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 17, 2002

                               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  Number)
Incorporation)



              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)



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ITEM 5.  OTHER EVENTS.

     On July 17, 2002,  Aphton  Corporation  (the  "Company")  announced that it
received  official  notice  from the Food and Drug  Administration  (the  "FDA")
granting its anti-gastrin  G17DT Immunogen  Orphan-Drug  status for treatment of
adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

     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  approximately  88,000 new cases of pancreatic  cancer
will be  diagnosed  in the US and Europe this year.  The  prognosis  for most of
these  patients  is very poor.  The great  majority of  patients  have  advanced
disease at the time of diagnosis and are considered incurable, with a very short
survival  time.  Surgery,  when  possible,  and  chemotherapy  are  the  primary
treatment options currently available, 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).

     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.



<PAGE>



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.  Aphton 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 17, 2002.



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                                    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 17, 2002





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