Prima could net $20m in deal with Canada's Biomira

Commercialisation proceeds apace at Prima Biomed, which today announced an agreement with Canadian cancer vaccine specialist Biomira.

Prima stands to gain a potential $20 million in up-front milestone payments from Biomira, as well as royalties for its mannan-MUC1 fusion protein (MFP) therapeutic vaccine, known as CancerVac.

In return, Biomira will provide Prima with access rights related to a protein called MUC1 which is essential for the development and commercialisation of CancerVac's MFP used for cancer immunotherapy.

Biomira also acquired a 10 per cent equity stake in Prima's CancerVac, and a seat on the CancerVac Board.

CancerVac's therapy involves taking the patient's own dendritic cells and treating them ex vivo to stimulate a cellular immune response. Cells are then re-injected into the patient. Dendritic cells are the forward guards of the immune system, apprehending foreign proteins and presenting them to T-cells, which mount an immune attack. CancerVac has found that the strength of the T-cell attack can be increased by exposing the dendritic cells to a protein that has first been attached to a large carbohydrate molecule (a mannan).

Prima reported in August last year that CancerVac prompted an improved immune response in all advanced cancer patients who completed treatment in its Phase I trials.

CancerVac plans to initiate patient recruitment for a Phase IIa trial in patients with metastatic ovarian cancer in the second quarter of 2004. The trial will test whether T-cell response can control progression of tumours.

"It was always Prima's objective to take CancerVac through Phase II trials and commercialise the technology in Australia. Now, through a series of potential milestones from Biomira, this agreement clears a path for the commercial exploitation of the technology in North America and Europe," said Prima CEO Marcus Clark in a statement.

Although Prima has retained the rights to commercialise CancerVac in Australia and New Zealand following these Phase IIa trials, today's agreement gives Biomira the sole option of licensing the exclusive worldwide commercialisation rights for CancerVac. Should this take place, ongoing development costs will be covered by Biomira. Biomira may also opt to retain only the North American commercialisation rights -- covering development costs of only 50 per cent.

Prima's announcement had hardly set the market on fire by press time. At 1.30pm, AEST, the company was trading at AUD$0.325, down 3 cents from its opening price. Biomira (BIOM US) rose 19 cents, or 9.9 per cent, to $2.10.