Univ. of Minnesota joins Multikine clinical trials

The University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center has becomes the seventh clinical site in the U.S. to join the phase III head and neck cancer (HNC) clinical trial of CEL-SCI's investigational cancer immunotherapy treatment Multikine (leukocyte interleukin, injection).

CEL-SCI's study is currently being conducted at about 60 active clinical centers on three continents and is expected to expand from 17 countries to 20 countries with an estimated 880 patients to be enrolled by the end of 2015.

The Multikine phase III study is enrolling patients with advanced primary, not yet treated head and neck cancer. The objective of the study is to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in overall survival of enrolled patients who are treated with the Multikine treatment regimen plus standard of care versus subjects who are treated with standard care only.

The principal investigator of the phase III study at the Masonic Cancer Center is Gautam Jha, MBBS, an assistant professor and medical oncologist at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Dr. Jha's interests focus on solid tumor oncology including genitourinary malignancies and head and neck tumors. His research interests include developing immune-based therapies by disrupting regulatory T cells-mediated immune suppression in patients with cancers of prostate and head and neck.