Antigenics shares spike as GSK launches PhIII

GlaxoSmithKline isn't the only company cheering the launch of a late-stage program for a shingles vaccine that could prove to be a blockbuster. Antigenics flagged its own role in the parade and was rewarded with a 20 percent spike in its share price. Antigenics supplied the adjuvant for GSK's vaccine. And as CEO Garo Armen notes in a release, the Lexington, MA-based company stands to gain a fresh revenue stream in the event the Phase III program ends on a bright note....

Antigenics shares buoyed by early data on genital herpes vax

Shares of Antigenics (AGEN) got some much-needed help after the developer reported that its vaccine/adjuvant combo to guard against genital herpes looked promising in a small, early-stage trial. The Lexington, MA-based biotech recruited 35 patients for the Phase I study, dividing them into four different groups. One group got the vaccine AG-707 and Antigenics' adjuvant with the other three groups getting either the vaccine alone, the adjuvant alone or a placebo. The biotech noted that all seven...

Antigenics’ brain tumor vaccine offers new hope in PhII study

A new brain tumor vaccine designed to use a patient's own cells is now in mid-stage trials and could offer new hope to patients who have already undergone therapy. The Cleveland Plain Deal profiles the case of Leslie Robinson, who learned at the end of 2008 that he had Stage 4 glioblastoma. Robinson is now one of 50 patients enrolled in a Phase II study of the vaccine, which was based on the work of UC San Francisco investigator Dr. Andrew Parsa and licensed by Antigenics. The vaccine uses heat...