Jenner Technologies has signed a worldwide licensing agreementwith Eli Lilly & Co. for recombinant DNA and expression vectorsencoding the KSA antigen.The antigen is associated with colorectal, lung, pancreatic andovarian tumors. Jenner, of Danville, Calif., will use the antigen inthe development of a post-operative vaccine therapy to prevent therecurrence of cancer."Many people were not aware patent coverage was pending," saidJenner's CEO Anthony Maida. "This is an important proprietarytechnology."It was pointed out in the May 14, 1994 issue of The Lancet that theKSA antigen is identical to the GA733 antigen. An antibody toGA733 is currently being used in late-stage trials.Maida told BioWorld that, with the whole KSA antigen, one mightexpect a polyclonal and cell-mediated response, in particularcytotoxic T lymphocytes. "The desired effect is either to prevent therecurrence of disease, or to significantly expand the disease-freeperiod."Lynn Spitler, company president and chief scientific officer, said,"The use of tumor-associated antigens, like KSA, in therapeuticvaccines will elicit more favorable clinical responses than thoseobserved in recently reported monoclonal antibody studies." _ JimShrine

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