VAXIRA - 1271977

Hi captain72,

Though it has been around for a number of years, Vaxira/Cimavax has not really generated much of any interest outside of Cuba. For example, there are no trials listed on clinicaltrials.gov. Last year, Dr. West wrote this about the drug:

"Cimavax is a hard one to speak to, since there’s really been no more evidence presented on it since the post I did years ago. Frankly, that makes me skeptical, especially since no lung cancer specialist outside of Cuba has ever given it a moment of thought in the last 3 years. If it were that impressive, it would have been championed by someone, somewhere. But the short answer is that there’s no additional evidence to offer beyond the immature, rather weak evidence in the post Jim cited." - http://cancergrace.org/topic/squamous-nsclc-treatment-after-discontinue… (Unfortunately, the post referred to in this comment does not seem available now).

With different mechanisms of action, I would think that a trial sponsor might be concerned that they could conflict. You would want to check in advance whether prior treatment with Vaxira will disqualify you from a specific trial of another immunotherapy agent.

JimC
Forum moderator

Here is what I understand about VAXIRA:
- Even though VAXIRA is technically a monoclonal antibody, its mechanism of action is fairly comparable to a peptide-based vaccine. Peptide-based vaccines have largely been a disappointment in lung cancer.
- VAXIRA has been approved by regulatory authorities in Cuba and Argentina, which is where the product is manufactured. Drug approvals can have political importance. There is no high level double-blinded evidence to support its use yet.
- I personally have also not heard of any dramatic confirmed tumor shrinkage with this drug.
- I'm looking at the Recombio website, I see there have been no press releases since May 2013.

If anything, in general, it seems reasonable to wait and have the cancer vaccine at the same time as the Opdivo. From a theoretical standpoint, that would be the best time for antigen presentation.