Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Joe Pantginis - Canaccord Adams.
Joe Pantginis - Canaccord Adams
Steve, the added immunological data at ASCO GU were obviously very promising. You identified some control antigens that you talked about, and then two antigens that appeared to correlate with survival.
I was seeing, if somewhat you can elaborate on this, and maybe touch upon why this is really important in the assumption that there are most likely other antigens as well that you still have yet to identify that could show the same or even better correlation with survival? And of course, I would love to just wrap up with the obligatory question about partnering, but I respect your policy on that.
Stephen A. Sherwin
I will focus on your questions about the recent immune response data. So, let me repeat for the sake of those of you listening in, who maybe don’t have all the details in front of you, what we consider to be important about these findings.
Again, we have with GVAX prostate, a multi-antigen product, it’s multi-antigen because its cell based. And what we have hypothesized is that this product can induce a wide range of immune responses. We can let the patient’s immune system react individually, which is what we know happens in nature, and we expect that that will capture the best possible immune response in the largest number of patients.
And that we have clearly documented now and is part of what we reported at the GU ASCO meeting, very broad response that varies from patient to patient. So, that’s one important takeaway. And it’s very consistent with what we have assumed to be the case.
Now in looking at the immune response in more detail, we would hope to be able to find a pattern of antibodies that are associated with improved outcome as measured by survival and some that won’t. And it’s possible that the antibodies that are associated with improved outcome will differ from patient to patient, again because our immune systems all react differently.
And if you develop a product that depends on one single antigen, you have greatly limited your ability to reach across the varying immune responses that exist among men with prostate cancer, or for that matter, patients with any type of cancer.
So, it is encouraging for us to see even in this early work with a limited number of patients that we can identify some prostate cancer patients, who respond to the product in a way that shows an association with survival. And that those same patients may not respond to other antigens with that same association. So, it’s that specificity that impresses us.
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