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):

                                  July 23, 2002

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



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

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

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


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



<PAGE>


ITEM 5.  OTHER EVENTS.

     On July 23, 2002,  Aphton  Corporation  (the  "Company")  announced that it
received official notice from the FDA granting its anti-gastrin  G17DT Immunogen
Orphan-Drug status for treatment of gastric (stomach) cancer. The FDA noted that
the indication  designated is broader than the indication  originally  sought by
the Company.

     On  July  17,  2002,  the  Company  announced  that  the  FDA  granted  its
anti-gastrin   G17DT   immunogen   Orphan-Drug   designation  for  treatment  of
adenocarcinoma  of the pancreas,  noting that the indication  granted is broader
than the indication originally sought by the Company.

     The term  "orphan-drug"  refers to a  product  that  treats a rare  disease
affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans.  The Orphan Drug Act was signed into law
on January 4, 1983. Since the Orphan Drug Act passed,  over 100 orphan drugs and
biological products have been brought to market.

     Orphan-Drug  Status confers a 7-year period of exclusive  marketing  rights
for G17DT for this indication,  thereby  protecting it from similar drugs of the
same class.

     In addition,  it qualifies the Company to apply for grant amounts  totaling
up to $900,000 over a 3-year period, with a maximum of $300,000 per year.

     Furthermore,  the  requirement for a $300,000 user fee that is payable with
the submission of a New Drug Application is waived for an Orphan Drug.

     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 have shown only
very  limited  benefit.  The Company  believes  that its  anti-gastrin  targeted
immunotherapy   approach   has  the   potential  to  extend   patient   survival
significantly, without adding toxicity.

     The Company is conducting one Phase III and three Phase II clinical trials.
The Company'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. (The Company believes
this is the optimum method for achieving "growth factor inhibition.") 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  the  Company'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
cells involved with normal acid secretion).

<PAGE>

     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 the
Company's  drug  is  given  together  with  a  chemotherapeutic.   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.  The  Company'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 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.  The Company has strategic
alliances  with Aventis  (NYSE:  AVE) for treating  gastrointestinal  system and
other  cancers with G17DT in North  America and Europe;  GlaxoSmithKline  (NYSE:
GSK) 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 July 23, 2002.


                                      -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: July 23, 2002