The developer of a new ovarian cancer vaccine is seeking a business partner to launch its treatment to patients across the globe following successful clinical trials.
Shares in Prima BioMed have shot up after the biotech announced strong results from clinical trials of its ovarian cancer CVac treatment.
Prima BioMed’s shares finished up by 1.2 cents, or 54.55 per cent, to 3.4 cents.
The company said final data from a five-year trial of CVac had shown a clear improvement in patients suffering ovarian cancer.
The results showed the treatment extended the survival rate of patients in remission for the second time.
The median survival rate for second remission patients is about 25 months.
Prima BioMed said the trial showed CVac gave patients at least another 16 months.
The company’s chairman Lucy Turnbull said the final clinical data for CVac was most encouraging for cancer patients in second remission.
“Our concerted focus will now be to find a development partner to make CVac widely available to cancer sufferers around the world,” Ms Turnbull said.
The vaccine stimulates patients’ own immune system to target and destroy cancer cells.