New Zealand scientists are developing their own melanoma vaccine to rival “wonder-drug” Keytruda that should be available within five years – and with a considerably lower price tag.
Malaghan Institute director Graham Le Gros has tipped the vaccine discovery, led by associate professor Ian Hermans and Gavin Painter, as the equivalent to discovering penicillin.
Pre-clinical trials on mice were promising, he said. Now the Institute has begun a small closed trial of 45 human patients, expected to deliver results this coming year.
The vaccine’s researchers, from both the Malaghan institute and Victoria University’s Ferrier Research Institute, have set up a Lower Hutt-based venture Avalia, to attract considerable international investment and progress to clinical trials.
Stuff 13 December 2015