SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

                          ---------------------------

                                    FORM 8-K

                                 CURRENT REPORT
                       PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF
                       THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

               Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):

                                February 21, 2003

                               Aphton Corporation
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             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



       Delaware                      0-19122                    95-3640931
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   (State or Other          (Commission File Number)        (I.R.S. Employer
   Jurisdiction of                                            Identification
   Incorporation)                                                 Number)

              80 SW Eighth Street, Suite 2160, Miami, Florida 33130
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               (Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)

                                 (305) 374-7338
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              (Registrant's telephone number, including area code)


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          (Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

<PAGE>
ITEM 5.   OTHER EVENTS.

          On February 21, 2003,  Aphton  Corporation  (the "Company")  announced
that the US Food and Drug  Administration  (the "FDA") has  reviewed and granted
the Company's  request for Fast Track  designation for its G17DT  (anti-gastrin)
immunogen in  combination  with  cisplatin and 5-FU "for use in stage IV gastric
cancer to improve overall survival." See Aphton's news release dated February 6,
2003 for the latest  clinical  trial  results  from its phase II gastric  cancer
trial with G17DT in combination with cisplatin and 5-FU.

          Fast  Track is a  formal  mechanism  to  interact  with the FDA  using
approaches  that are  available to all  applicants  for  marketing  claims.  The
benefits  of Fast  Track  include  scheduled  meetings  to seek FDA  input  into
development  plans,  the option of submitting a New Drug Application in sections
rather  than  all  components  simultaneously,  and  the  option  of  requesting
evaluation of studies using surrogate  endpoints.  The Fast Track designation is
intended for the  combination  of a product and a claim that  addresses an unmet
medical need, but is independent  of the FDA's priority  review and  accelerated
approval mechanisms.

          It is estimated  that there are  approximately  570,000  patients with
gastric  cancer in the US,  Europe  and  Japan,  alone.  The  prognosis  for the
overwhelming  majority of these patients is very poor.  Patients  diagnosed with
metastatic  disease have  five-year  survival rates of only about three percent.
Surgery and chemotherapy are the primary treatment options currently,  but these
regimens  have  shown  only  very  limited  benefit.  Aphton  believes  that its
anti-gastrin targeted immunotherapy approach has the potential to extend patient
survival without adding toxicity.

          Aphton is conducting one Phase III and three Phase II clinical trials.
Aphton's  anti-gastrin targeted therapy induces antibodies in patients that bind
to both gastrin 17 and gly-gastrin and remove them from circulation  before they
can bind to the cancer cell and initiate cell growth. Gastrin 17 and gly-gastrin
are believed to be central growth factors, or the initiating  signals,  for cell
growth,  cell  proliferation and metastasis  (spread) in gastric,  i.e. stomach,
pancreatic,  esophageal,  colorectal  and  other  gastrointestinal  (GI)  system
cancers.  This signaling program is accomplished by gastrin binding to the large
numbers of gastrin  receptors  which appear,  de novo, in the great  majority of
cases,  on  tumor  cell  surfaces   throughout  the   gastrointestinal   system.
Interrupting  this process by immunizing the patient with Aphton's  anti-gastrin
immunogen is a precisely "targeted" immunotherapy. This specificity of targeting
only cancer cells occurs  because  gastrin is not normally  secreted and gastrin
receptors  are not normally  found on "healthy"  cells in the GI system,  unless
they are  malignant,  or on the  path to  malignancy  (except  for  those  cells
involved with normal acid secretion).

          Recent findings have shown that  inhibiting  gastrin not only inhibits
cell  growth,  proliferation  and  metastasis  directly,  but also  "unblocks" a
central  pathway leading to  cell-suicide  (apoptosis).  This tilts the balance,
from cell growth, to cell suicide. This effect is amplified synergistically when
Aphton's  drug is given  together  with a  chemotherapeutic  drug.  Gastrin also
stimulates  the secretion and expression of other  important  growth factors and
receptors  within and on the  surfaces  of the cancer  cells  involved  in tumor
growth.  Hence,  inhibiting  gastrin  inhibits  all  of  the  foregoing  factors
contributing to tumor growth and spread, while simultaneously  opening a central
pathway  to  cell  suicide.   Aphton's  anti-gastrin  targeted  therapy  adds  a
biological dimension to the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.

          Aphton Corporation is a biopharmaceutical  company developing products
using its

<PAGE>

innovative  targeted  immunotherapy  technology for  neutralizing  hormones that
participate  in  gastrointestinal  system  and  reproductive  system  cancer and
non-cancer  diseases;  and the  prevention  of  pregnancy.  Aphton has strategic
alliances with Aventis  Pasteur for treating  gastrointestinal  system and other
cancers with G17DT in North America and Europe; GlaxoSmithKline for reproductive
system cancer and non-cancer diseases worldwide; and others.


ITEM 7.   EXHIBITS.

          (c)  Exhibits.

               99.1      Text of Press Release of the Company dated February 21,
                         2003.

                                      -2-
<PAGE>
                                    SIGNATURE

          Pursuant to the  requirements  of the  Securities  and Exchange Act of
1934,  the  registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by
the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.



                                        APHTON CORPORATION
                                        (Registrant)

                                        By:    /s/ Frederick W. Jacobs
                                           -------------------------------------
                                           Name:  Frederick W. Jacobs
                                           Title: Vice President, Chief
                                               Financial Officer, Treasurer and
                                               Chief Accounting Officer

Dated: February 21, 2003