of BLP-25 in order to facilitate commercial production scale up. The formulation change is the reason why Health Canada is requiring the additional safety study – due to be completed this year.

Obviously, Health Canada is considering registering the treatment on the back of the existing phase 2B survival data - which is simply outstanding. Were it not for the formulation change, BLP-25 might have been available in the Canadian market this year.

I reckon, that if BioMira get this vaccine to market in Canada we will see an Immunotherapeutics Boom - as the commercial value of these treatments becomes clear.

Whichever way you twist it, it looks like BioMira is sitting on a clear blockbuster.

"In 2004, approximately 174,000 new cases of lung were diagnosed in the U.S. - 54 per cent of them in men and 46 per cent in women. Approximately 160,000 people will have died of this disease in the U.S. alone in 2004. Similar per capita rates of incidence and mortality occur in Canada. NSCLC accounts for approximately 75 to 80 per cent of all primary lung cancers. At the time of diagnosis, only 25 per cent of patients are potentially curable by surgery."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050420/to216.html?.v=2

If all goes well, I think we can expect very strong investor interest in companies with prospective immunotherapeutic IP going forward.

Of course, in this climate PRR will be very hot property.

Just my opinon.

Dogbark