David Berd, MD Biovaxys And The World Ovarian Cancer Coalition Join Forces For May 8th, World Ovarian Cancer Day.
Biovaxys, a global pioneer in haptenized antigen vaccines for antiviral and cancer uses, today declared its support for World Ovarian Cancer Day, a major effort of the World Ovarian Cancer Coalition (“the Coalition”), a non-profit organization based in Canada.
On May 8th, 2013, a coalition of leading ovarian cancer activists founded World Ovarian Cancer Day to provide a forum for stakeholders to lift their voices in unity in the battle against ovarian cancer. Although the Coalition operates on a variety of fronts, World Ovarian Cancer Day is its signature awareness-raising campaign, with over 170 partner organizations from all around the world supporting it. BioVaxys joins GSK, AstraZeneca, Novocure, Merck, Clovis Oncology, IMV, Teckro, Immunogen, and AOA as corporate partners. Organizations ranging from local volunteer-led organizations to established national organizations are all supporting this cutting-edge effort, in addition to individuals. The Coalition invites all concerned groups and donors to join together to increase local and global consciousness of ovarian cancer, believing that the ovarian cancer group is stronger when we work together.
BioVaxys recently announced a collaboration with Spanish biopharma firm ProCare Health Iberia S.A.S. on its ovarian cancer vaccine, BVX-0918A, which expects to apply a Clinical Trial Application (“CTA”) for BVX-0918A to the European Medicines Agency (“EMEA”) later this year for approval-for-use in Stage III and Stage IV ovarian cancer. In the EU and the United Kingdom, ProCare Health will sell BVX-0918A, while BioVaxys will market its ovarian cancer vaccine in North America and the rest of the world.
There are also a lot of unmet therapeutic requirements for ovarian cancer patients around the world. Ovarian cancer affects over 300,000 people worldwide each year (World Cancer Research Fund, 2020), and it is the primary cause of death from gynecologic malignancy in the United States (American Cancer Society Facts & Figures 2020). In 2020, the United States is expected to see 21,750 new cases of ovarian cancer, including 13,940 deaths (National Cancer Institute, Surveillance, and Epidemiology Program, 2020). Since early-stage ovarian cancer is normally asymptomatic (Stage I and Stage II), around 80% of patients are diagnosed with advanced-stage disease (stages III and IV). Patients in stages III and IV have a 5-year mortality rate of about 29%. 1 The majority of women with Stage III or IV cancer will have a chronic disease that is immune to chemotherapy in the future. Also with numerous salvage regimens, patients who relapse after platinum-based chemotherapy have a short life span. BioVaxys’ initial target demographic is the vast population of people who don’t respond to first-line treatment or who relapse after it.